Sour Dough Bread with Mixed Seeds

I often hear people saying you should only cook or bake when you are happy or in a good mood as otherwise the food doesn't taste nice. I say... If you are angry at the world go and bake bread!

There is no better therapy to work off anger than kneading a good bread dough. 

Bread is the one food that is stable in all cultures in the world. It might not be always as a loaf neither is is always made out of wheat but you find it in one or the other variety everywhere.

I personally love bread which is no surprise as I grew up in Germany where bread is a stable food. But for me bread must have a crust and a substance. I don't like these soft crusted sandwich breads which you can push together to half their size and an hour later they are back to their old self. I find them tasteless, too sweet and they have the tendency to stick to your teeth.

I said in an earlier blog that I have a bread making machine. I like it because it is very convenient but unless I need fresh bread early in the morning I don't bake the bread in it. I use it for making the dough. But nothing beats getting your fingers dirty and getting rid of anger and frustration by kneading a good sour dough with your hands. The satisfaction you get when you feel the gluten reacting with the other ingredients and that stiff greyish mass develops into a beautiful elastic dough is amazing.

Sour dough breads are easy to make and the sourness enriches it's flavours. Sour dough goes especially well with whole wheat, rye and spelt or a mixture of all. You might need a few trials to get the starter dough right as it is very sensitive to the surrounding temperatures. While it takes in north European countries 2-3 days at each stage to ferment it hardly takes several hours in south India. So you need to experiment a bit or take dry sour dough mix instead.

For the starter dough I knead a smooth dough out of 115g whole wheat flour and 75ml warm water in a big bowl. This takes about 4-5 minutes. I always use whole wheat flour for my starter as I find it gives better results and taste. But you can also use a plain wheat flour or a rye flour or a mixture of them for it. I cover the bowl with cling foil and let it stand at room temperature (that is 23-27°C) for 2-3 days until the mixture turned greyish with bubbles and the volume has at roughly doubled. Make sure you removed all crust that might have formed on top of the starter before you 'feed' it.

Now I stir 120ml warm water into the mixture until I have a smooth paste. To it I add 175g flour and make a smooth dough out of it. Form a ball out of the dough and place it in a big bowl. Cover it again with cling foil and let it stand for 1-2 days at room temperature (23-27°C) until it is well risen. Remove all crust that might have formed on top of it before you use your starter.

In general it is advisable to check on the sour dough starter regularly. But do not remove the cling foil while the fermentation process is going on.

This starter can be kept in the fridge for about 10 days. If you want to keep it longer store it in the deep freezer. Just make sure it is completely defrosted and has reached room temperature before you use it for making a dough.

To keep your sour dough going you need to 'feed' it. This means if you use 200g of sour dough starter for your bread you need to replace it with 100g flour and 100ml warm water and knead the starter until it is a smooth dough again. If you maintain your starter well it can last you month and years.

For the bread in this recipe I used different flours and seeds. I like experimenting with different mixtures to see how the different flours influence the taste and structure of the bread.

In a big bowl I mix 250g whole wheat flour, 250g hard wheat semolina, 150g white wheat flour and 2 teaspoons of salt. In another bowl I soak 100g quick dissolving oats in 250ml warm milk. I further dissolve 20g fresh yeast or about 25-35g active dry yeast (the amount of dry active yeast might vary depending on product. Please check on the package how much you actually need) in 150ml warm water and let it stand for approximately 10 minutes until it starts forming bubbles.

Now there are 2 different methods of making this bread.

If you use a fresh sour dough starter like described above you need 235g of starter. Mix the starter with the dissolved yeast and 120ml warm water until you have a smooth paste. Add the oats mixture to it and mix well. Now pour the liquid mixture into the flour and knead the mixture for at least 10 minutes to get a smooth elastic dough. If the dough is too stiff add small amounts of warm water to it until you get a nice smooth dough. If it is too sticky add small amounts of flours. But please keep in mind that the gluten needs a few minutes to develop so have some patience before you start adding any additional water or flour to the dough.

If you use a dry sour dough starter mix 100g dry starter with the flour. Mix the yeast with the oats mixture and 120ml warm water and pour it all into the flour. Now you proceed kneading your dough.

Cover the bowl with a wet towel and leave it to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until the volume has doubled. Take the dough out of the bowl. On a slightly floured surface knock the dough back and knead gently for about 5 minutes. Put it back in a clean bowl and leave it to rise for another 30-45 minutes.

In the meantime pre-heat the oven to 220-240°C.

On small plates keep 2 tablespoons of each white and black sesame seeds, barley, pumpkin, melon and flax seeds. This is what I used but the seeds you use are purely up to your taste.

I carefully knock down the dough again. Now I take small portions of the dough and make balls with3-4cm diameter out of it. I dip each ball into one of the seeds and place them in a rectangular loaf form (approx. 24x12cm). This I repeat until the dough is used up. You will have 3 layers of seed covered dough balls in your form. I cover it again with a wet towel and let it rise for another 30 minutes. Than I bake it for 45 minutes in the oven.

Let it cool down for 5 minutes. Than remove it form the baking form and let it cool down on a wired rack.

Knowing me I wonder around that loaf for the next hour anxiously waiting for it to cool down enough to slice it. I simply love the corner slice of fresh bread combined with slightly salted butter.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola