| I've been getting into baking bread lately, so it's very cool to see an article like this on HN. That said, if you're new to baking, I wouldn't recommend this as a starting point unless you strongly prefer sourdough to other breads. Sourdough is trickier, and this recipe is quite minimalist: lots of ingredient ratios and timings should actually vary with your ingredients, equipment and supposedly even atmospheric conditions. I'd recommend one of two loaves for fellow newbies: a bloomer or soda bread. The bloomer requires more effort and time, and is a fun way to try out all the basics of baking: kneading, yeast, proving, shaping. It'll give you a loaf like the kind you're probably familiar with, albeit at a higher quality than supermarket bread. Soda bread is very easy to get good results from and very fast to bake. It doesn't require kneading, and doesn't use yeast -- instead using bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk. You can substitute buttermilk with anything milky and acidic; I use soy milk mixed with lemon juice. This is a great way to get quality bread with minimal effort, and you can make it sweet or savoury according to your preferences. I'll post some recipes later... Edit: recipes in my reply to this comment. |
The nice thing with Hollywood's bloomer recipe is that lots of people have tried it, and share tips for debugging problems you may encounter.
Bloomer: https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/paul_hollywoods_bloomer_846...
Soda bread: https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/soda_bread_24837