Absolutely+Home+-+Spring+2019

NETHERTON FOUNDRY

DOME AND CLOCHE

This is an oven-within-an-oven

that creates an intensely hot space

in which your bread can thrive and

achieve the perfect crust.

netherton-foundry.co.uk

KILNER JARS

Lots of these. It’s worth having

more than one starter on the go.

PROVING BASKETS

TIP: cover them with shower

caps; it’s more sustainable

than clingfilm.

SOURDOUGH KIT

YOU WILL NEED...

Once you have a

thriving starter,

breadmaking is

a rhythm

HOME ž SPRING 2019 77

LIVING |BAKING

Making your own sourdough is

satisfying and sustainable.

But learn to love the mess

Words PENDLE HARTE

Daily

bread

go at once, lining the shelves of your dream

kitchen not with pretty jars of colourful pulses

but with growing (possibly overflowing) bac-

teria with a mind of its own.

But it is all worth it. Once you have a thriving

starter (it take about five days), breadmaking

is a rhythm that may or may not fit with your

existing routine. Sourdough takes longer to

rise than yeast-based dough, so it can be left

overnight and then proved again – you’ll need

to get to know your timings and your kitchen’s

warm and cold spots. Anyone obsessed with

lovely empty surfaces might not appreciate

baskets of dough covered with comedy shower

caps carefully placed on windowledges and

strategic spots near radiators, but breadmak-

ing is a labour of love. You’ll learn to love the

thin dusting of flour that will inevitably cover

your kitchen, as well as the new sounds your

oven will make as it comes to terms with its

highest setting. But the taste, and the gut

benefits, make it all worth it.

W

hat could be more sat-

isfying than a fresh

loaf of crispy, fragrant

sourdough? Don’t we all

have a fantasy version

of ourselves where we

are effortlessly removing perfectly cooked,

springy loaves from our domestic ovens,

feeling capable and connected to the earth,

part of a long-standing human tradition? It’s

not hard to understand why an interest in

baking bread is something that often dawns

on people trying to find new meaning in their

lives, while focusing on sourdough has count-

less benefits for gut health. And as a hobby,

breadmaking fulfills a variety of needs. It oc-

cupies time, it’s creative, there’s lots of scope

for variety and improvement. There’s even

quite a lot of kit that you can acquire. What’s

not to like?

Well there is quite a lot not to like actually.

Getting the starter right is the very first thing

you need to do, and while the instructions

are simple – as any enthusiast will tell you

repeatedly – this fertile mix of flour and water

is needy and messy. Regular top-ups require

the scooping out of some of it and throwing

it away, and any resulting drips will instantly

turn into cement needing to be scraped vig-

orously off the countertop/floor. The starter

will sit unattractively in a kilner jar, bubbling

ominously, until the temperature becomes too

warm or too cold, when it might give up the

ghost. Your best bet is to have several on the

HOME_Spring19_SOURDOUGH.indd 77 01/04/2019 16:08