Problem When scaling up yeasted bread doughs, it is logical to reduce the proportion of yeast. But does the same apply to sourdough breads, where the Production Sourdough (PS) is the leavening agent or ‘yeast’

Explanation Yes. You should make the Production Sourdough with quite cool water, leave it in your kitchen for an hour or two and then put it in the fridge. You can put it in the

Problem Apart from rather too ‘rustic’ an appearance, craggy crusts can snag on the knife and make cutting even slices difficult. Explanation Spelt has a less elastic type of gluten than ordinary wheat and its

Problem Is there a trick to working with very moist doughs, especially spelt? Explanation Spelt is a close relative of wheat, but there are differences, some of which seem to explain its greater digestibility, especially

Problem The (rye) loaf looks OK from the outside but a couple of slices in and there it is – a hole, separating the top crust from the rest of the crumb. Explanation This is

Problem Under certain conditions, moulds can form on a sourdough starter, even in the fridge. Why? What should I do if this happens? Explanation Sourdoughs are set up by nature to be safe and healthy

Problem High temperatures and humidity can play havoc with sourdough starters and breads. Explanation Yeasts and bacteria work faster the warmer it gets – up to about 35°C when their activity starts to suffer due

Answer Yes, you can use the wheat leaven (starter) to start a spelt sourdough. Just use spelt flour when you refresh the leaven and after two refreshments you will have an almost wholly spelt leaven.

Answer Temperature has a big influence on the speed at which yeasts and bacteria ferment. But they don’t need to be kept warm all the time. Here are some pointers: You should try to keep

Problem If you don’t ‘feed’ a starter, how does it keep going? What to do [See also pages 165-166 of Bread Matters.] Sourdough is (and always was) a self-perpetuating dough leavening system. In the days