Sour Dough Bread

Here are the many reasons I make naturally leavened or sour dough bread: There are some tricks to making the bread, and it is not the soft fluffy bread like you can buy in the store, or even the yeast, whole grain bread that I make myself.  But I find it much more hearty and delicious than that bread. We love to make the foccacia bread recipe found at the bottom of the page. We have it for dinner with a big salad. We dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a little Italian spices.

Fast-made bread is one of the most destructive implementations into the modern diet ... Poorly prepared and poorly-digested wheat is the chief contributor to the current plague of "gluten-intolerance," obesity, diabetes, Candida diseases and many allergenic conditions all of which contribute to the conditions that cause cancer ... Only when wheat is properly fermented is it healthy for human consumption.

The beneficial bacteria found in sourdough bread help control candida albicans, whereas baker's yeast is a pro-candida organism.

It's the fermentation, partly from lactobacillus, that makes eating good quality bread an aid to digestion of all complex carbohydrate foods including other grains, beans, and vegetables. It helps restore the functioning of the digestive tract, resulting in proper assimilation and elimination. 

Naturally leavened bread ... helps in the recovery of digestion and proper elimination by the effective action of friendly bacteria.

The creation of sourdough utilizes carbohydrates, lowering the carbohydrate level in the dough as it's transformed to the lactic acid. The result of this process means that sourdough bread can aid in ensuring that your blood glucose level remains in line, helping to guard against various diseases especially diabetes. 

Sourdough bread increases in nutritional value for days. 

Malnutrition, due to undigested gluten (from fast-breads) is one of the major factors that lead to disease.

The sourdough process makes starches more digestible by predigesting them, and it lowers insulin resistance while increasing glucose intolerance. 

Sourdough bread is claimed to have a better digestibility than yeast-fermented and non-fermented breads.

 

Sour Dough Starter

It takes about 7 days to get a start going. Or you can find someone who has a start and use theirs. I tried many different ways of making a starter and found the most helpful recipe in the book, “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallen. Her recipe makes about 3 quarts of start which I whittle down to just a cup or two as I start using it. I store it in my fridge, taking it out when I’m ready to make bread. I feed it and let it bubble then put it back in the fridge.

You can use any type of flour, but rye flour seems to give the best results to make a start. You will need two gallon sized bowls.

2 cups freshly ground rye flour

2 cups cold filtered water

Cheesecloth

6 cups of freshly ground rye flour

More cold filtered water.

 

Grind 2 cups flour and let it sit for a bit to cool. In one large bowl, mix flour with 2 cups of cold water. The mixture should be quite soupy. Cover with a double layer of cheesecloth secured with a rubber band. Place in a warm open area indoors or on a patio.

The next day and every day for a total of 7 days, transfer the starter to the other clean bowl and add 1 cup freshly ground rye flour plus enough cold water to make a soupy mixture. Cover and let stand. After a few days the starter will begin to bubble and develop a wine-like aroma. It should go through a bubbly, frothy stage and then subside. After 7 days the starter is ready for bread making. Use the 2 quarts for a batch of sourdough but save 1 quart for your next batch of starter.

 

Sour Dough Bread

1 cup Activated Leaven

5 1/4 c. filtered water

4 t. crystal salt or real salt

14 - 16 c. freshly ground whole grain flour

can use spelt, kamut, or white or red wheat

Approx. 2 T. Start

Added the 3 c. flour and 2 c. water

To activate the start: Take 2 T. of start from the refrigerator. (I usually do this the night before I want to make bread) Put in a quart or 1/2 gallon jar. Add 3 c. whole grain flour and 2 c. filtered water.  Mix well and let sit on the counter until nice and bubbly.  (Usually over night and its ready to make bread in the morning)

Nice and bubbly 

Add flour while mixer is going.
Still too sticky

Mix the activated leaven, the filtered water, sea salt, and half of the freshly ground whole grain flour together. While the mixer is still going, scoop and level one cup of flour at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of your mixing bowl or from your hands, keeping it as wet as possible. Moist dough will allow better oven spring for loaf breads.

Dough has pulled away from the sides.

Knead the dough by hand for 10-20 minutes or knead with a large kitchen mixer for 5-10 minutes.

Divide and shape or let rest first:  Divide and shape the dough. Or let the dough rest covered for 4-10 hours.  And then knead again, divide and shape.

Before it has raised

Ready to put in pan

Cut in half: take one half and put on cookie sheet for focaccia bread. (Below)The other half, split in half and make into two loaves and place in oiled loaf pans.  (Or you can make four loaves out of the whole batch)

Let Rise until the dough doubles in size.  This may take 4-10 hours between 68-78˚ F.  However, you may need to allow 10-24 hours if you have gluten sensitivity or if you want sour dough.

Note: to encourage the leavening process in a cool environment, warm your oven to 180˚ F. When oven is preheated, turn it off and place the covered dough in side.  Watch closely. To be properly broken down, the total time between mixing the dough and baking should be at least 4 hours!

Preheat and Bake

450˚F. for 20-30 min baking stone

400˚F for 30-40 min loaf pan or baking sheet

350˚F for 40-50 min glass pan in a solar oven

Preheat oven and baking stone (if using): See baking chart. Place a pan of water at the bottom of the oven. Slash the top crust with a sharp knife multiple times.

A secret to handling the bread dough
is using water. Keep the counter top
wet and moisten the utensils with
water too.

Bake until golden brown using baking times from the chart for conventional ovens. Baking multiples loaves simultaneously may require additional baking time.

Let cool 15-30 minutes before slicing, if you can stand it.

Oil or Butter the crust if a shine is desired. Serve with pesto, oil and Italian seasonings, butter and a fruit spread, or enjoy with soups, stews, and salads!

Store extra bread in the freezer within a sealed container. Reheat in toaster or oven.

2

1

3 Spread dough with wet fingers

For Focaccia bread: in a sheet cake pan put 1 ½ T. olive oil. Use the half batch of dough and spread it evenly throughout the pan. (I use a pastry roller)Put olive oil on top and sprinkle with Mrs. Dash Garlic and herb and Parmesan cheese. Put pumpkin seeds on top and roll in with a pastry roller.  Bakeat 400˚ for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

4 Add olive oil on top.

5 Sprinkle with seasoning.
(I use Mrs Dash garlic and herb)

6. Add pumpkin seeds and roll with
 pastry roller