tezza, I've just watched last night's recording - Halloween got in the way. My reference to grapes may have confused you as PH used apple last night - in his book 'Bread' he uses grapes.
The following is something I typed up for a friend of Paul's - it may help.
The following recipe I’ve tweaked from Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Every Day. We want fresh bread at lunch time, so this is what I do most days.
1. First thing in the morning refresh starter, leave on side.
2. After a couple of hours - mix 100gs active starter, 250gs of bread flour (white, brown, whatever) and 275gs water. Cover, leave on the side.
3. At some time in the evening, add about 1 tbs of oil, olive, rapeseed, whatever, stir in, add 300g bread flour and about 5g of fine salt and mix together.
4. Turn the dough out onto an oiled surface, knead with oiled hands, form into a ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl ensuring dough has oil all over it. If you cover with a plastic bag it shouldn’t stick, leave on the side overnight.
5. First thing the following morning, knock back, fold and shape. Prove in a proving basket or oiled loaf tin, cover, let it rise for 1.5 to 3 hours. Mine usually takes about 2 hours.
Heat oven to 250C if possible. Preheat a baking tray if you have one, dust it with flour, place loaf on it - bake for 15 minutes, turn oven down to 200C for about 30 minutes but do check, some ovens run hotter.
Notes.
At 5 above when I tip out, I do a baker’s fold - Paul will explain - cover with bowl upside down and leave for ten minutes, carry on with shaping etc.
We want bread for sandwiches so most of the time I make a tin loaf. The dough is shaped, placed in an oiled and floured tin, when risen it goes into the hot oven. That makes it easy.
To shape in a basket, put the shaped dough in with the fold on top in order to tip out onto a floured hot baking tray and into the oven.
You can change the timings to suit yourself; make the sponge one evening, in the morning turn into dough, cover, leave on the side all day, shape later and bake.
Once I refreshed a starter around 4pm, made sponge around 6pm and into a dough about 9pm and baked the following morning. The experts wouldn’t approve but it made edible bread.
Unfortunately you can’t rush the final prove.
I use basic sunflower oil for lining bowl, tins and kneading. For the dough mix I tend to use a better olive oil.
A no knead method works - after the dough stage, roughly tidy it up, put in a tin and leave overnight, covered in the fridge. Following morning, heat oven and when up to temperature put tin in the oven.
Recently I was away for three weeks and my fridge starter refreshed as normal.
Any bread left over is sliced and put in the freezer though sourdough keeps better than yeast breads, I think.
I'm sure there will be plenty of variations.
Every day is a good day, it's just that some days are better than others.
Not sure why.
