Banneton & Lame

The sieves lined with a heavily dusted tea-towel suck to the sticky dough ripping the thick sourdough skin. This has happened twice now, perhaps it wouldn't if I'd used a piece of linen instead of a cotton towel. I've still not managed to work out how to slash the loaf properly, I think the cut needs to be severe but the skin drags when I cut it.

Bakery Bits and their alluring baking gear enticed me to buy a cane banneton (proving basket) and a lame (slashing blade). Not so sure if the blade was a necessary purchase, I've since seen images and video clips of bakers using a Wilkinson's razor blade attached to a wooden coffee stirrer.

This site is proving to be a great source of information Sourdough.com - a community of baking enthusiasts packed with info and images of their baked goods.

Sourdough

Just getting to grips with making sourdough again after Angie gave me a pot of starter a few weeks back. Baking this bread is fast becoming an obsession like it did a few years ago. The loaves always taste good but always look wrong. Sometimes they come out of the oven looking like patty-pan squash, others more like round wooden chopping board (very flat). The trouble is, if I make a bad looking loaf (or loaves) on Monday, I have to try and make a better loaf on Tuesday leaving is over run with Sourdough. We eat it for breakfast lunch and supper and snacks in between too. Our favourite topping this week is Sunwheel's Pear & Prune Pure Fruit Spread - a very concentrated jam that looks like Marmite.

Granny squares

I started making these squares before Christmas (2010) and it will be finished by Christmas 2011. That's my challenge.