Cakes & Bakes: Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf

I have found my new ‘go to’ sourdough loaf recipe; a run-of-the-mill, no frills method that has worked for me perfectly every time. I give you… **loud trumpeting sound** the Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf!

It’s the unfussiest sourdough loaf recipe I’ve come across, and it’s also the best tasting. With the scarcity of strong bread flour (all flour, to be fair) because of the Covid lockdown, I bought a few kilos direct from Shipton Mill and boy, did their Extra Course Organic Wholemeal Flour make a difference to the finished loaf. The flavour was incredible; I won’t be going back to the common or garden supermarket own brand version.

The recipe came from Gordon, a small-scale baker who bakes 5 times per week, selling his loaves locally. I’m not sure if he’s based in the Devon town of Buckfastleigh – which I think may be the origin of the bread’s title.

The recipe directions are very spare; perhaps not the best to give a go if you’re a complete newbie. However, he gives a more detailed breakdown of the method (broken down into two separate posts) – complete with photographs – on the Fresh Loaf blog.

In it, he reveals his views on the matter… about which I wholeheartedly agree:

Sourdough – I do not think there is any magic to it… Here’s my take; It’s just bread. Get over it and just do it.
Sure – you can apply rules, you can take far more care with it that I appear to do, you can regiment the process and create rules – if what you’re after is something extra special. The one loaf a week you make and you want to take pride in it and make sure its the best there is. And that’s fine. I’m making basic daily sourdough bread here and for that, there is nothing special. No tricky processes, no strict timings or (within reason) temperatures. Gordon, on the Fresh Loaf blog

Want to give it a try? Click here or on the image below to save the recipe to Pinterest

Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf

Gordon

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Course Bread

Cuisine British

Servings 1 kg loaf

Ingredients

100 g wholemeal
400 g white
150 g starter @ 100% hydration
8 g salt
300 g water

Instructions

Mix, knead, leave overnight, shape into a boule, put in a cloth-lined basket/banneton, leave to prove (maybe 2 hours, do the finger poke test) and into a 250ºC oven with a cup of water splashed on the bottom (in a metal tin) and down to 210ºC after 12 minutes for another 25 minutes.

Buckfastleigh sourdough loaf ingredients

Keyword bread, loaf, sourdough

Cakes & Bakes: Raisin sourdough loaf

I’ve resurrected my starter after spending 3 weeks away from home – abroad in Trinidad. Justin requested a sourdough raisin loaf, but with no added spices, so that it would be more versatile with regards to teaming it with other food and dishes.

I like to pre-soak the dried fruit that I use in baked goods as it stops them drying out and burning in the oven. Depending on what you’re making, you can soak them in strong tea, alcohol or plain old water.

On self same trip to Trinidad, the friend that I stayed with introduced me to some wonderfully useful kitchen devices – if you can call them that. They’re like shower caps for covering food… just brilliant! She bought them in a dollar store when she was visiting her sister in the USA. They come in 3 different sizes and the largest is the perfect circumference for fitting over the bowl of my vintage Kenwood mixer and 1-kilo-sized round banneton. They’re reusable and knock the socks of cling film and the plastic bags that I’ve been using. For those of you that are interested, I’ve since found them for sale in Lakeland.

I adapted a recipe by Vanessa Kimbell, baker, teacher, originator of my favourite 24-hour sourdough loaf recipe and the author of The Sourdough School: The Ground-breaking Guide to Making Gut-friendly Bread.

Click here to save my raisin sourdough loaf recipe to Pinterest

Raisin sourdough loaf

2019-04-03 09:33:19

Yields 1

Cook Time

1 hr 10 min

Cook Time

1 hr 10 min

Ingredients

100g/3½oz raisins, soaked in strong tea for at least an hour
215g/7½oz water
180g/6⅓oz sourdough starter (100% hydration)
90g/3oz wholemeal flour
305g/10¾oz strong white flour
10g/⅓oz fine salt
13g/½oz cold water

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Late afternoon

MIX

In a large bowl whisk your water and starter and mix well. Add all the flour and mix until all the ingredients come together into a large ball
Cover with a clean damp cloth and let the dough rest on the side in the kitchen for between 30 minutes and 2 hours – this is what bakers call the 'autolyse'

FOLD

Add the salt mixed with the water and dimple your fingers into the dough to allow the salty water and salt to distribute evenly throughout the dough. Leave for 10 minutes
Next, lift and fold your dough over, do a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat three more times. Repeat 3 times at 30-minute intervals with a final 15-minute rest at the end

SHAPE

Shape the dough lightly into a ball then place into a round banneton dusted with flour (If you don’t have a banneton, use a clean tea towel dusted with flour inside a colander). Dust the top with flour, then cover with a damp tea-towel

