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JUST as I suspected! (read about premonition here) Flat as pancakes!

Normally, I love flat bread. But only when it’s supposed to be flat bread. Flat bread that is soft and light and maybe a bit crisp on the outside. Not this flatbread, heavy as a brick, hard as a rock…

Phooey.

Now I’m thinking that this time I didn’t let my starter get bubbly enough before trying to use it. The smell of my (non)starter is wonderful – reminiscent of very mild yoghurt – but, as you can see from the photos, the shaped bread just refused to rise.

As some of you know, this is my second attempt. I tried in April when it was still quite cold. (read about the 1st attempt here) The experiment started bubbling and then fizzled out. I blamed it on the cold.

So this week when it was so insanely hot, I thought I’d try again. Like the first time, I began with rye flour, water and a tiny bit of honey. Then after the first day, I switched to using unbleached all-purpose flour and water for feeding. I soon had plenty of bubbles. I thought everything was going correctly.

I made the bread; it rose(ish); I shaped it; it lay there and its only movement was to flatten out slightly.

RATS!

I want to blame it on the sudden cool front that swept in a couple of days ago. The temperature in the kitchen has dropped dramatically from around 27C to about 18C.

But on the same coolish day that I began mixing the natural-starter dough, I also made regular bread, using commercial yeast (active dry) That bread dough rose like a fiend and those loaves are spectacular… no photographic evidence, you’ll have to take my word for it.

Hmmm, perhaps I should take up discus throwing….

I do have one good thing to say about the discs: they smell great!! So good that I might even try tasting some. I hope my jaws are strong enough….