I started making bread regularly over a year ago and feel pretty confident making yeast bread. But for some time I have wanted to have a go at making sourdough. I’m not sure I have found the perfect method yet but I was quite pleased with my first sourdough loaf.

There are lots of methods for making a starter, I used this method (saved from a Country Living Magazine March 2012).

Day 1 Mix 1 teaspoon of strong white flour with 2 teaspoons of water in a clear jar. Seal and leave it to stand overnight.

Days 2, 3, 4 and 5 Add 1 teaspoon of flour and 2 teaspoons of water to the jar each day and stir.

The next stage was to prepare the starter for a recipe by mixing 15g (approx 4 teaspoons) of the starter from the jar with 150g of flour and 150ml of warm water in a large bowl. The advise in the method was to cover and leave overnight to ferment. However, my kitchen is quite cool and I left the starter for a couple of days which I think gave it longer to develop.

To make the bread I used about 100g of the starter from the big bowl, 300g of strong white flour, 200g of warm water and a teaspoon of salt. I gradually mixed the starter with the water until it was well combined and then I added the flour and salt to this.

I kneaded the dough for a good 10 minutes….

….and then left the dough to rise.

I left the dough to rise all day, I can’t remember exactly how long but it was a good few hours. I baked the bread like I bake most of my loaves, following Rachel Allen‘s method (15 minutes gas mark 7, 15 minutes gas mark 6).

It came out looking alright, a bit of a wonky shape, but what the hey! I’ve learnt with my regular yeast bread making that it’s all about the kneading and proving and I think sourdough is similar but even more time and patience is required. I was really pleased with the taste and texture of the bread and can’t wait to have another go. I hope the starter I made keeps on going.