All Purpose Sourdough Bread

If we eat bread, we only eat true sourdough bread. This means that it has been made with only wild yeasts that exist on the grains, no added commercial yeast. Sourdough bread has many benefits over traditional bread made with commercial yeast. Here are a few good reasons to make your own:

* It breaks down gluten, making it easier to digest. Many people who have gluten intolerance find that they can eat sourdough breads.

* It pre-digests/breaks down, the sugars and starches in the grain, preventing sugar spikes and therefore helping to maintain health blood sugar levels.

* Neutralizes phytic acid, anti-nutrient present on all grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. It's ability to neutralize the phytic acid, increases the nutrients we can absorb and making it easier to digest.

* Is preserved longer due to the lactic acid fermentation.

* No funky preservatives or dough enhancers that are not natural and cause health problems.


The following recipe is adapted from Wild Yeast Blog. She has many good recipes and ideas you may wish to check out. Note, not all her recipes are sourdough only, some contain commercial yeast. Commercial yeast is toxic. Here's a good article on it. http://ranprieur.com/readings/natleavbread.html 

This is another good article discussing why you should make your own bread. "The Poisonous Truth About Our Daily Bread". 


This recipe is my go to for multiple uses. It can be made into dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pizza, fried dough. Just get creative. It is said that using milk in sourdough recipes prevents it from the beneficial sourdough process. It will still work without milk. I would like to research that claim some more myself to be sure and understand it with some actual research to back it up. So for now I will omit the milk.

Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

* 422 g white flour
* 200 g whole wheat flour
* 320 g water, non-chlorinated
* 7 g salt
* 62 g salted butter at room temperature
* 30 g honey
* 411 g mature 100%-hydration starter (ratio of 1:1 water/flour by weight) (how to make a starter)

Directions:

If you have a stand mixer, fit it with a dough hook, combine all the ingredients. I do not have a stand mixer at this time, so I did this all by hand. If using a mixer, mix on low speed until all the ingredients are incorporated. It will be a wetter dough and sticky as you knead it, if you are mixing by hand. Sticky is good. It is ok for dough to stick to your hands. It takes a little getting used to but you will learn to feel the dough change and know if it is really too wet.

Continue to process the dough in the mixer, turning the speed up to medium. Work until you get a medium to high level of gluten development. I found kneading by hand took about 20 minutes. You can do a windowpane test to see if it is developed enough. If you are not familiar with it. Check out this example at Wild Yeast Blog. She does a great job with photo examples.

Once the gluten is developed, lightly oil a glass bowl or plastic container, place the dough in the bowl and cover. Set in a warm location away from drafts. Allow the dough to rise for 1 hour and then take it out and fold. Place back in the bowl, cover and allow to rise for another 1 hour and 40 minutes. Fold the dough a second time. Place back in the bowl for 20 minutes. If you are not familiar with folding dough, it is important in how your final bread comes out. So, take the time to watch a video or look up some examples. I noticed the difference of how my bread came out when I just muddled through and when I finally understood what to do. It helps to further develop the gluten. This gentleman does a great job of demonstrating.



Grease or butter two 8.5 x 4.5-inch loaf pans. Do NOT use oil or you will be digging and scraping the bread out of the pan. If you don't want to use butter you can use Spectrum Organic Shortening. I buy mine here. It is made from 100% organic expeller pressed palm oil. You can also sub it for the butter in the recipe above for the butter.

Now, I turn the dough onto a lightly oiled counter. You can use flour if you are more comfortable. I prefer oil. Divide it in half. Shape each piece into loaf, getting rid of any bubbles and place in greased pans seam side down. Cover and proof until the top of the dough has risen one to one and half inches above the edge of the pan. This should take about three hours depending on how strong your starter is and how warm the location is.

Once it is risen, place in a 400F preheat oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375F and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Your bread should be a rich golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges around the pan with a knife and then gently turn the bread out onto a wire cooling wrack. Allow the bread to cool completely for the best texture, ease of cutting, and shelf life.

Dinner Rolls using recipe above.

If you plan to freeze the bread to prolong it's shelf life, slice the bread once cooled, and place in a freezer safe bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. I have made lots of bread up ahead of time and stored it in the freezer this way. It thaws nicely, and taste and texture are great. It makes it easier too not to eat a whole loaf trying not to let it go bad. This way you simply take out however many slices you will need and thaw them.

Below are pictures of various sourdough breads I have made. I plan to add the recipes at some point.

Sourdough Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

Sourdough English Muffins

 

Caramelized Onion Sourdough

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