A New Direction in Bread

The other day my Mom gave me a handout she had found online about breads from around the world. I thought I'd look up some of them and see if they were worth trying to make. One of the ones that intrigued me was the Brown Billy Loaf. This is an Australian quick bread. It is kind of like an Irish soda bread baked in a loaf pan. I found a couple of old recipes for it on this site called Old Aussie Recipes.


I did not find a lot of information about it other than two or three recipes and an explanation as to what a "Billy Can" was. From what I was able to learn this bread was originally made in a "billy" or can that was used to brew tea over a campfire. I learned more information about this from the Wikipedia page on it.

Some of the original recipes were quite plain and even the modern one I found I thought could use some sprucing up, so as outlined below I came up with my own recipe for this bread and it was very tasty! I think it was really moist because it was baked with foil on top to keep the moisture in the bread. It thought this was a great technique!


Brown Sugar and Maple Brown Billy Loaf:

Makes: 1 large loaf.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
4 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

*Preheat the oven to 350F

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Put the butter and maple syrup in a glass measuring cup. Then, pour the boiling water over it. Stir until the butter is melted. If it needs to melt more you can put it in the microwave for a few seconds.

3. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients. Then, add the buttermilk in batches, stirring after each addition. Stir just enough to combine.

4. Put the dough into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Cover it with greased foil.

5. Bake at 350F for about 1 hour.

Slice, butter and enjoy! It also makes great toast!

Sour Success!

After a lot of research by my Mom and Aunt about sourdough starters and breads I decided to give my sourdough starter a refresh and start anew. The end result was this beautiful loaf pictured above that I made on Monday, May 31st. It was fantastic! It was well worth the wait and the effort to make. Now my spirits are lifted and I have a new faith in my sourdough starter.

Thoughts on Sourdough:

My Aunt had commented to my Mom about how the miners that first discovered sourdough didn't really fuss with it much other than keeping it going by adding flour now and then. This lead my Mom and I to the conclusion that we shouldn't "baby" our starter so much and maybe that is why my bread had not turned out well in the past.

My Aunt said:

"As for "hooch" I believe that term was invented by the sourdoughs and I think they did drink it now and then to get a little buzz on. I think they had to be pretty desperate for alcohol to drink it because it tastes vile. I think (from what I remember reading about it years ago) that some of the old prospectors and like people had starter that they kept going for years. They would start out with a bag of flour and make a well in it and add water and mix it up with the starter they already had and just keep it going that way, in the bag of flour. They took out what they needed to make up biscuits or something along with enough flour for the biscuits and then add a little water to the "well" area, stir it up and then load up the mule and keep on going. I imagine that during the short time there were cattle drives that the cooks did the same thing. I don't know about when the pioneers crossed the US but I would imagine that sourdough starter was easier to come by than baking soda or powder and didn't take up space or add weight if you kept your starter in your flour bag. "

This got my Mom thinking about it too. Last Friday when we got together at her house she had decided to leave her sourdough starter on the counter at room temperature and leave the lid off. I thought this was a good idea because it mimicked what the miners did and it seemed to work well for them. When I got home I decided to do the same thing with my starter. I added a half cup of flour and a half cup of warm water to it to get it going again. After letting it sit around for a couple of days I decided to make bread again. Sunday night I made the "sponge" for the bread and let it sit overnight to develop.

After I had done this I heard from my Mom again about sourdough and she said:

"I am glad your sourdough starter is bubbly again, and that you are feeling encouraged. I have been thinking about sourdough bread and how it evolved, and after checking out several sourdoughs in my recipe books and comparing them with what Echo told me, I think part of the problem is that sourdough recipes have evolved to fit modern life, and we need to go back to basics.

What I mean is, if those old miners carried their starter around in flour sacks with some starter mixed in at the top of the sack of flour, then kept it going while they were off all day doing their mining, it has got to be easier - and more flexible - than the recipes we have seen. All of the recipes in my books expect the bread to have a 2-3 hour rise, for example. I don't think miners were quite so fussy on timing, nor do I think they could be, given the work they did, and given the fact that they moved around a lot trying to find the gold where no one else had a claim, given the fact that they were out in the boonies and couldn't probably replenish their sugar or soda or yeast supply as easily as they could carry around a big bag of flour. If so, I don't think they needed a tablespoon or even a teaspoon of sugar each time they mixed in some more flour and water to replenish the starter. I'll bet that they didn't put it in every single time they replenished, either. Real sourdough had to be hardy and had to be able to keep going in a variety of conditions to fit the lives of miners.

