Progress

After a week of no baking at all, I took my starter out of the fridge on Friday and split it. One half I put straight back in the fridge after refreshing it, and the other I left out on the counter. On Saturday morning, I used some of it to make a dough and used the Dan Lepard method over the course of the day before shaping one large loaf and retarding in the fridge overnight in a banneton. It kind of spread all over the place when I put it in the oven on Saturday morning, but we had family round for lunch and they demolished it, accompanied by many compliments, so overall I was quite pleased. I used what was left of the starter to make a sponge last night and then made the dough this morning (using white flour). This time I kneaded it for about 10 minutes, and then gave it two folds at an hour apart, before forming two loaves. Then we went off to the Science Centre, so the loaves got left for about five hours, a bit longer than I would have liked, but apart from the round loaf exploding out of the basket because really I should've split the dough into three loaves, they've turned out really well. I'm pleased with this one in particular because my shaping of the dough has improved a lot. My cousin's daughter is having a fundraiser next weekend, and I am toying with the idea of offering a basket of bread for the raffle. Am I brave enough I wonder?!