Panasonic ZB2512 bread maker comes with a sourdough setting, which makes a nice, compact loaf of bread. I wanted a loaf shaped more like something you'd find in a bakery so I followed the instructions for the dough rather than the loaf, then shaped, proved and finished it in the oven. The result wasn't great. The dough was far too wet and when I transferred it to a baking tray it couldn’t hold its shape and I ended up with a flat, ugly (but edible) loaf.
The second time around I weighed the sourdough starter. The quantities provided in the bread maker booklet make 215g of starter if you scrape every last bit out with a silicone spoon. I decreased the amount of water from 120ml to 100ml, proved the dough in a 500g oval banneton basket and voila! A loaf that could possibly have come from a bakery... if you don’t look too closely. It doesn't have that beautiful open texture that's common in sourdough but I can forgive it because it requires minimal effort and tastes lovely.
If you want to make the loaf from start to finish in the bread maker I've written up the instructions in a separate recipe: Panasonic Bread Maker SD-ZB2512 Sourdough Loaf.
It’s important to make sure that the water for the sourdough starter is 20°C. When my thermometer broke and I tried to guess the temperature I ended up ruining my starter.
If you don't want to use the sourdough starter straightaway it'll keep in the fridge for up to one week (after it's been through the 24 hour cycle in the bread maker). The starter can be used straight from the fridge - there's no need to let it come up to room temperature.
This is probably common knowledge but I wasn't aware: 1ml of water weighs 1g so now I weigh the water on my digital scale rather than using a measuring jug as it's quicker and more accurate.
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