For the past couple of months I've been getting into making my own bread. Now, I want to make it clear that I'm not interested in loaf making for any of the holier than thou reasons you'll find in the Guardian food section. I just want to become brilliant enough to open my own artisan bakery and employ attractive people to help me run it.
I was recently gifted The Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. It's a wonderful thing, stuffed with sweet and savory recipes, laced with mouthwatering photographs and supported by informative text on the science behind successful baking.
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| Bourke Street Bakery, Surrey Hills, Sydney |
Most of the Bourke Street bread recipes are founded on using an organic sourdough starter. I've tried three of these so far - spelt, white and rye - and the results have been positive. The problem is that it takes almost 24 hours from start to finish to make a true sourdough bread, and I don't always have the time, nor the interest in waiting so long to see if what I've done has worked.
So today I opted for Bourke's semi sourdough white loaf. This still uses the sourdough starter, but allows the addition of some commercial yeast to bring the time down to around 5 hours.
Here's one of my loaves just as they're about to go in the oven.
Before this I'd mixed and kneaded the dough, knocked it back, let it prove a couple of times, then shaped it into batards. As you can see, I've some way to go on the shaping, but I'm getting better each time.
And here's the loaves baked and ready to eat.
I was very excited when they came out the oven. It's satisfying when you see them looking like this.
If you want the recipe then buy the book. I can't stress enough how good it is. In the meantime, you could visit the sites below to get started.
Happy baking.
* If you're ever in Edinburgh visit Peter's Yard, an excellent Swedish cafe and artisan bakery. The staff are gorgeous and the food's good too.
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