The most yummy of all – sourdough chocolate babka

4 / 13 / 174 / 13 / 17

I just realized I've only been posting sweet breads lately (haven't heard anyone complaining though, which is a good thing).

It must be I'm compensating for something I'm missing in my life or just pure challenge and yumminess of the sweet dough. Whenever I can, I dream about soft, buttery dough and melting rich dark chocolate between shreadable layers.

I've been dreaming about babka for a long time. And I've tried my luck couple of times, but I wasn't quite happy with the result. It was either too dry, to hard or not sweet.

Last week I was really amazed by all of your comments, kind words and your ideas on what you would like to try and bake in my last post. Some of you wrote you would like to bake babka. I was intrigued!

I tried it again this weekend and it came out perfectly. So today I would like to share the recipe for sourdough chocolate babka. The secret here is that I used very soft brioche dough that I also used for hot cross buns. What I find important is that one type of dough can be used for so many purposes. If you find one that works, stick to it :)

Hop on this sourdough babka trip with me! Only sweet, delicious, chocolaty and buttery things ahead.

GIVEAWAY - cookbook Beyond the Plate - Top Food Blogs from around the World:
The winner of the giveaway was randomly selected among all the entries.
The winner is: Kathy Stahl. Congratulations! Please drop an e-mail to natasa@mydailysourdoughbread.com.
To all others who participated - big thank you!

Sourdough chocolate babka
Yields: 2 medium-sized babkas

Baking schedule:
The dough for the babka was mixed in the late afternoon, left to rise for 2 hours at room temperature, put in the fridge overnight, shaped in the morning, left to rise for couple of hours and baked in the afternoon of that day.

Ingredients:

Note: Baker's percentages are put in brackets if you would like to scale up or down the formula.

Chocolate filling
130 g melted dark chocolate (I used 70%)
120 g melted butter
10 g cocoa powder
10 g powdered brown sugar
50 g roughly chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:

Sourdough starter
1. In the morning, prepare your sourdough starter. The starter will be stiff, more like a dough. Leave it to ferment until doubled in volume. This may take from 4-12 hours, depending on the environment temperature and strength of your mother starter. If your starter doubles very fast but you are not ready to make the dough, put the jar in the fridge.

Dough
2. In the late afternoon mix the dough. /NOTE: I used mixer to knead the dough. / In a large mixing bowl put milk, starter, sugar, eggs, flour and salt. Mix everything together. If the dough feels dry, don't be tempted to add too much of additional liquid - mixing in the butter in the following phase will soften the dough (experiment with the softness of the dough) - but do add the liquid if you can't incorporate all the flour. Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes and then leave it to rest for 15-20 minutes.

3. Next, knead in half of the butter quantity. Once completely integrated, add and knead in the other half. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes (it is advisable to use mixer) until smooth and elastic - check how transparent can the dough be if you stretch it. If you feel the gluten is not developing well, leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes and you will be able to notice the change. Shape the dough into ball and place it into clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to ferment at the room temperature for 2 hours, then put the bowl into the fridge overnight.

4. In the morning, first prepare the filling. Mix together melted chocolate and melted butter, cocoa powder and powdered sugar. The batter will be runny. Put the filling to a fridge for at least half an hour or until the batter starts to thicken up and feel spreadable (like Nutella for example) - see photos below.
Also, prepare two tins and line them with parchement paper. I used one 25 cm (9.8 in) long and other 18 cm (7 in) long.

5. When the filling is ready, take the dough out of the fridge and place it on slighlty floured surface. Roll the dough into sqaure measuring approximately 45x45 cm (appr.18x18 in) and to be 4-5 mm thick. When done, spread the filling across the dough, leaving 1-1.5 cm (half inch) edge. If you want, sprinkle some roughly chopped chocolate or chocolate chips across the dough. Tightly roll the dough into log. Trim the ends if necessary.

6. Next, take a sharp knife and cut the log in half lengthwise all the way through - see the photo below. To shape the babka, take one half and place it over the other and than simply braid these two halves. Cut the braided dough to fit your tins.