The reason I am reconsidering the sugar is because modern recipes call for it to feed the yeast. I know from my experience with yeast breads is that some of them have sugar and some don't. They all rise, with or without sugar or honey. So, just as we can get energy from the starch in flour, I think yeast can too. Also, how can the bread be sour if I am adding sugar or honey to it every time? It just doesn't make sense that those old miners or the sourdough starter are so sensitive that sugar is a must.

I am also encouraged by the recipes we have used recently that call for very little yeast and a long rising time. I think we ought to try making the sourdough with a longer rising time. I have noticed that most of the sourdough recipes call for additional yeast, and even some have soda in them, and often additional sugar. That just doesn't fit the image of sourdough for miners to me. I think those additions are so that breads will rise more quickly, such as expected by modern cooks.

If we have the time to let the sourdough bread dough sit around for a few hours, why don't we do that instead? Frankly, I think that fits better anyhow; and I wonder if it also fit the original developers - miners - better too, as they could bake it when they were done for the day, or first thing in the morning before they went to work, or whenever. The dough is just not that fussy when it has a chance to rise slowly. As we know, some of the low-yeast recipes allow 8-18 hours, and I let that one go that I made last Friday almost 24 hours. The temperature of the day would be important, too, and because of the fact that these miners lived in the outdoors, tents, shacks, or houses without insulation, they were most likely hot and cold with the seasons, and the sourdough had to cope with that as well. Anyway, those are my thoughts on sourdough. It will be fun to try some loaves this way and see what happens."

I think that my Mom's thoughts on sourdough are correct. Luckily, I have never added sugar to my starter. I might try letting my bread rise for a longer time as she mentions as well. I am happy that we both decided to "go back to basics" with our starter.

Here is my recipe with my notes below:
Sourdough Buttermilk Bread:

Makes: 2 round artisan loaves

Ingredients:

Sponge:

1 cup sourdough starter

3 cups flour

2 cups warm water

Bread:

2 teaspoons yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 ¼ cups cold buttermilk

4 cups flour

4 tablespoons wheat germ

2 ¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal

Directions:

1. Mix the sponge ingredients and let them sit in a bowl overnight.

2. In a glass measure mix the yeast and ¼ cup warm water. Let it sit 5-10 minutes. Add this to the sponge. Then, add the flour, buttermilk, wheat germ and salt. Mix in a stand mixer or by hand until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.

3. Knead 5-10 minutes with a dough hook on a stand mixer or about 15 minutes by hand. It must be very smooth. It will still by sticky. Add flour as needed.

4. Put the dough into a greased bowl, cover and let rise 3-4 hours in an area that is about 70 degrees F. I like it put the bowl in a sink full of warm water. It rises beautifully! As you can see in the picture below:

5. Turn out onto counter, flatten and press out some gas.

6. Divide into 2 parts, and form round loaves. Put the loaves onto baking sheets or stones sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover with a towel and let rise at least 1 hour.

7. Preheat oven to 375. Put a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven. Fill it with warm or near boiling water. This will help steam the bread.

8. Slash the tops of the loaves with a razor or sharp knife. I made a cross shape on the top of my loaf. Bake at 375 for around 40 to 45 minutes. I baked the loaves on my convection oven setting for 40 minutes at 350F and about 15 minutes at 375F.

This bread turned out very moist with a more open crumb than the French sourdough bread I made before. I don't know if that is due to the buttermilk in the recipe or the "new and improved" way of handling the sourdough starter. In any case I am thrilled with this bread! We were able to eat it fresh right out of the oven for dinner on Monday night along with fresh Ling Cod and asparagus from our local farmer's market! What a great meal! I am looking forward to more experiments with sourdough Next time I'm going to try to add more whole grains to the bread.

