Tag Archives: healthy

Fruit and Nut Sourdough

Posted on by
26

Each week I make a loaf of sourdough just for me. For me, me, me.

Anyone else is quite welcome to eat it too. However, The Monkeys usually clamp their lips shut and swiftly shake their heads at the offer and there are usually far too many fruity pieces in there for Mr Chocolate to happily call these loaves his own.

So, I make one up for me. It does the whole week and I get to start the day off in a way that kicks starts the happy tastebuds.

Add a cup of chai tea drunk from my favourite op-shop green mug and the day begins.

I’ve played with The Almost Uber Healthy Loaf, a Spiced Apple Loaf, Dan Lepard’s Raisin and Cinnamon Loaf and now this little buddle of goodness. Packed full of all things good and healthy, there is no guilt at all when I slap inch thick peanut butter on it.

Fruit and Nut Sourdough

300gms starter

100gms (about a cup) mixture of pecan halves, linseed meal, sunflower seeds

1 tps dark malt flour

25gms (1/2 cup) unprocessed bran

150gms sultanas, chopped prunes (they were squishy and soft already, if they were really dried I would have soaked them first.)

1 tps cinnamon

190gms strong bakers flour

300mls water (approx)

1 1/4 tps salt

almonds to decorate

The usual mix, rest period, add salt, mix again. Prove, fold, prove, shape, prove. Baked at 240C, for approx 20mins and then lowered to 200C for approximately another 10 minutes. The toasted whole almonds on top give a lovely crunch to the slices.

This post submitted to the fabulous yeastspotting

Blueberry Rye Sourdough

Posted on by
33

using fresh blueberries

Jamie Oliver has a recipe called Sexy Swedish Buns. They look tasty, and I would probably quite enjoy them, but they also looked rather messy to make. I must have been missing the sexy part. There were two key ingredients though in the buns that caught my attention. Blueberries and Cardamom.

Still on the hunt for new sourdoughs to concoct, I mused awhile on those two ingredients. Blueberries are subtle and as long as I didn’t go overboard with the cardamom it should work for a sourdough… But, then I was thinking rye. Rye and cardamom…

using dried blueberries

Both ingredients, to me taste of the earth. Not in the way that fresh beetroot does, but in a way that seems to feed the soul. It feels good going in. It feels right after you eat them. My belly seems to sigh a little sigh of contentment after eating either one of them. In the bread, the cardamom doesn’t overpower the rye, the two of them seem to hold hands. Lying entwined together, uncompromising of their own unique tastes.

At risk of sounding like a fluffy hippy who has had one too many snuffs of the patchouli, I have put some thought in to this. Mouthfuls have been mused on, the recipe tweaked, and then tweaked again. The blueberries, while not a strong flavour from the beginning, are just an extra subtle addition to the entwined lovers that be cardamom and rye. The three of them together, seem to make a loaf that’s subtle on the palate and easy on the belly.

Peace brothers and sisters.

Blueberry Rye Sourdough

200gms starter

1 1/2 cup strong bakers flour (150gms approx)

1 cup rye flour (150gms approx)

200mls water (approx)

1 tps cardamom

1/2 cup fresh blueberries (I’ve also used dried blueberries, which were just as good. Soak first.)

1 tps salt

Mix starter, flours, water together. Wait for 20 minutes. Add blueberries, cardamom and salt. Mix again. (Blueberries fall out a little but just keep sticking them in) Prove for an hour or two. Quick fold and shape, and then into the fridge overnight. Back out and bring it back to room temperature. Slash, and bake at 250C with steam.

This post submitted to Yeastspotting.

Honey Oat Sourdough

Posted on by
37

I want to be a bread geek.

I want to know everything there is to know about yeasts, and flours. The whole process fascinates me. Every time I pull a loaf out of the oven I am amazed at what I have before me. Particularly the wonderful beast that is sourdough. Every loaf is different, each one with it’s own little personality. I want to play with so many different ingredients, then pull it all together into a simple loaf.

Will I ever get to be a bread geek?…I don’t know. My small to medium sized brain seems to struggle with the why’s, how’s and when’s, but I’m slowly getting better. I know I’m geekier than 8 months ago, when I first started on making my own sourdoughs. I also know there is a lot more to learn. I guess that’s all right though…

Bread is a fairly forgiving staple, my family all enjoy the experimenting and I get to muse on the next concoction of dough that I will play with. Wondering on the how, where and when of the loaf coming together, and  loving every part of it.

Pepper the conversation with hydration levels, protein percentages, lames, banettons, biga, poolish, wild yeast, epis and my interest will immediate be sparked. All words that less than a year ago I would have smiled politely and wondered what language you were speaking, as I hadn’t the foggiest idea what you were talking about.

I can put Mr Chocolate to sleep with my constant mutterings and musings when trying to nut out the next bready dilemma I’m having. Lying in bed I’m trying to juggle flour ratios and proving times, while he quietly says the occasional uhuh…and heads out to sleep land. I only realise he has stopped doing his job (being the sounding board that I like him to be), when my question of what do you think? Is greeted with eyes closed, soft nose whistles and the odd body twitch.

Leaving me to my own bready geek talk.

Honey Oat Sourdough

200gms starter

1 1/2 cups strong bakers flour (225gms)

1 cup whole rolled oats (I soaked these in 1/2 cup hot water first)

150mls water (approx)

2 heaped tbls honey

1 tps salt

Mix, prove, fold, prove, shape, long slow overnight ferment in the fridge, bring it back to room temperature. Slash. Bake at 250C with steam.

 

This post is submitted to the wonderful yeastspotting.

 

in search of the uber healthy loaf

Posted on by
18

I have been in search of the uber healthy loaf for breakfast. I wanted tasty, filling, healthy, low glycemic, easy to make, good for toast, could last well in the fridge for the week, and a little moist. Shouldn’t be too hard?

There was the light rye with sunflower seeds and sultanas. It was almost there. Just needed a little more oomph to it though. A little bit more depth to the taste, and perhaps a touch too dry.

A few loaves later, and finally the uber healthy loaf steps up. (Actually I’m sure it could be made even healthier, by adding more grains and nuts, but if I just write the almost uber healthy loaf…well it doesn’t have the same ring to it does it?…)

The Almost Uber Healthy Loaf

200gms starter

1 cup rye flour

1/2 cup chestnut flour

3/4 cup strong bakers flour

3/4 cup sunflower seeds, LSA, (linseed, sunflower and almond meal) sultanas

1 tps cinnamon

1 tps salt

1/4 cup natural yoghurt

For this particular loaf I mixed the dough up, quick knead, and let prove for 4 hours. A fold, and then popped into my banetton for a further 6 hours in the fridge. Brought back to room temperature for another hour. Then baked at 250C with steam for approximately 25 minutes top shelf.

I find the natural yoghurt gives a touch more moistness to a sourdough with lots of other ‘bits’ in it. Not too sweet with the sultanas, which just helped balance out the nuts and seeds flavours. With the cinnamon rounding up the taste buds in it’s usual subtle way.

This post submitted to YeastSpotting.