Breadmaking progress

[johnpalmer]

My sourdough starter keeps being mysterious these days. I can make a sourdough poolish and have it just not raise the bread at all, and it sometimes gets a funny, non-sourdough smell to it.

Yesterday, I'd had enough and decided (at 5:30 pm!) to see if I could make yeast bread.

I put in an extra half-teaspoon of yeast to make sure it would rise fast.

Well... I mixed, it hand-kneaded it, and set it to rise... in about an hour and fifteen minutes, it had more than doubled, so I deflated it, did some quick kneading, and let it rise again. As expected, it rose in about 35 minutes (it usually rises twice as fast the second time).

I formed a loaf, started it rising, and when the time was right, I pre-heated the oven.

Helpful hint: if you're the kind of person who puts tea lights in the oven to use it as a warming chamber, take them *out* before pre-heating the oven.

Anyway:

Yeast bread was a smashing success - it's nothing special, it's "just" a white yeast bread, but, it came out of the oven at 10:20 - plenty of time to get to bed on time if I'm working the next day.

Still can't figure out why my sourdough keeps dying, though.

Comments

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

I quit sour dough, even though I love it, because it is so picky about temperatures.