Happy Baking!

Brewed Bread

As you have probably discovered by now, Trista is the main baker of the two of us. However, sometimes I (Serena) get inspired by her experiments and try some of my own. She had told me about baking bread in a dutch oven, and that she agreed with the recipe, that the loaf had turned out to have a good, moist crumb and a crust that gave the appearance and flavor of a professional artisan bread.

She shared the recipe with me, and I found another one that was similar; using a dutch oven, but this time adding beer. The claim was that the bread was more flavorful with beer and a bit of vinegar. I tried the recipe she gave me, and had similar results. It was a nice loaf, although a bit small. However, the idea of having more flavor was a siren call I had to answer. So, I tried the beer recipe. Well, it did have more flavor, but the loaf was still small. The newspaper then had a recipe for a large round loaf to be baked on a cookie sheet. I looked at that recipe, and then looked at the beer recipe, and decided to see what I could do to use beer in the other loaf's ingredients, and then bake it in a dutch oven. Yay!! It worked wonderfully well. I have repeated the recipe, refining the directions, and now I am satisfied that it will work every time.


The best part was sharing it with Trista today, and since she just about jumped out of her seat with pleasure at the freshly baked bread, it was time to share it with you. In the loaf pictured above I added 1 tablespoon potato flour for each cup of flour along with wheat germ and flax seed.

Dutch-Oven Beer Bread:

Yield: 1 large loaf

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 cup water -- room temperature
1 1/2 cups beer, light (or a whole 12 ounce bottle of beer)-- room temperature
2 tablespoons vinegar
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon salt
4 1/2 cups unbleached flour

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, yeast, and water until it is smooth with some lumps, like pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel and leave at room temperature for 2 hours. It will become bubbly.

Into the starter, stir the remaining ingredients with a few strokes to make a scraggly dough. Cover the bowl and set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes to let the flour absorb all the liquids.

If using a stand mixer, attach dough hook and mix for 10 minutes on medium speed. The dough will clean the sides but stick to the bottom. Using a spatula, scrape the dough hook, sides, and bottom of the bowl to collect all the dough into a ball. Leave in the bowl.

If kneading by hand, work the spatula firmly through the dough to collect as much of the flour as you can. Scrape the dough onto a clean, unfloured countertop. Set a kitchen timer for 15 minutes and knead. The dough will become very elastic and will still be sticky. Using the spatula collect the dough, including any scraps from the counter and your hands, into a ball. Flour your hands and place the dough back into the bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel. Let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

Lay a piece of parchment paper - about 12"x18" - in the bottom of a skillet. You can either spray it with nonstick spray or cover it with about 1/4 cup cornmeal (that's what I do).

Dust the countertop with flour and tip the dough from the bowl onto the floured surface. Use a spatula to remove all bits of dough from the bowl. Flour your hands well and lift and tuck the edges of the dough underneath over and over until the dough has formed a smooth ball.

Place the dough ball with tucked edges down onto the cornmeal-covered parchment paper. Sprinkle lightly with flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and leave to rise until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.

About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8- quart heavy-bottomed dutch oven with lid on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough (if needed beyond what you did before) .

Using a razor blade or sharp knife, make a slit in the top of the loaf about 6" long and 1/2" deep. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid.

Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower gently into pot. Let any extra parchment hang out, and put on the lid.

Place in oven and reduce temperature to 425 degrees. Bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake an additional 20-30 minutes longer, to between 200-210 degrees on instant-read thermometer, or well-browned on top and golden brown all over.

Carefully remove from pot using edges of parchment. Place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

If desired, you may add 1/2 c pitted, chopped green olives, 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, and 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary to recipe when ready to knead. Delicious served with spaghetti.

If desired, you may add wheat germ, flax seed meal, potato flour, or similar add-ins (soy flour, oat flour, etc). Just place 1 tablespoon of each you wish to use in the bottom of each cup of flour before measuring, so the same amount is added overall. The potato flour helps to keep the bread moist. The wheat bran and flax seed meal add extra nutrition, as may your other add-ins.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Cranberry Bagels

Even though it's been a busy week I couldn't go without making bread! So, since I had some success with making whole wheat bagels in the past I decided to make them again and try some new techniques and change the recipe a bit. I had run out of raisins so I decided to use some dried cranberries instead.

