SOURDOUGH FRUIT LOAF

It's so nice to be sitting out in the summer sun in our backyard blogging while the little fella runs around while I have a full vantage. At the moment he is playing fetch with out dog!

I made a fruit loaf the other day with my homemade sour dough starter and it was delicious! A little bit dense still but I only let it prove for a couple of hours instead of overnight like you are supposed to with sourdough, so I think with more time to rest and rise this bread would be even better!

Ingredients:
3 cup plain or wholemeal flour
1 cup sour dough starter
1 cup mixed dried fruit finely chopped (I used dried apricots and figs)
1 tbs sugar (I used molasses sugar)
1 tsp salt
1 cups water plus more if needed

Mix all the ingredients together until you have a smooth dough, I do not knead my dough's. Place in a lightly oil bread loaf that has been dusted with flour, and leave in a warm spot until it has proved. Ideally this would be over night but 6 hours should do if you are short on time. Bake in a 220 degree oven for 20 minutes and then another 10 minutes outside of the tin at 180 degrees. Allow to cool and if you can't resist enjoy some warn with lots of butter!

Placed in the tin ready to rise

After the dough had risen for 4 hours

The baked loaf

mmmmm just add butter!

SOUR DOUGH STARTER TAKE 2

This is my second lot of sour dough starter and I am much happier with this lot as the starter contains yeast and the bacteria and cultures from yoghurt. I got a much better raise from it, which is always nice from homemade bread as sometimes it is hard to get that especially from sour dough!

So you need a glass or ceramic contain with a fitted lid that can breath. Place in it 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour I am using plain white flour but plan to make wholemeal bread. Add half a teaspoon of dried yeast or a teaspoon of fresh yeast crumbled with 2 tablespoons of plain natural yoghurt, mix and leave at room temperature for 24 hours. The next day you need to feed it with another 1/2 cup of plain flour and 1/2 of water. You need to leave it for another 24 hours at room temperature. This starter will keep in the fridge forever if you look after it. Every week you need to feed the starter with another 1/2 cup of plain flour and 1/2 cup of water. I will post a recipe for sour dough bread in the next couple of days.

HOMEMADE SOURDOUGH WHOLEMEAL BREAD

After my attempt at homemade sourdough oat bread I thought I would give it another go this time using wholemeal flour as the base. You can find the starter recipe at previous post. I found this bread to be much more successful that the oat bread. It had a much nicer flavor but was still a dense dough. This time i packed it full of seeds for extra nutrition and fiber. Again this is a no knead bread recipe so is so ridiculously easy to made. You literally put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until combine - there you have it bread dough!

Ingredients:

3.5C wholemeal flour

2C tepid water

2 tsp molasses sugar or 1 tsp molasses

1 tsp salt

1/2 c starter

handful pepitas

handful sesame seeds

handful poppy seeds

(you can use a combination of any seeds you like, but please be aware that lindseed/flax seeds go rubbery in the dough)

Mix all ingredients until combined. Allow to prove in bowl for 8-12 hours. I used this recipe for rolls so u divided mixture into 6 and made balls on baking sheet. I allowed to prove for another hour. After the hour the dough spread so i folded up the corner gently and flipped it over to make a neat small bun. Bake in preheated 180C over for 30 minutes for rolls and 50-60 minutes for loaf. The loaf should sound hollow when tapped. 

HOMEMADE SOURDOUGH OAT BREAD

I buy this amazing sour dough oat bread from my local organic shop and at $6.50 a loaf which makes for an expensive sandwich! I love the texture of the bread and being oat it lowers blood sugar! Just what someone needs with a family history of diabetes.

 For Easter my sister gave me a jar of sour dough starter which she made after watching this clip on you tube. And below that is my starter.

Starter bubbling away!

starter bubbling away

I thought I would try and replicate the bread that I buy. This is a no knead bread. So so easy, just place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined! 

For the dough:

3.5C oat flour (i made this my self by putting the oats in a regular blender and pulsing giving the blender a little shake until i had a powder.

1C plain flour

1/2C sour dough starter

2C tepid water

1 tsp salt

2 tsp molasses sugar or 1 tsp molasses

Resting

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined. Allow to sit at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 45 minutes or until ready. Tap the bottom of loaf and it should sound hollow. My sister gave my mum a tip which she passed onto me, which was to allow the dough to rise in the bowl and 1 hour before baking to transfer the dough into an oiled bread pan as this prevents the dough from sticking to the tin.

Rising for the last hour in tin

baking away

The finished product was pretty light but not as light as the store bought. It had a great crust. It had an oatey flavor which some people may not like and didn't have the chewiness that i was after. But all in all not a bad outcome for the 1st batch.