Sourdough Breads

A crisp home-baked baguette, with all the character, complex flavour and crunch that you might otherwise have to travel to France to find, is a dream for many bakers. Of course, you can make baguettes with your local bread flour wherever you live, but the particular characteristics that French millers give to their premium darker bread flours through the wheat varieties they mill gives the loaves made from it a deep rich colour, a delicate beige ... Read more...

Sometimes, I've written recipes which use specific types of flour from small millers, and it may be that they won't always be in stock. If that's the case, do feel free to substitute something similar from the BakeryBits range. Here, for example, I’ve made a walnut sourdough using Heritage Harvest flours, combining their Roller-Milled White Flour with their darker Organic Stoneground Wholemeal Flour, but you could select other flours not too ... Read more...

I have made loaves using rosemary and olive oil, but until now, they've all been yeasted breads, so I thought I'd try a recipe that uses these ingredients in a white sourdough. It's not very complicated to make and the resultant loaf is very fragrant, with plenty of rosemary and olive oil coming through, and a very soft crumb. Fresh rosemary has a slightly softer texture than dried, so do use it where you can, in season. This recipe makes one ... Read more...

This stunning loaf uses Dan Lepard's technique of minimal kneading, using an oiled surface. Widely adopted now, it was almost seen as heresy when he first wrote about it: a true pioneer. Method Mix the sourdough starter with the water, breaking up any lumps. Add the remaining ingredients and mix vigorously until you have a uniform dough with no dry patches. Tip the dough onto a lightly oiled surface. Using Dan Lepard's low intensity technique, ... Read more...