PROVE

Transfer the dough in its covered banneton to the fridge and leave to prove there overnight for 8-12 hours

Following morning

Take the banneton out of the fridge to allow your dough to warm up and finish proving (it should get to 50% bigger than when it went into the fridge)

BAKE

Preheat the oven to 220°C/450ºF/Gas mark 8 for at least 30 minutes before you're ready to bake. Place your cloche, Dutch oven or baking stone in the oven and a large pan of boiling water underneath. The hydration helps form a beautiful crust
Once the oven is up to full heat, carefully remove the cloche/Dutch oven/baking stone from the oven, taking care not to burn yourself. Dust with a fine layer of semolina or rice flour, which stops the bread sticking, then put your dough onto the baking stone and slash the top with your blade. This decides where the bread will tear as it rises. Bake for an hour
Turn the heat down to 180°C/350ºF/Gas mark 4 (and remove the lid if you're using a cloche or Dutch oven) and bake for another 10-15 minutes. You need to choose just how dark you like your crust but I suggest that you bake until it's a dark brown - it tastes much better

Adapted from Vanessa Kimbell's basic sourdough recipe

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Soft sourdough sandwich loaf

What do a bacon sandwich, fried bread, French toast, Croque Monsieur and Welsh rarebit all have in common? They’re all best made using a plain, white sliced loaf.

I’ve confessed in the past that I’m quite partial to the odd, soft slice of Warbie’s Toastie now and again. The French have a far more chic-sounding name for this kind of bread – pain de mie. I saw this recipe recently for a soft sourdough sandwich loaf and thought I’d give it a try. As I outlined earlier, you don’t always want a strong flavoured loaf with an open, uneven texture.

The knack to making a loaf with a soft, tearable texture is to knead, knead, knead until the gluten has developed fully. You can attempt to do this by hand, but my arm muscles aren’t up to the job! The other trick is to roll it out and roll it up… twice. Finally, a couple of long proving sessions with an overnight stint in the fridge in between.

Making a sourdough sandwich loaf is a long, drawn out process – the exact opposite to the mass produced, Chorleywood processed stuff. Don’t fret though, bread preparation can fit easily around the rest of your day and night.

The original recipe says you need to allow your loaf to have a final proof of 6 hours. I don’t know if it’s the ever-cool temperature of my kitchen, but this wasn’t anywhere near long enough for mine. I’ve made this loaf on two different occasions now, and I’ve needed at least 12 hours on both occasions. Rather than go by length of time, judge it ready when your dough has doubled in size.

I like the first few slices of my fresh, home-made bread plain & simply buttered. Justin preferred using it as an opportunity to make a bacon sandwich. Apparently, the sweetness of the bread worked perfectly with the saltiness of the bacon.

What’s your favourite sandwich to make with soft, white bread?

Save the sourdough sandwich loaf recipe to Pinterest here

Soft sourdough sandwich loaf

2018-06-13 17:02:52

Yields 1

For the levain

18g/⅔oz ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration)
30g/1oz milk
56g/2oz strong bread flour

For the dough

138g/4¾oz plain flour
138g4¾oz strong bread flour
20g/¾oz milk powder
34g/1oz sugar
134g/4¾oz milk
1 large egg white (50g)
All of the levain
34g/1oz butter, softened
6g/⅕oz salt

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For the levain

Mix together the starter, milk and flour and allow to develop at room temperature (23ºC/73ºF) until mature (about 12 hours)

For the dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine the flour, milk powder, sugar, milk and egg white until it just comes together. Cover and autolyse in a warm place for half an hour
Add the levain and half of the butter mixing in completely. Add the rest of the butter and the salt
Knead until the dough is smooth, silky, stretchy and shiny and passes the windowpane test (this took me about 15 minutes in my stand mixer, on a slow-medium speed)
Cover and bulk rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Fold, cover with cling film (or plastic bag) and refrigerate overnight
Divide the dough into 3 or 4 equal pieces (I made 4 x 160g/5⅔oz pieces), roll them into balls, cover with slightly oiled cling film and allow to rest at room temperature for an hour
Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out each piece into an oval. Roll up tightly and allow to rest for 10 minutes
Roll each piece along its seam into long oval again. Roll up tightly for a 2nd time.
Place the rolls, seam side down, into a 23cm x 13cm / 9" x 5" loaf tin or Pullman pan if you have one. Cover the tin loosely with cling film and allow to proveat room temperature for about 6 hours
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6. Bake the loaf for 20 minutes
Turn the temperature down to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark and bake for a further 15-20 minutes. If the top of loaf is browning too quickly, cover over the top with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent it from burning
Take the loaf out of the oven and immediately turn the loaf out on to a wire cooling rack
While the loaf is still warm, brush the top and sides with a little melted butter

Adapted from Cook Til Delicious

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/