7. Leave the babkas to rise until approximately doubled in volume. Final rise may take 4-7 hours, it's temperature depending. My needed 5 hours. When the babkas are almost risen, preheat the oven to 220°C/428°F. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 220°C/428°F, then decrease to 200°C/392°C and bake for another 30-40 minutes or until nicely baked.

8. When baked, take the babkas from the tins and leave them to cool on a cooling rack. If eaten fresh, the babka will literally melt in your mouth, it's so soft.

Don't forget to share the experience if you try them - tag me with @mydailysourdoughbread on Instagram or let me know in the comment below ;)

Beyond the Plate cookbook and Scrumptious sourdough hot cross buns

4 / 5 / 178 / 15 / 17

This is slightly long post, but hang on, there are just good and delicious things here!

First, I have an announcement to make.

I am beyond happy and grateful to announce that My Daily Sourdough Bread blog is featured in newly published book called Beyond the Plate - Top Food Blogs from around the World published by Prestel Publishing.

Prestel publishing is one of the world's leading illustrated book publishers with a stunning list of beautifully crafted books on all aspects of art, photography and design.

Accompanied by amazing creatives who are my greatest inspiration like Local Milk, Hortus Cuisine, Lab Noon, Krautkopf etc. I am very grateful for the opportunity to share my love for sourdough baking and photography. Being so diverse in recipes and stories by each blogger from around the world, the book is a perfect gift for everyday cooking. The book is now available worldwide.

Aaaaand: To celebrate this publishing occasion, Prestel publishing and My daily sourdough bread are giving one copy of the book to one lucky winner.

EDITED - the giveaway is now closed.
GIVEAWAY
To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below and tell me what type of bread from around the world would you like to try or bake?

Giveaway is open until next Wednesday. Good luck!

The winner will be randomly selected and notified via e-mail.

So, the second thing is: I can't believe I didn't know how good the hot cross buns are!! It's like I was living in a cave for the past 30 years. The reason I even thought of making hot cross buns was the jar of rum macerated raisins I'd prepared three weeks ago.

I didn't have any goals of using these raisins, I just like the flavors and smell when rum is combined with lemon and orange peel and vanilla powder. You should definitely try this at home.

As the raisins kept soaking and with the Easter approaching, I thought I'd try something new this year. In Slovenia, potica (a walnut roll) is usually eaten for Easter. But this year I crave freshness, textures and different flavors with a bang.

Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten in New Zealand, Australia, Caribbean, Great Britain and Canada at Great Friday just before the Easter.

For me, they are definitely a year round keeper. Being very soft, they are perfect for breakfast, for lunch dessert or as a simple snack.

Scrumptious sourdough hot cross buns
Yields: 12 buns

Baking schedule:
The dough for these hot cross buns was mixed in the late afternoon, left to rise for 2 hours at room temperature, put in the fridge overnight, shaped in the morning, left to rise for couple of hours and baked in the afternoon of that day.

Ingredients:

Note: Baker's percentages are put in brackets if you would like to scale up or down the formula.

Starter
80 g white wheat flour (bread flour)
20 g brown sugar
25 g active mother sourdough starter
35 g water

Dough
350 g white wheat flour (bread flour) (100%)
all of the above starter (appr. 160g) (42%)
2 eggs (appr. 100 g) (28%)
50 g brown sugar (12%)
85 g unsalted softened butter (24%)
7 g salt (2%)
110 g milk (31%) **
90 g raisins, soaked in rum (25%) ***
lemon zest of one lemon
orange zest of one orange
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

** NOTE: Please feel free to add more liquid (steps of 10 g), if you feel the dough is too stiff and all the flour is difficult to incorporate. Don't be tempted to add a lot of liquid as you add butter in the second stage of dough mixing which softens the dough.

*** I used rum macerated raisins. This means I mixed rum, raisins, vanilla powder, lemon and orange peel and left the mixture to soak for about three weeks to get the heavenly taste and flavors. If you don't have raisins prepared in this way, just soak the raisins in rum at about same time you prepare the starter for the dough. Soaked raisins will add moisture to the dough and extra flavor dimension compared to dry ones.

