Beautiful!! Good job!!
I love sourdough breads. I have 3 different starter living in our frig. When baked they never look like yours tho. Mine seem to go more flat. They taste good. I know it is pilot error I will keep trying. I sent my nephew your last posts on Saturday bread and Sourdough.

I love all the pictures of the foods posted. They are so inspiring.

shirl

My God. *thud*

The pictures will shut those people up who say, "Why not just go to the store to buy bread."

Thumbs up!

dcarch

I love sourdough bread and yours looks so yummy!

Thanks Shirl. Not sure what recipe you are using your starter in, but you might try adding just an 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon of yeast to your breads if they are not rising.

Thanks Jasdip.

Thanks Dcarch, I think that it is a case of some just not realizing how easy it is to bake bread.

Thanks Acadiafun.

~Ann

Hmmmmmmm...."try a 1/8 or 1/4 tsp yeast to sour dough batter".....it is my memory bank for next time.
Thanks ann t

shirl

Ann T, those look amazing. Did you bake them uncovered or put the lids on the pans? I'm assuming uncovered, but I try to never assume that I actually know what's going on, LOL.

I have a batch of bread dough in the fridge that I was going to bake on Wednesday and then life intervened. Didn't get it done yesterday or today either, maybe tomorrow. Or Sunday. So, it'll be kind of like sourdough....

Nah, it won't, but it'll still be good and I'll try sourdough again in the spring.

Annie

It's baked with the lid on Annie. Usually a pre-determined time for the lid to come off and baked a bit longer to top brown. I believe that is what gives bread personality. With a bit of study, and knowing your own oven and its quirks, bread can be what you want. Nice to reach a point where it feels natural and 'understood'.
I like the parchment 'dump' method ann-t. I just made #6 batch of my grain rye.
For the ruis i've been lifting out of the pot by the parchment and sliding the loaf back in the oven nude. To brown and finish on the oven rack. DH finishes his boul in the dutch oven.
What has surprised me and my recent baking attempts is getting a good feel for the dough. I'm just now starting to ask 'why'. What's all that crazy talk about strand and gluten, pre-fermentation bla bla bla. spounges and poolish and biga and starter.
I think i got lucky that my first recipe included a sponge. Kept me focused and held my attention.
At the point now where i don't need the recipe. Just a glance to check if i've forgotten something.
This link has been helpful....

Here is a link that might be useful: poolish and biga

Annie, as Sleevendog, confirms, the lid is on for the first 30 minutes of baking.

I didn't like the indents in the loaf caused by the parchment. I don't have a problem picking up the loaf and placing it in the hot pot. But the parchment makes it easier to remove. Next time I will put just a three or four inch wide strip in the pot. Just wide enough to support the loaf, with long tabs to use to lift the loaf out of the pan.

It is just as easy to get a round loaf with good colouring baked directly on a stone. The difference I think is the Dutch Oven creates its own steam. When baked directly on the stone, I spray with water and toss ice cubes or a cup of water on to the bottom of my oven to create the steam.

These rounds were all baked on a stone.

I started baking regularly with a sponge simply because yeast is so expensive here. I begin with one packet of yeast and end up with half a dozen loaves of bread, different varieties. I started a batch several days ago, made a savory almond dough to cook on the stove top and a whole wheat potato bread, then saved the remainder of the sponge to sour, feeding it now and then. I also make sweet yeast breads from the sponge.
My bread isn't the best that was ever made, partly because I'm dealing with flours my U.S recipes weren't written for, partly because I'm a fairly casual baker. But it's good, better than anything I can buy, and it offers variety in this desert of white bread that I live in. And it's much cheaper than store bought! Baking bread really is pretty easy, and it's a flexible process with considerable tolerance for imperfection.

Ann, I have to ask you what you do with all of your bread??
When you bake bread, you don't bake just 2 loaves, you make a lot!! Do you freeze them (either whole or sliced), give some away to friends, or just eat and eat? :D

These are exquisite. Can bread be exquisite? Wow.

Jasdip, Bread does freeze well. So I like to have some in the freezer for when I don't have time to bake. Moe feels deprived when he has to eat store bought bread, even if it is from one of our artisan bakeries. I also have a few friends that I share it with. Everyone loves a fresh baked loaf of bread. And I really enjoy the process of baking breads.

Moe's favourite meal is breakfast so he almost always has toast in the morning.

~Ann

Hi Ann, yes bread does freeze well. I always slice my homemade bread, and freeze it; a slice is easy to snap off when needed.

I also give some away, and I don't even make 6 loaves at a time! Your loaves are gorgeous. Hmmmmm I think you should open a bakery!!