A Fortuitous Mistake

Sometimes we make mistakes that turn out to be a really good learning curve and I made one of them inadvertently this week when I was getting ready to bake some sourdough loaves. I ALWAYS add the ingredients in the order given in Celia's Sourdough White Sandwich Loaf (although I have been adding Atta wholemeal flour instead of all the OO flour in the recipe to add more fibre) but this time I was keen to add 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup psyllium and 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds which Chris had added in her 3 Seed Sourdough Bread tutorial although I didn't have any linseed on hand so used psyllium instead. However, after I had added all the ingredients I saw a bowl of starter sitting on the bench and thought that I must have forgotten to add it as the first ingredient so added that last. Then I looked around for the leftover starter I always have and which I usually put in the fridge straight after I weigh out the required 200g. It was nowhere to be found and then it dawned on me that I had added ALL the starter I had been feeding. Was this going to be a disaster? I had no idea.

 

 I really don't like eating white bread and have been experimenting with the last few loaves by adding 1/4 cup psyllium and was quite pleased with the results. The loaves above were quite delicious although I probably got a bit too excited with the Staysharp knife when I was slashing them :-) Just as long as I don't slash my fingers as the knife is extremely sharp.

 I mixed up everything together and  it was looking really moist so I decided to follow the advice Chris gave in her sourdough tutorials and added more flour....

....until I thought the dough was a better consistency. Chris kneads her dough first before adding the seeds but I just added them with everything else as an experiment to see how it turned out. On her blog Chris shows the differences between tacky doughs and wet ones.  Take a look if you are interested in making sourdough as it is very informative. I am really only a beginner and am still learning all the tips while having fun along the way.

 

 Then I put Gertrude's shower cap on and a few hours later the dough had risen to the top and was pushing her cap off :-) It looked like it was going to work out thankfully so the dough was kneaded and put into two bread pans to rise again before being put in the oven.

 

 It rose much higher than my previous loaves so I am going to use all the starter in future.

   

I was so pleased that my mistake had turned out to be actually beneficial in my sourdough baking journey. I still don't know about hydration so I guess one of these days I will have to do some reading up on it. In the meantime though I am happy to learn from the experience of others like Chris who are willing to share their knowledge and recipes.  

My grandson's rag quilt is finished at last. When I took this photo there were a couple of edges that hadn't gone raggy so I washed and dried it again tonight so that should have done the trick. Now I just need to pick off any rogue threads and pack it ready for the flight tomorrow. 

The next time you hear from me I should be in the great Australian Outback! 

Have a great weekend everyone.