Wordless Wed: Sourdough Raisin Bread

Sourdough Raisin Bread.

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Dough: Spent Grain Sourdough Bread

I have been playing with homebrew as of late and by 'playing' I mean failing at making beer! It's because I started with an all grain invented recipe but, I swear, the next time it will work out. I am learning a ton about beer though so that's a plus. Another plus is that I have had a lot of spent grains to deal with as of late. I made my standard multigrain sourdough bread but used spent grains exclusivly. It worked fantastically! 

Submitted to Yeastspotting

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Dough: Dried Sourdough Starter

My sourdough starter is almost one year old! I want to transport it to a friend but did not want to have to feed it during my journey. I had read that you can dry it and reconstitute it. I googled how to do it but its mad simple. If your starter is really thick, just thin it out with extra water. Then spread it out on some parchment paper. It will dry in a day or two. Break it up. I then crushed it in a mortar and pestle. It's supposed to stay viable for years, which is kinda cool. I'll update you when I reconstitute it!  

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Dough: Oatmeal Sourdough Raisin

I seem to enjoying eating and cooking seasonally inappropriate food. I drink light beers in the winter and dark ones in the summer. I started my sourdough starter last summer and baked bread through the height of the summer heat. Then I did not bake bread all winter. And now? Since it's summer again - I BAKE!

This is a sourdough raisin oatmeal sourdough loaf. My starter is almost a year old and is getting stronger all the time. I love the raisins in this loaf! You soak the raisins in the sourdough sponge overnight and it makes them all nice and plump. I used really old dried up raisins this time and they still came out nice and soft. The bakery I used to work at soaked them in water overnight but I really think that putting them in the sponge is the way to go.

Submitted to Yeastspotting

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Dough: Sourdough Tortillas

Tortillas are difficult to take a picture of but this recipe is not difficult to make. It is impossible for me to make perfectly round tortillas (pizza, cookies, pies ect) but it is not impossible to eat all these delicious tortillas in one sitting! 

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Dough: Sourdough Biscuits

When I first started cooking I made biscuits all the time. I found them to be quick and satisfying to make as I could start a pot of soup, mix the dough for biscuits and quickly be enjoying fresh biscuits and homemade soup. I felt like a domestic goddess!

In the last several years I have moved on to bigger and better culinary things, leaving biscuits in my wake. However, these Sourdough Biscuits (adapted from How it all Vegan!) may change that! They are flaky, moist and quick! I ate them slathered with butter and jam for supper. The original recipe called for margarine - which I don't usually keep in the house so I subbed it out for vegetable shortening which I always have. Also, my sourdough starter was unfed pretty much straight from the fridge, this meant that it wasn't as hydrated as it usually is, so I added about 1/4 of a cup of water to make the biscuit dough come together.

Sourdough Biscuits (adapted from How it all Vegan!)

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sourdough starter (plus 1/4 cup water)

Mix together flour, salt, baking soda and sugar. Cut in the shortening. Stir in the starter and water. Roll out and cut with biscuit cutter (or use the classic water class as a cutter!) Bake for 12-15 minutes at 350.



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Dough: Raisin Sourdough

I've made this recipe repeatedly. It's so yummy! The raisins, soaked overnight, in sourdough starter get so moist and yummy!
I tried a new shaping technique this time. I wanted a large round loaf. I only have oval proofing baskets so I jerry-rigged something. I lined a mesh colander with a flour covered tea towel. Then I placed the colander in a bowel - so that the bread would remain round - and not have a flat top. It worked out perfectly! So - rig that S&*^!

Raisin Sourdough - originally from The Wooden Spoon
Mix
1 cup starter
1 cup warm water
2 cup flour
1 cup raisins
 Leave on counter overnight.

Proof
1 tablespoon yeast with 1/2 cup warm water
Combine with
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup brown rice syrup (or brown sugar)
sponge

Knead in 3 cup flour.
Cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hour.
Shape. Rise 1 hour.
Bake 350 for 35-40 minutes.

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Drinking: Kvass Part III

This drink is so hard to explain. I think it is in a category by itself. It's Russian bread soda! What else do you want me to say?

I really don't think that Katz's description of "ever so mildly alcoholic, full of healthful Lactobacilli, thick and milky, almost viscous" does this drink any justice at all. It's definitely acid and sour, but not unpleasantly so. It would definitely benefit from a flavoring agent of some sort - something like cumin, mint, orange, lemon, or ginger would all work. I did almost make bottle bombs out of this concoction - next time I will bottle in plastic bottles - which is recommended for sodas. This is because you can tell, by feel, the carbonation and because if it does burst there will be no flying glass.

I will be making this again! I really think that you could give this to someone, and they would have no idea what they were drinking and would be surprised to learn that its made from bread!

If anyone wants to point me in the direction of good commercial version I'd love that!

Kvass Part I
Kvass Part II

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Drinking: Kvass Part II

The next morning....
Strain the kvass mixture, squishing the liquid out of the bread cubes.
Add 1/8 cup sugar and 1/8 cup sourdough starter.
Mix well and leave to ferment for 2 to 3 days.


I tasted the mixture at this point - it was sweet and sour at the same time. Very interesting.... I am looking forward to tasting the end result of this experiment.

