Hi, i've just joined. I found this place as i came on a search to expand my sourdough repertoire. I live in the UK, i've made bread for a long time, but only recently thought about sourdough. I made a starter, and then divded it between some colleagues, and we had a sourdough competition. (we have lots of these daft wee competitions, we all disqualify ourselves and this really manky trophy gets awarded almost entirely randomly, but somehow we all put effort into participating). My competition bread is in the photo below. Since then i've made a few pretty basic loaves of bread, all of which have turned out well (except the one i made with a hangover) but i'm looking for something more.
I'm looking forwards to exploring this site and finding more about the sourdough!
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The pics look fantastic. I wish my slashes were half as good.
the slashes were just done with a very sharp kitchen knife. I sharpen my knives constantly, i hate blunt knives!
I am looking into getting a proper lame though because i do find the knife drags sometimes, on the back loaf in that pic, some of the slashes aren't brilliant, due to the knife dragging.
This weekend i'm attempting a caramalised onion and gorgonzola loaf, and a chocolate loaf as well.
A curved lamé arrangement might help with slashing the round loaf - some people here just get a flat razor blade and thread a bamboo skewer through it to get the curve. The only problem with a do-it-yourself lamé is storage, but if you can work that out you'll be fine.
But your loaves look very pretty as they are.
I just keep mine in an old salad dressing bottle. Safe as houses.
sorry, posted in wrong place!
I have a lame but I have not got the hang of it - it slips, the dough rucks up, I cut my fingers. I am going to try a sharp kitchen knife next time. Maybe this will do the trick.
I remembered that i have a set of craft knives - basically a box of different shaped razor blades and a few handles which they attach to. I'm going to try using one of them on this evenings loaf to see how that works.
So where is this manky award ? That should of been showed off next to the loaves - right?
Or is your bread not good enough for your friends ?
Just wait till we get our hands on them ! ! !
I was agreed by everyone, including the judge that my loaf was the best. But someone else won.
. It's traditional.