Minimal Knead Sourdough Bread
January 26, 2010 By 9 Comments
My Tuesday Twister posts are my weekly round-up of what’s going on in my kitchen and our lives, as it pertains to GNOWFGLINS. We try as much as possible to make use of “God’s natural, organic, whole foods, grown locally and in season.” So here we go – I’ll catch you up on what’s twisting in my kitchen this week!
To participate in the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival, visit this post. See you there!
Besides my usual cooking, I wrapped up a batch of Millie’s Minimal Knead Sourdough Bread. It turned out fantastic! As I told my friend the other day, the hardest part was making the effort to grind 10 cups of flour in the Vitamix. 
I tweaked the recipe only a bit. I didn’t use all kefir for the liquid. I used extra virgin olive oil for the oil, and honey for the sweetener. Millie is right that the bread is great for sandwiches – it is soft and the crust is soft.
Just thinking about flour… my favorite flour is spelt, but I’m working with whole wheat in the eCourse, for two reasons. First, it is less expensive. Second, it is available to most people. But… I’ve been thinking about using hard white wheat in one demonstration. The downside is that not everyone may able to get this flour, while just about everyone can get hard red wheat. If you’ve got any advice for me, I’d like to hear it.
When I use wheat, I usually use the hard red. We like the stronger flavor, but we also like that it comes from Bluebird Grain Farms in Washington. But, we visited friends on Sunday – my friend Christina who comments here now and then – and she made a beautiful – just beautiful – no-knead soudough loaf out of hard white wheat. It was amazing!
Pretty much the rest of the week I’ve been working like a madwoman on the eCourse, getting it ready for all of you.
So, that’s it for me – what’s twisting in your kitchen? To participate in the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival, visit this post.
About Wardeh
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I started that same exact bread recipe last night! Except I used part whole wheat and part spelt. I was amazed this morning that it rose so well overnight – much better than my last sourdough that didn’t use kefir. I wonder if the kefir helps the rise? Anyway, I cut the recipe in half last night and just now formed it into 8 buns for grass fed burgers tonight. I’ll let it soak and rise till late this afternoon. Hopefully they come out great!
.-= tara´s last blog post… My most impressive grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. =-.
Tara – I wouldn’t be surprised at that. But I’ve found that spelt rises better than the red wheat in general. Had you done spelt the other time? I love hearing what you’re doing with it. I’m going to start another batch today.
This is sad, but I *think* it was spelt that I used. LOL! I buy some of my flours from the bulk bins and I didn’t label some. So I know I used 3 cups of whole wheat and I’m pretty sure that I used 2 cups of spelt – it has kind of a black speck to it. Anyway, I didn’t know that about spelt rising better. I would love to grind my own flour, but I am without grain or a grinder. someday….
.-= tara´s last blog post… My most impressive grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. =-.
I know nothing & I mean absolutely nothing about homemade bread, let alone starters. There are only 2 of us at my house. Do I need to make a whole batch of starter mix in order to make a couple of loaves of bread for practice or can I cut the sourdough starter in half and also the bread mix?
Marlene – I’m not sure I understand your question exactly. But, let me try. You can halve all the ingredients in any bread recipe, including starter. So let’s say the recipe calls for 4 cups of starter. You want to make half the recipe, so you need 2 cups of starter for the recipe. So, you’ll be building it up to 2-1/2 or so (so you can keep back 1/2 cup for other recipes).
My question came as a result of reading on the website of realfoodforlessmoney. There was a recipe for the sourdough starter and also for making bread by using wheat or spelt flour. Thank you for the info.
Wardeh,
Hi. I would love to hear you talk and or demonstrate making bread using spelt flour in your e-class. I bought a 25 lb of spelt flour a while ago and haven’t had much success with it in my sourdough recipes. I have read that is takes less liquid ?? but when I use it my bread is heavy and dense, not at all light like you describe.
Thanks and looking forward to the class.
Tricia
Tricia, I was wondering if I should include a spelt demonstration. I think I will go ahead and do it. One big difference is that a spelt-fed starter is more runny, so yes, you could add less liquid overall to compensate for this. I usually feed my starter less liquid and then add as little flour as I can to the dough. It is so easy to add too much flour and get a heavy spelt loaf.