The new techniques I tried were giving the bagels a longer initial rising time, a longer second rising or "floor time" and also adding some vital wheat gluten to the dough.

My son Adam had such fun "sifting" the flour while I made the dough and of course eating the dough after it was kneaded. That is his preferred way to eat bread!


I'm not sure if it was due to my changes or not, but the bagels turned out really well and it was amazing to eat one hot out of the oven! That's a good way to start off your morning!!

Here's the recipe with my notes:

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Cranberry Bagels:

2 cups warm water (110 degrees) - I usually use the hottest tap water I can get
2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast or 1 tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup sugar mixed with 2 to 3 tablespoons cinnamon (save some of this mixture for sprinkling on top)
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 21/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional)
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

cornmeal for dusting baking sheets
1 egg + 1 tablespoon water for glaze

1. Mix together sugar, yeast and water in your mixer bowl. Let it rest for 5 minutes or until it's foamy.

2. Mix in salt and cinnamon sugar mixture.

3. Add in the 3 cups of whole wheat flour and mix for about 5 minutes or so on medium speed. Then, add in the unbleached all purpose flour a 1/2 cup at a time until you achieve a stiff dough ball.

4. Switch to the dough hook attachment and knead for 5 minutes or knead for 5-10 minutes on a lightly floured board by hand.

5. Put the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover. Allow it to rise in a warm place until double in bulk. I allowed my dough to rise for 2 hours.


6. Take dough out of bowl after rising time and punch down the dough. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a log and pinch it together to form a bagel shape. Put the bagels on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise or have "floor time" for 2 hours. I decided to lengthen this step to see if it would rise the bagels more or create more flavor.

7. After the bagels have risen put them into the refrigerator overnight to rest.

8. The following morning boil 2 quarts water and 1 tablespoon of honey or sugar in a large pot (about a 5 quart soup pot). Boil 3-4 bagels at a time for 15-20 seconds per side. Then, let them drain on a cooling rack that has been greased with cooking spray and has a kitchen towel underneath it.

9. Mix the egg and water. Brush the mixture on each bagel and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

10. Preheat the oven to 400F.

11. Put the bagels on back onto the baking sheets and bake them for a total of 30 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom after 15 minutes of baking time.

12. Remove from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack. Don't forget to slice one and try it with butter straight from the oven! They are great toasted after that but the first one is the BEST!
Enjoy!

Happy baking, gardening & living!

A delicious whole grain bread

Yesterday I was determined to both use up the rest of some buttermilk I had in the fridge and make some bread. So, I found a recipe for buttermilk whole wheat bread. I changed it slightly and I'm happy that it is a delicious, soft bread with very good flavor. It didn't rise as much as I would have hoped but next time I'll try using a longer rising time before forming it into loaves.

Here is my version of the recipe. I found the adapted version of this from the blog "The Fresh Loaf"

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Bread:

from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

makes 1 9"x5" or 2 8.5"x4.5" loaves

Ingredients

2 packages dry yeast or 2 teaspoons instant yeast

3/4 cup warm water (105-115F)

1-1/4 cups buttermilk, room temperature (or 1-1/4 cups water and 4 tablespoons buttermilk powder)

1-1/2 cups bread flour, approximately (or I use unbleached all purpose flour)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons brown sugar or molasses

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 - Mix together the warm water, the buttermilk, the whole wheat flour, the brown sugar or molasses, and the baking powder. Let this mixture set for about 60 minutes. This is called the autolyse method. The autolyse method causes the flour to soak up the liquids and the enzymes start to work which then breaks down the protein in the flour. This produces a very nice, fluffy bread.

2 - Mix in the instant yeast.

3 - Stir in the salt.

4 - Stir in the softened butter.

5 - Stir in bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time. I used about 1 cup in the dough.

6 - Knead by hand or by dough hook on a stand mixer for about 5 minutes or until dough is no longer sticky.

7 - Put the dough into a clean and greased mixing bowl. Put the kneaded dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 3-4 hours. I let it rise for about 2 hours, but the extra time might yield loftier loaves.

