I made it up about four days ago and it’s been sitting in the fridge ever since.  This afternoon I followed the instructions and made the basic white loaf.  It’s delicious.  Probably one of the best breads I’ve ever made.  I’ll definately be making this one again!  The loaf is probably about six inches across, so it’s only a small loaf.  Big enough though, as we’re not huge bread eaters.  Yum!

Sourdough Wheat and Spelt Bread

Ingredients

1 cup plain sourdough starter (that’s starter made from just flour and water)

1 cup lukewarm water

2 tspn salt

1/4 tspn baking soda

1 cup organic white plain flour

2 cups organic wholemeal spelt flour

(Proof your starter before making this, that is, mix the starter with about one cup of warm water and a cup of plain flour and leave in a warm place for 4-8 hours.  Then measure out the cup of starter and put the rest in the fridge for next time)

Method

Sift and mix together all the dry ingredients.

In a large pyrex or ceramic bowl mix the water and starter together.

Add most of the dry ingredients and mix well.  Keep adding the dry ingredients until you can’t stir with a spoon any more.  Tip the dough out onto a floured bench and knead.  Add more dry ingredients as necessary, however keep in mind that sourdough needs to be moister than ordinary yeast dough.  It should end up as moist as possible, but not sticking to your hands and the bench.  I usually don’t use all the dry ingredients, mostly I end up with a few tablespoons left.  I put any excess away and use it next time.

Knead for ten minutes.  Use a timer, you really do need to knead for the full ten minutes to get a good texture to your bread.

Scrape any loose flour out of the bowl, oil it lightly and place the dough back in.  Oil the top of the dough, cover the bowl and put in a warm place until it has doubled in size.  This could take from 2-6 hours depending on your starter and the temperature.  I keep mine in the oven with the light on – just enough warmth to help it rise.

Take the dough out, turn it onto the floured bench again and punch it down.  I then divide it into two, as I have two small loaf tins, or you can leave it as is for one large loaf.  Flatten it out so it’s about as wide as your tin, then roll the dough up and place into your oiled/buttered and floured loaf tin.  Place the edge where you rolled it on the bottom.

Cover the tin/s and place back in a warm place to rise until doubled in size again.  I’ve found this takes about the same amount of time as the first rising, sometimes a little bit faster.

Bake in a pre-heated moderate oven (mine is 170 deg Celsius) for about 40 minutes, until browned and sounds hollow when tapped.  Remove from the oven and leave in the loaf tin for about 15-20 minutes, then turn out and let cool.

This bread freezes well and will last a few days without refrigeration.  It has a strong sourdough taste and is very filling and healthy!

If anyone makes this and discovers an error in my recipe please leave a comment and let me know!

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/FrenchSourDough.htm This is the recipe for the sourdough bread I made recently. I don’t make my starter the same way though, I mix the flour and water and then sit the uncovered bowl outside for a few hours on a quiet, windless day. That puts wild yeast from the air in the bowl to start the fermentation. It turns out different every time! The only thing to watch is if there is any pink mould or discolouration develop on the starter, you MUST throw it out and start again!

I keep my starter in a jar in the fridge and feed it 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour once a week. I also use organic unbleached wholemeal flour for the starter as it has more food for the yeast organisms. If any grey watery ‘hooch’ develops on top of the starter you can either stir it back in or pour it off, it’s harmless.

I’ll post the recipe for the Minestrone in a few days!

So far; – changed the deep fryer (don’t use it that much) from olive oil to Supafry animal fat. Baked vegies taste way better cooked in this!
- Tried using a butter spread (homemade) made with butter, olive oil and flaxseed oil. I found it rather salty and it sank into the bread. We’re currently back on Olive oil margerine, but I think I may try and just go to straight butter.
- No more Equal sugar substitute. Honestly, it’s scary reading the reports on these substitutes. They’re all neurotoxins, and the effects they have on a person’s body is shocking. The Stevia isn’t getting used, neither Eddie nor I like the taste, so we’re currently using organic raw sugar. Need to come up with a better solution. Maybe we should just bite the bullet and swap totally to Stevia and just get used to the taste.
- Eddie requested that I buy decaffienated coffee for him. This is day one, so we’ll see how he goes. I really should give up my coffee habit (2-3 daily) but I have to say I’m not real motivated to do this!
- Swapped normal table salt for Celtic Sea Salt and Trocomare. Celtic Sea Salt is natural salt, scraped off the salt ponds with wooden ladles. It’s a pale grey colour and has minerals and nutrients in it!!! Particularly iodine (from kelp). Trocomare is a seasoning, based on salt and herbs. It’s only 30% salt, the rest of the flavour is from the herbs. Tastes wonderful on vegies and in soups! We’re still working on convincing Dian that just because it’s low in salt doesn’t mean you can cover your food in it. Repeat after me, salt is a flavouring, not a food!

I’ve got a lot of concerns with making these changes. Will I eat the foods? I’m a fairly fussy eater, I don’t like meat and hate fat. I love my sugar! Will I be able to get Eddie and Dian to eat the foods? So far I’ve changed Eddie’s Equal (aspartame sweetener) for Stevia powder, and I have to say that the taste will take a while to get used to! Dian often won’t eat if she doesn’t like the meal, how can I get her to eat unusual foods???? And the sheer logistics of changing the way I cook, shop, store food etc.

My plan is that we’ve been eating in relative ignorance for this long, making changes slowly isn’t going to kill us! So, as we run out of foods I’ll either replace them with better choices in line with Sally’s directions, or not replace them at all. I can start making simple changes to our menu, making my own broth and soups, and start on a few ‘gentle’ fermented foods.

My Kombucha tea is staying! Which I’m very happy about! Among other wonderful things, kombucha contains glucoronic acid.
“Glucoronc acid is not readily commercially synthesized, but the healthy human liver makes large amounts of it to detoxify the body In the liver the glucoronic acid binds up all poisons and toxins – both environmental and metabolic – and rushes them to the excretory system. Toxins once bound by glucuronic acid cannot be reabsorbed into the system so we are rid of them.” Tom Valentine, Search for Health.