My 11 Grain Sourdough is still my daily bread. I make a small loaf a couple of times a week. It tastes wonderful, and it’s super healthy with lots of low GI complex whole grains. But most weeks I do something else as well just for variety. Sourdough Pita and Seedy Sourdough Crispbread are very regular, Sourdough Naan Bread fairly common. And this latest one has been a regular regular lately, and will likely stay regular till the macadamia season is over. Macas, besides tasting wonderful, are really good for heart health, – there’s some very good science that just a handful of nuts a day makes a huge difference. But mostly, it’s just because it’s so decadently delicious!
The Recipe:
The recipe makes a small loaf, which is all I usually make at once. You only need very thin slices – it’s so rich – so it goes a long way.
First the starter, taken out of the fridge before I go to bed and fed with a mug of baker’s flour mixed with a mug of water. A cup and a half of it put back in a container with a loosely fitting lid in the fridge. The rest (about a cup and a half full) left in a bowl covered with a tea towel on the bench overnight.
In the morning I add a couple of handfuls of roughly chopped macadamia kernels, and a handful each of whole pepitas, sunflower seeds, black sesame seeds, and crushed linseeds, and a couple of spoonfuls of poppy seeds.
Stir this lot in, along with a teaspoon of sea salt, and enough unbleached baker’s flour (high gluten flour) to make a smooth dough.
Put a slurp of oil in a bowl, roll the dough round in it, then leave to sit on the kitchen bench, covered with a cloth, for the day. I can get macadamia oil in bulk from my local wholefoods store, so that’s the oil I use for this.
By the afternoon, the dough has doubled in size. I lightly flour the bench top and give it a very quick knead, put it into an oiled bread tin, and slash the top.
About an hour and a half to two hours later in this warm weather it is ready to bake. It goes in a cold oven set to medium hot, and takes around an hour to bake so it sounds hollow when knocked and has a nice brown crust on top.
It’s good fresh or toasted, with sweet or savory topping – but I have to say my favourite is toasted till the macas have just a bit of colour, and spread with local honey.
That sounds so good! I will have to give it a go.
HI – have been trying out a sourdough starter which has basically of a “thick pancake batter” consistency (made with rye and bakers flour and water and fed every morning with water and bakers flour), that I found on line – what is your sourdough starter recipe? I had a couple of goes at your 11 grain bread, but it didn’t rise very well and was very stodgy and sourish- I allow the dough to rise, then make the loaf and let that rise – am I not leaving the bread to rise for long enough? and what would be the ratio of grain to dry ingredients?
Hi Jennifer, my best guess would be that your starter isn’t active enough. It may be that I have been really lucky with my starter. I feed mine about 3 times a week with a mixture of 50-50 (by volume) baker’s flour and water. I leave the fed starter on the benchtop for about 8 hours, by which time it is bubbly, like the image on the Everyday Sourdough post – https://witcheskitchen.com.au/everyday-sourdough/. It is also quite gloopy at this stage – it gloops rather than pours if that makes sense. I then add my grains and flour and a bit of salt, enough to make a smooth dough ball. The quantity will vary depending on the wetness of the grains and whether I have really absorbent ingredients like oat bran. I just knead it for a few minutes till it isn’t sticky. Then I oil the dough ball and leave it covered in a warmish spot for another 8 hours or so. It’s fairly forgiving at this stage. Then I knock it down, which just means a quick knead and shape the loaf, put it in a tin, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and leave for its final rise which only takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If I leave it too long at this stage it deflates again.