8 - Punch down the the dough slightly, shape into loaf or loaves, place in pan(s). Cover the pans loosely with with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the dough has risen 1" to 2" above the level of the pan, about 50-60 minutes.

9 - Preheat oven to 425F 20 minutes before baking.

10 - Bake the loaf or loaves in the oven until they are golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

11 - Remove loaves from the oven and place on wire racks to cool.

Enjoy your bread & see you later this week for more gardening news!

A little slice of heaven!

After my earlier debacle with the sourdough bagels I was in the mood for some good bread! So, I decided to create a new twist on an old favorite. Last weekend we all went to a Scottish restaurant for breakfast where we tried some Scottish Oatmeal. It was so creamy and delicious! For a long time I have not been a fan of cooked oatmeal for breakfast, but this kind of oatmeal has changed my mind. We bought some Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal at the store last weekend to make up some cereal for ourselves. It is a very finely ground oatmeal that is very healthy and tasty as well! So, I decided to try using it in an old family recipe for oat bread.

This recipe makes two loaves. I usually keep one loaf plain and for the other one I create a cinnamon swirl in the middle. This time I put brown sugar and nutmeg in the swirl since that's what Scottish oatmeal is usually made with according to the Scottish place we visited. It was fantastic! It's even softer than the original bread and delicious! Enjoy!

Scottish Oatmeal Bread: Yields: 2 loaves

2 cups Scottish oatmeal
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons brown sugar
5 + cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons yeast
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons rolled oats (to top the bread for decoration)

For swirl filling:

4 tablespoons melted butter
6+ tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Warm the milk, water and butter either in a saucepan on the stove until the butter is melted or in the microwave for about 4 minutes. Place the oats and 4 tablespoons brown sugar in the mixer bowl and pour the liquid over. Let stand until just warm or lukewarm, about 30 minutes.

2. Stir in 3 cups of flour, salt and yeast. Mix together thoroughly. Change to dough hook, or gradually stir in by hand; adding enough additional flour to make a soft dough that holds its shape. Knead until smooth and elastic- about 10 minutes by hand or 6-7 minutes with a dough hook, or til the dough is not sticky and pulls cleanly from the bowl sides.

3. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a clean greased bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place free from draft until doubled, about one hour. I like to place the bowl in a sink filled with warm water.


4. Grease 2 small loaf pans. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and cut into two equal pieces. Form 2 rectangles of dough. On one rectangle brush the 4 tablespoons of melted butter onto the dough. Then, sprinkle it with brown sugar and the one teaspoon nutmeg. Roll up and place into a prepared pan. Form the other loaf and place into the pan. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled- about 20 to 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 425 F.

6. Uncover loaves, brush with the egg yolk mixed with water and sprinkle each loaf with oatmeal. Bake until golden brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 25-30 minutes. Unmold the loaves and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy a yummy slice of bread!

Sourdough Cheddar and Chive Bagels- More Trials & Tribulations...

After harvesting some fresh chives from my Mom Serena's deck box as pictured above I was inspired to make some sourdough bagels featuring this herb. I had never baked anything with chives in it and I was curious to find out how it would taste in a bagel. Since I'm experimenting with my sourdough starter and have successfully made bagels before, I decided to create a hybrid recipe out of a basic sourdough bagel recipe and give it a try. Wanting to also try a plain sourdough bagel I left part of the dough plain. This is an overnight + 2 day process (overnight to rise the sourdough sponge; 1 day to rise the dough, form the bagels and refrigerate them; and 1 morning to boil and bake the bagels.

Here is the recipe & the results:

Sourdough Cheddar Chive Bagels:

Makes: 7-12 bagels ( my first attempt yielded 7 bagels)

1/2 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3+ cups additional flour
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

cornmeal for dusting baking sheet

1 egg beaten + 2 tablespoons water
+ 1/2 cup or more of shredded sharp cheddar cheese for topping the bagels

1. Mix sourdough starter, warm water, and flour in a bowl. Cover and let sit overnight (I let it sit in a sink full of warm water); the mixture should look bubbly in the morning.

