Good morning, @dowbright!
Cyril is happily baking some sourdough bread as I type this! I will certainly give him your love. I know he responds to all the love because he bakes some beautiful bread for me.
Let me see if I can address your questions. Before I even started my bread baking adventures I knew that I knew NOTHING about having sourdough, managing sourdough, baking with it, what equipment to successfully bake with, etc. I honestly knew NOTHING! What I did know was that I had the deep desire to eat REAL bread, REAL food, made simply without all the chemicals, additives, etc. I also knew that I wanted to grind my own grain, in fact, THAT’S how my bread journey started. I wanted to make real bread by grinding my own grain so I started researching the best electric mill to suit what I was looking for. I quickly found the Breadtopia website and was really intrigued by all Eric’s videos on everything I was interested in about bread. I started watching them over and over again. The first purchase I made was the Mockmill100 electric stone mill. I have to tell you that was one of the BEST purchases I have ever made. I love it, the ease of using it and the incredible quality of the fresh ground flour it produces. From watching Eric’s videos I determined that in order for me to successfully bake bread I did need the right bread baking “tools” as I didn’t really have any. On the bread bakers shopping portion of the site I chose to purchase the Artisan Bread Starter Kit Country Loaf. I personally like more of a loaf shape to bread and that kit contained the basic tools I determined I needed. I was glad to get a cotton liner for my bread proofing basket because a couple of the breads I bake require it because they’re wetter dough, the cinnamon raisin and the rye. So to answer your question about the clay baker, I have the Breadtopia country loaf covered clay baker. It’s GREAT! I love the loaves I get from it. I don’t own a dutch oven so a clay baker just used for bread is a great option for me. You asked about the flour I use. The Arrowhead organic all purpose flour is only used for feeding Cyril, flouring my hands and surfaces and for other baking as the need arises. The reason I use that for feeding Cyril is because that was the flour I had on hand when I acquired Cyril. Since it was organic, non-enriched, non-GMO, non-bromated, it suited my purpose. Cyril has adjusted to it VERY well and is a happy little starter so that 's what I keep feeding him. All the flour and whole grain I use for making bread I get from Breadtopia because I have been exceptionally pleased with the quality. I like to grind my own whole grains for bread and the ones I currently have are the rye berries, the hard spring white, the heirloom Turkey Red and the heirloom Red Fife. I love using the hard spring white as the whole wheat portion of my basic sourdough bread. Both the Turkey Red and the Red Fife are wonderful and as far as I’m concerned, fairly interchangeable in use. I like them both. I also purchase bread flour as I do combine it with whatever whole grain I’m using. I’ve used both the High Protein Bread Flour which is excellent and pure white. But the bread flour I’m using currently is their Select Organic Bread Flour. I like the added nutritional factor in it and since I add whole grain to all my breads I really don’t need absolutely pure white flour. The Select Organic Bread Flour suits my needs very well. Both of these flours have a high enough gluten content that I get excellent results. To me, the key to successful bread baking is having the right tools. If you do want to grind your own flour, consider a good stone mill. I do love my Mockmill100. Paying a lot more money simply for fancy wood housing and “looks” are much less important than the quality of the stones, motor and fine quality of the resulting flour. If you’re not into grinding your own flour (which a lot of people simply don’t do or want to do) then make sure the quality of the flour you purchase is top. The next important tool, in my opinion, is a clay baker. My preference is the loaf shape but that’s just personal preference. Whatever shape clay baker you choose, make sure you purchase the appropriately shaped proofing basket and a cotton liner, which you’ll need for certain breads. If you buy the Artisan Bread kit, all this is included with the Breadtopia Baker:
Danish Dough Whisk – Our most popular product. Perfect for mixing no knead dough.
Dr. Oetker Dough Scaper – There’s no better tool for getting dough out of the mixing bowl.
Bench Knife – Gotta have one. Used mostly for dividing dough and getting sticky dough off the counter.
Yeast – Bioreal organic instant is the best. (I also have the SAF instant yeast but honestly, I have only been baking with my own sourdough because like you, I’m hooked on sourdough!)
Brotform Proofing Basket with Liner – Traditional for rising dough.
Bread Lame – Score your dough like a pro.
These were the tools I felt would work best for me and were what would make my attempts easier and more successful. With all these tools, you WILL have great success. I know I have. I have only had ONE bread fail on me, the whole grain challah. I definitely think I did something wrong that bake. The story is posted on the forum. It’s rather comical. You’d have to look for it. I don’t remember which category it’s in, LOL.
The timer has gone off and my bread is ready to come out of the oven!
Happy baking!
Leah
I’ve had a variety of failures…but each time I’ve learned something new. So I have high hopes. LOVE this!
