What is the role of salt in sourdough baking, and how much do I need to use? Salt serves several purposes in breadmaking: • It slows down fermentation, to help achieve more flavour development without overfermenting or overproofing. • It prevents yeasts from eating all the sugars, helping to make a caramelised crust. • It strengthens the gluten strands, to help make dough more elastic. • It is a natural preservative, reducing the rate of staling by binding water within the bread, keeping it...

Curing is an important aspect of bread baking that is often overlooked. For 100% whole grain baking, proper curing makes a huge difference to the quality of the bread. I’ve recently been answering questions in a couple of fresh milled flour baking groups on Facebook (and I’ve also created my own, please join and ask questions!). One of the things that often comes up with beginner bakers is a shot of the inside of a loaf with a comment that it was really dense and gummy. Sometimes, all that is...

Many sandwich bread recipes require a mixing machine or lots of hand kneading. I wanted to create a whole grain sourdough sandwich bread recipe that uses the less intensive stretch and fold technique, and I’m so happy to share it with you today. Based on a French style of sandwich bread called pain de mie, this loaf uses milk instead of water in the dough, for a lovely soft crumb, along with butter, which adds to the softness, and helps it stay fresh for longer. Just the right amount of honey...