2. To this mixture add the sugar, salt and #+ cups additional flour. Mix well.

3. Knead dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes or knead using a dough hook on a stand mixer for 10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double. I let the dough rise for about 6 hours before forming the bagels.

4. Punch down the dough and divide into 7-8 balls. Make sure to have a floured surface to form the bagels on. Roll each ball into a log and form a circle to form the bagel. Place the bagels on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Put a towel over the formed bagels on the sheet and refrigerate them overnight.

5. The next morning bring 2 quarts of water to a boil on the stove. Have near the stove a cooling rack that has been greased with a kitchen towel underneath it. Drop 2-3 bagels into the boiling water at a time. Boil for 15 seconds on each side. Then, remove them with a slotted spoon to drain on the cooling rack.

6. Mix the beaten egg with water. Brush this mixture on the bagels. Then, sprinkle the bagels with the remaining shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

7. Bake the bagels at 350F for 35 minutes. Bagels are finished with they are golden brown and shiny.

My results:

I altered this recipe a bit after baking the bagels this morning because although they are delicious I think that some things could be improved by trying the recipe again. They have a good flavor, and crust but they are a bit too dense. I did end up baking them a bit longer than 35 minutes after I saw how dense they were, but I think that other factors in the recipe contributed to their denseness. Below I'll outline why I think the changes (which have been applied to the recipe above) will help next time I make these bagels.

The initial sponge:

The original recipe called for only 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter mixed with warm water and flour to create a sponge for the dough to be mixed the following day after resting the sponge overnight. I think that that amount needs to be increased to at least a 1/2 cup because my dough did not rise very much.

Mixing in additional flour:

Next, I didn't mix in much more than 2 cups of additional flour to the sponge along with the sugar and salt. I think that additional flour might have helped the texture of the bagels to be a little bit lighter- still dense but not too dense!

Thus, I think that starting out with more sourdough starter in the sponge and adding more flour to the dough would greatly improve these bagels. It was a fun experiment and the chives were a great addition to the bagels. They still stayed quite fresh & flavorful in the finished product.

I think that my next baking project besides pie will involve regular yeast because although I have enjoyed my foray into sourdough baking it is fairly unpredictable. A little respite and time with some regular yeast recipes will restore my confidence so that once again I will tackle another sourdough recipe!

Happy Baking!

Sweet and Sour- Trista's Misadventures with Sourdough Bread

A few days ago I decided to make a sourdough starter. I had used one a few years ago that produced delightful , artisan bread, but it was not sour. So, I decided to try again with a different starter and bread recipe. The bread pictured above is the result of my labors and was baked yesterday. However lovely it was not sour as I had hoped it would be.

I found the recipe for a milk and yogurt based the sourdough starter in "The Best of Sunset" recipe book that my mom Serena gave to me a few weeks ago. Before I had tried a simple water and flour starter. I had high hopes that this sourdough starter recipe would make- as promised- a real sourdough bread.


Possible Reasons My Starter Was Not Sour:

There may be some reasons as to which this did not occur but I cannot be sure as to exactly why. The recipe stated that the starter needed to remain at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit for 2-5 days after the initial 24 hour period in which the starter began. At first, I put the starter on top of the hot water heater because the article suggested that this was an area that was warm enough. However, when I went to check on the jars they were not very warm. So, I decided to put the jars in my slow cooker on the high setting for the remainder of the 24 hour period. In retrospect I probably should have kept it on the low setting- perhaps it got too warm. For the next 2-3 days after I added the flour to the starter I kept the slow cooker on the low setting. Maybe I should have put water in the cooker as well because the bottom of the starter mixture actually "baked". Finally, I might have waited another day or two to let the flavor develop further. I will never know for sure, but I can ponder the possible problems with the starter.

The Sweeter Side Of The Slice:

Although there were issues with the sourness of the final product, the starter did work quite well as a bread "sponge". As pictured above it bubbled quite nicely in the bowl for around 8 hours before I started making the dough for the second and third rises. Because of this bubbling and because I tasted some of the dough and it was sour I had high expectations that the bread was going to be real sourdough bread!

