My seven wonders of the world

The Egyptians are one of the first civilisations credited with baking sourdough. Thousands of years ago, apparently someone accidentally left a flour-water mix on a stone and came back days later to find it had fermented. If they had taught this in History class at school, I might have paid more attention! Anyway, as a tribute to the Ancient Egyptians, I want to show you seven amazing breads we have baked over the last 24 hours. All were made using a levain (ie. sourdough starter) or preferment of some kind. The flavour, smells and texture were out of this world.

Here is a simple handmix, made with a sourdough culture we seeded only three days earlier. It was made with just three ingredients (flour, water, salt) but was, hands down, one of the most flavoursome breads yet because of the sourdough starter and the 18 hour bulk fermentation. Check out the blisters again from the overnight retarding.

Some walnut and raisin loaves, fresh out of the oven.

A crusty kalamata olive loaf. Again, retarded overnight for maximum flavour.

Craig modelling some of the rustic bulk retarded ciabatta. Tell me those holes and the silky interior don't make you want to jump on a plane and hotfoot it to SanFran.


Chocolate loaf made with a stiff sourdough starter. The kilo of honey and kilo of chocolate chips helped with the flavour here too!

Challah loaf in a variety of different styles, including 4-strand, 5-strand and 6-strand braids.



A group bread shot where you can also spot some of the potato dill rolls which we shaped fendu style.

And lastly, just before I close, I thought you might be interested to see some of the amazing shaping, stencilling and scoring ability of the instructors at SFBI. All made with ancient grains too, so not just visual appeal but health benefits too. Imagine popping down to your local bakery to pick one of these up. I think I'd just sit and stare at it all day long rather than eat it.



PS. I don't think I introduced you to my group three colleagues - Meagan, Steve and Denise. Thanks guys, it was another fantastic week. Only regret is that it's already over!