sourdough bread with spelt, fig and pumpkin seed flour

Thanks for this tweak here. Sounds promising!

Thanks so much for this Michelle, really helpful. I made the loaf yesterday and it was really tasty! A few areas I need to improve but i think i know what went wrong. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply and give me these instructions.

Hope this helps - see below. Happy to help if you have any other queries. It is a truly divine loaf! Michelle Mix: Put your water in the bowl and add the starter. Add the flour and roughly mix. Leave for 20 minutes (this means it does some of the work for you), then add salt and mix until smooth, resistant and elastic. Fold and bulk ferment: Every 30 minutes for 2 hours (so 4 times in total) stretch and fold - this builds up the strength. Then leave to prove and double in size. Shape: Works well as a boule - simply flatten and pull in opposite sides until it is a nice and tight boule and place in a basket. Prove: I leave for an hour or so and then pop in fridge overnight. (You can leave for a few hours and then bake straightaway). Bake: Heat up oven to 230 degrees. For sourdough, you will get best results from using a crock pot to bake it in inside the oven. This helps with “oven burst”. I use a large Le Crueset type casserole dish with lid - I slash the bread in a cross on top and pop in the bread with the lid on for 25 mins, then take lid off and lower to 220 for another 10-15 mins to get a good colour on. the bread. If you haven’t got a crockpot, you can just bake inside the oven - again slash before it goes in. If you have a water sprayer, give the bread a mist before it goes in - you can also pour some water into a tray in the bottom of the oven to create some steam.

Hope this helps - see below. Happy to help if you have any other queries. It is a truly divine loaf! Michelle Mix: Put your water in the bowl and add the starter. Add the flour and roughly mix. Leave for 20 minutes (this means it does some of the work for you), then add salt and mix until smooth, resistant and elastic. Fold and bulk ferment: Every 30 minutes for 2 hours (so 4 times in total) stretch and fold - this builds up the strength. Then leave to prove and double in size. Shape: Works well as a boule - simply flatten and pull in opposite sides until it is a nice and tight boule and place in a basket. Prove: I leave for an hour or so and then pop in fridge overnight. (You can leave for a few hours and then bake straightaway). Bake: Heat up oven to 230 degrees. For sourdough, you will get best results from using a crock pot to bake it in inside the oven. This helps with “oven burst”. I use a large Le Crueset type casserole dish with lid - I slash the bread in a cross on top and pop in the bread with the lid on for 25 mins, then take lid off and lower to 220 for another 10-15 mins to get a good colour on. the bread. If you haven’t got a crockpot, you can just bake inside the oven - again slash before it goes in. If you have a water sprayer, give the bread a mist before it goes in - you can also pour some water into a tray in the bottom of the oven to create some steam.

hi, I usually add around 300g water so 250g in this one was plenty. I do not stretch and fold after night in fridge. it rises in basket and I find it easier to cut when its cold. does not make any difference during the bake and tend not to overproof the dough. So happy you enjoyed it!

Hi Gilly so happy you enjoyed it! I tend to use no 1 or no 4 whatever is in my 'stock' at the moment.

I find ready mix without adding white, too sweet but this is personal preference and we eat it as normal bread meaning with meat, cheese and veggies.

Oh I am rubbish with understanding hydration etc. My starter has few months. At this point it is mixture of Shipton Mill white no 1, no 4, strong canadian (which is not good for leavin) I believe ratio is pretty much 1:1 when I feed it, just know what consistency it should be (like tooth paste) Wales is cold so it takse ages for it to work. I use around 100g of starter. Mix it in 300g of water. Add 450g of flour and mix in mixer. Leave for 20min then add salt and bit of water (pink salt is bigger and disolves/mix easier with water) and mix again till dough is nice and elastic. Stretch and fold few times for next 2-3 hrs. Shape it and place in basket. If it is not too late leave it for 2-3 hrs in kitchen then it goes to fridge over night. I usually start my mixing 4-5pm so it goes to fridge 9-10pm. Bake in the morning. It does not rise as it wolud in warm proof but I like it better after cold proof.