I have replenished my starter by adding equal amounts of flour and milk in case I want to make any more breads that call for a sourdough starter. Although they may not be sour- their texture will be quite nice.

I am including the sourdough starter recipe as well as the bread recipe as I adapted them from the book. You might want to try your luck at this starter and see what results.

Milk and Yogurt Sourdough Starter- Adapted from "The Best of Sunset"

Ingredients:

1 cup skim milk (non fat milk gives the most sour flavor)
2 tablespoons low fat yogurt
1 cup all purpose flour (add later)

Heat the milk to 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat and mix in the yogurt. Pour milk into the warm container ( I used a large canning jar with a metal lid), cover tightly, and let stand in a warm place where the temperature is between 80F and 100F. If the temperature is above 110F the bacteria may be killed and the starter will not get bubbly.

After 18-24 hours, the starter should look like yogurt and a curd will form. If any clear liquid appears, stir it back in. If the liquid is a pink color you will need to throw the starter out and begin again.

Once the curd has formed, slowly stir in 1 cup of all purpose flour into the starter until it is smoothly blended. Cover tightly and let stand in a warm place until the mixture is very bubbly and has a good sour smell; it should take 2-5 days.

Each time you use your starter replenish your supply by adding equal parts of warm skim milk and all purpose flour to replace the amount of starter you used. For example if you use 1 cup of starter add 1 cup of warm milk (90 to 100F) and 1 cup of all purpose flour. Cover and let stand several hours after mixing or until the next day. Then, refrigerate it until you use it again.

Make sure to warm your starter overnight or for 4-6 hours before starting your bread baking process.

Sourdough French Bread- Adapted from "The Best of Sunset"

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (about 110F)
1 cup sourdough starter
Around 8 cups all purpose flour- I use unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons each salt and sugar
6 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1/2 cup water, stirred together

Sponge:

In a large bowl, combine the warm water, starter and 4 cups of the flour; stir until the mixture is smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at about 85F until very thick and bubbly- 6 to 8 hours or until the next day. I kept my sponge warm by putting the bowl in the sink and adding the hottest tap water I could to the sink. I periodically changed the water to make sure it remained warm.

Make the Dough:

When your sponge is ready mix in the salt, sugar, ,and about 3 more cups of flour or enough to form a very stiff dough. Then, mix the dough either with a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook or by hand. If you are using a dough hook mix in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour until the dough pulls cleanly from the sides of the bowl. If you are mixing the dough by hand spread part of a cup of flour onto a board or the clean counter. Scrape the dough out onto the board or counter and knead it until it is smooth and elastic- about 10 to 12 minutes.

First Rising:

Place dough into a greased bowl and turn over to grease the top. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled- 1 1 /2 to 2 hours. I like to either put the bowl back into the sink with warm water or use the "warm" setting on my oven for this rising.

Form the Loaves:

After this first rising- punch down the dough and knead it a bit on a lightly floured board. Divide the dough into 2 pieces. I formed my loaves into rounds which I prefer but you can also make a long log loaf if you wish. Sprinkle 2 baking sheets each with 3 tablespoons of cornmeal. Place the formed loaves onto the baking sheets.

Second Rising:

Cover loaves with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I let these rise in the oven on the "warm" setting- or you can heat your oven to around 200F, turn it off- and then use the ambient heat to let the loaves rise. When the loaves are done rising- take the plastic wrap off.

Bread Preparation & Baking:

Adjust the oven racks so that there is one at the lowest position & two evenly spaced above it. Place a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack Just before you bake the bread pour hot water- (about 1/4 inch up) into the baking sheet to create steam while the bread is baking.

In the meantime- in a 2 to 4 cup saucepan, bring the cornstarch and water mixture to a boil while stirring and let cool. Cut slashes on the top of your bread with a very sharp knife before baking. Then, brush the loaves with the cornstarch mixture.

Bake at 400F for 10 minutes. Then, brush each loaf again with the cornstarch mixture. After this, rotate the bread loaves from bottom rack to top rack so that they will bake evenly. Bake for 20- 25 minutes more until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap them.

Enjoy your amazing bread!!

Coming soon....recipes for using fresh chives and rhubarb from the garden this spring!