Kvass: Part I

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Drinking: Kvass

I found out about this drink - made from old, stale bread of all things! - from an awesome book called "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Ellix Katz. This book is awesome, full of fun new food experiences and experiments! I highly recommend it!
Kvass is a Russian bread soda and the word Kvass means 'yeast' in Slavic. There is more info on the wiki page. 

This 'bread soda' takes a few days to prepare so I haven't had the pleasure of tasting it yet. Does anyone know what I'll be up against?  Katz says that "it is ever so mildly alcoholic, full of healthful Lactobacilli, thick and milky, almost viscous. I think it's delicious but some people wince at its sour flavor." A much nicer and more generous description of Kvass comes from Randy Mosher's "Radical Brewing", in which the drink is compared to champagne, albeit a grain champagne!

Kvass (adopted from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz)

4 cups of cubed rye bread (from this bread recipe)
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Toast bread. When cool, place in a mason jar with 6 cups hot water and lemon juice. Stir, cover, and leave for 8 hours.

Come back tommorrow for the rest of the recipe!

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Dough: City Bread

The name of this bread - City bread - was the motivating factor of baking this loaf. I also wanted to see how strong my sourdough starter was. As it turned out, the starter was almost strong enough and the name was the only redeeming factor of this bread.

The first time I made this loaf, I followed the directions exactly and faithfully put in 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. It's my understanding that salt kills yeast. The consequences of this much salt was a loaf that didn't rise and a raw dough that was very intensely salty.

After throwing out that dough, I remade the dough and only put in 1/4 teaspoon of salt. It was much better. Although my starter isn't quiet strong enough, it is definitely getting there!

City Bread

4 cups flour

1 1/4 cool water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sourdough starter

Knead. Rise for 4 hours. Shape. Rise for 4 hours. Bake for 1 hour.

Simply sour...

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Dough: Turnipseed Sister's White Loaf

I bought a new bread book, Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. This book is huge, at over 600 pages. With so many delicious sounding recipes, it was definitely difficult to choose something to bake. However, once I read the write up for this bread, I knew I had to make it.

"I had taken my family, including my grandsons, to the home for one of the Turnipseed noontime dinners, and to get this recipe. When the meal had been served on platters down the center of the table, the sisters pulled up chairs to talk. The old dining room was quite dark at midday and one of the sisters was quite deaf and both spoke in rather loud voices. For the two little boys the excellence of the food was overshadowed by the the strange and loud voices in a dark Victorian dining room and I could see tears coming. I quickly got them into the sunshine out by the barn and the moment passed."

I wonder if those boys remember that day and the saving grace that bread and sunshine make...

Mix together
2 cup sourdough starter
2 cup warm water
3 cup flour
2 teaspoons sugar

Let sit overnight. In the morning add,
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/2 to 4 cups flour

Knead until smooth. Rise for 2 hours. Shape. Rise for 30 minutes. Bake 350 for 1 hour.

Notes: I enjoyed this loaf, and the story, but was disappointed by the lack of sourdough flavor. My starter was dormant for two weeks, and I do not think I successfully 'woke' him up before making this loaf.

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Sourdough Pancakes

I have made a couple of versions of sourdough pancakes and this recipe is the closest to perfection. It is a light, airy pancake but does not have the intense sourdough flavor that some of the other recipes have. Alternative recipes with an intense sourdough flavor are accompanied by an unpleasant gummy texture. This texture is so unpleasant that I am glad to avoid it, even if that means a little less sourdough flavor!

Sourdough Pancakes - from The Wooden Spoon

(altered to make vegan)

Mix

 1 cup sourdough starter

 1 cup soy milk

 1 cup AP flour

Let sit overnight.

Add

 1 cup soymilk

 1/4 cup oil

Incorporate. Then add

 1 cup flour

 1 tablespoon sugar

 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 1 teaspoon baking powder

Cook as per regular pancakes.

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Dough: 100% Sourdough - Take 2

Another Sourdough attempt. It keeps looking better!

Mix:

2 cup starter

1 cup warm water

1 cup flour

Mix. Let sit overnight.

Add:

3 cup flour

2 T oil

4 t sugar

2 t salt

Rise 3 hours. Shape. Rise 1 hour. Bake 350 for 1 hour.

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Dough: Making a sourdough starter

Alright, this month is all bread! Breads of every kind - yeasted, quick and sourdough. Yes, the dreaded sourdough bread. But don't be a-feared! Sourdough breads are easy, fun, and tasty! Oh-so-tasty!

The important thing to remember is that a sourdough starter is basically a pet! You have to feed it and make sure it is happy. When the pet is young, it requires much more care but once established it only requires weekly/monthly attention. It's fun to name your starter - mine is called London - why? because if Paris Hilton had a child she would name it London....

Day 1
Mix 1 tablespoon rye flour, 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour and 2 tablespoons pineapple juice. Stir. Cover. Let sit for 24 hours.

Day 2
Repeat day one.

Day 3
Repeat day one.

Day 4
Mix 1/4 cup of starter, 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, and 1/4 cup water.

Repeat day 4 for about a week.

After starter is established, you can leave it in the fridge for a week. When you want to use it, remove from fridge, let it come to room temperature then feed it.

The starter will get stronger and stronger each week and each time you use. Use it frequently and it will start to make really great bread!

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