Sourdough starter and bread

I started a new batch of sourdough for bread making last week. I had one last year, but I let it die :(

... fortunately this is not to hard to start. A little live culture soy yogurt, some flour, warm water and a wide mouth quart canning jar. Bryanna at vegan feast wrote this note on her 8-14-06 post. "If you are unfamiliar with sourdough, write to me at bryannasveganfeast@yahoo.com and I'll send you my vegan sourdough file. I have two sourdough starters, which are very reliable." I can agree with this statement. I made the yogurt starter version and it is easy and very active. It is the same recipe I used to make my starter last year. When this starter is active it can make a well risen loaf of bread without yeast.

Although I have a small kitchenaid like mixer, a bread machine, and the ability too make bread by hand, I prefer my BOSCH Universal. See the picture of it beside. I have two of these machines at the bakehouse and one in my home (along with two microburst grain mills for freah milled whole grain flour). For the past four summers I have made a variety of 75-100 loaves of organic whole grain (freshly miled from the wheat berry) loaves of bread a week. I took this summer off, but my BOSCH Universals are going strong. This was one of the first major kitchen appliance investments that I made (after a stove and frig), it is a time saver and absolutely wonderful. I can make 6 loaves of basic whole grain yeasted bread in 1 1/2 hours including clean... one time a week bread for the week and my cost... less than 50 cents a loaf. For my family of four, one loaf a day (sometimes more) is common.

I used the first (usually thrown out) of the starter removed from the jar to make bread even though the instructions say throw away. In the bread I do use yeast because my starter was so young and did not have enough "life" to raise the loaf, but it did give it that yummy sourdough taste. In this picture you see my loaf AND my jar of starter. I am now refreshing it daily. This bread uses up 1 1/2 cup of starter, leaving just enough to add 1 more cup of water and 1 cup of flour. This starter is made with spelt, but I have refreshed starter using white all purpose wheat four, fresh milled whole grain white hard wheat as well as red hard wheat, have tried it with a little rye added. I personally like my bread to have more of a tang, so I try to add a tablespoon of rye now and again when I refresh my starter.

European Dark Bread
This is really my favorite bread, almost... next to sourdough kalamata olive bread or roasted garlic bread and even then a good raisin walnut is a delight. :) This bread can be made into a round loaf, but because my family likes square sandwiches I made it in a large loaf pan. This bread is made so that it has a very hard thick crust, like a good dark european loaf but yet a soft tender inside. A good sharp bread knife is required to saw through this. Sometimes I "paint" the top with a little cornstarch/water mix and add a mix of seeds (poppy, sesame, flax) for decoration.

RECIPE:
Add 1 ½ cups sourdough starter or start a poolish 24 hours before making the bread.
POOLISH: Put in a glass jar 1 ½ cups warm water and a pinch of yeast plus 1 cup unbleached bread flour. Mix well and let stand at room temperature covered for 24 hours. Place in a heavy duty mixer bowl equipped with dough hooks along with the following:

all of the poolish/ starter
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp flax seed
1 Tbsp sesame seed
3 Tbsp pumpkin seed (or sunflower seed)
2 Tbsp carob powder (or cocoa powder)
1/3 C cracked multi-grain cereal
(like that you would buy from Paul’s grains at the farmer’s market)
2 Tbsp millet
4 cups whole grain flour
(I use Montana Gold hard white wheat flour... Many coops and better grocery stores
now carry this brand and variation of whole wheat flour)
1 Tbsp yeast

* unbleached organic bread flour approximately 1 ½ - 2 cups, to be used in the final mixing step

Mix on low speed and then begin adding the unbleached bread flour 1 cup at a time until you have a soft, workable dough and the dough is cleaning the sides of the mixer bowl. Knead for 8 minutes on medium speed. Remove dough to an oiled bowl and let sit covered with oiled plastic wrap for 1 hour. Punch down dough and divide and shape dough into loaf size portions. Grease two standard loaf pans, add dough. Let loaves sit on top of oven while it is preheating (425 degrees), allow to rise until loaf size has doubled. Bake bread in a hot oven for about 35-40 minutes. You want a loaf that is nearly over baked, but not burned. This gives the loaf a thick hard crust with a chewy inside like a traditional European loaf should have.

GIFT IDEA
I GAVE A LOAF OF THIS BREAD DECORATIVELY WRAPPED IN A BASKET AS A WEDDING GIFT FOR A NEIGHBOR SATURDAY. The gift tag was a recipe that included a picture of the bread along with an invitation for the bride to stop by and pick up some of my starter for use if she ever wanted to make this bread.

MY FAV BREAD PANS
I like the NORPRO waffle weave non stick bread pan. They are made in 8", 10", and 12" size. I I use these pans for the bread I make at the Bakehouse. All it takes is a little canola spray in each of these pans and the loaf will come right out. My pans have been used hundreds of times and they are still in great condition. Also, I do not wash my bread pans after each use unless I making something sticky.