Hot cross paste
70 g flour (I used the same flour as in the dough)
20 g oil (I used sunflower oil)
60 g water

Vanilla sugar glaze
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs boiling hot water
pinch of vanilla powder

Instructions:

Sourdough starter
1. In the morning, prepare your sourdough starter. The starter will be stiff, more like a dough. Leave it to ferment until doubled in volume. This may take from 4-12 hours, depending on the environment temperature and strength of your mother starter. If your starter doubled very fast but you are not ready to make the dough, put the jar in the fridge.

Dough
2. In the late afternoon mix the dough. /NOTE: I used mixer to knead the dough. / In a large mixing bowl put milk, starter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, eggs, flour and salt. Mix everything together. If the dough feels dry, don't be tempted to add too much of additional liquid - mixing in the butter in the following phase will soften the dough (experiment with the softness of the dough) - but do add the liquid if you can't incorporate all the flour. Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes and then leave it to rest for 15-20 minutes.

3. Next, knead in half of the butter quantity. Once completely integrated, add and knead in the other half. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes (it is advisable to use mixer) until smooth and elastic - check how transparent can the dough be if you stretch it. Leave the dough to rest for 5 minutes, then knead in the raisins, orange and lemon peel. Shape the dough into ball and place it into clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to ferment at the room temperature for 2 hours, then put the bowl into the fridge overnight.

4. In the morning, take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 12 pieces, each weighing around 73-74 g. Shape each piece into a ball and place it on slightly floured tray lined with parchement paper. When done, cover the tray with clingfilm - this will prevent the dough from drying out. Leave the balls to rise until passing the poking test (appr. doubled in volume) - make an indent - if the indent comes back quickly, leave them to ferment a little bit more. Final rise may take 4-7 hours, it's temperature depending.

5. When the balls are almost risen, preheat the oven to 220°C/428°F. Just before putting the pan into oven spread the hot cross paste across the buns. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 220°C/428°F, then decrease to 200°C/392°C and bake for another 20 minutes or until golden brown.

6. When you take the pan out of the oven, immediately brush the buns with sugar glaze. Leave the buns to cool down a little bit. These buns are the best when eaten slightly warm :)

Softness at its best.

Don't forget to share the experience if you try them - tag me with @mydailysourdoughbread on Instagram or let me know in the comment below ;)

Sourdough brioche chocolate hazelnut rolls

2 / 2 / 17

Hello world! It's what you usually write when you publish your first post, right? Well, this is my first post this year, though it looks like I've got stuck somewhere in August :)

Time flies really fast. It flies even faster when you're involved in too many things and you forget to breathe in between to become even aware of it. It flies fast when you don't focus on yourself and your goals but always make others a priority and always act as pleaser. Or when you forget why you do things you do in the first place. Time flies fast when you allow others to lead your life. And when you compare yourself to others thinking you're not good enough even when you pour all yourself into what you do.

When I get stuck, I return to sourdough baking. It helps me to simplify things and to feel grounded again. It's when I know why I do it. It's because I love to learn and experience new things and new flavours. Lately, I've been experimenting with brioche style dough. The brioche dough is perfect for soft rolls and you can use it to make other sourdough goodies, like this chocolate cinnamon twist bread.

What have you been baking in the meantime? Any delicious recipe to try out? Let me know in a comment below.

I invite you to follow more of my sourdough adventures on Instagram.

Sourdough brioche chocolate hazelnut rolls
Yields: 9-10 rolls

Baking schedule:
The dough for this rolls was prepared in the evening, left to rise overnight, put in the fridge to consolidate, shaped in the morning, and left to rise at the room temperature. The rolls were baked on the second day.

Ingredients:

Note: Baker's percentages are put in brackets if you would like to scale up or down the formula.

Starter
75 g water
75 g strong white wheat flour
1 heaping tablespoon of your (active) sourdough starter

Dough
all of the above starter
400 g strong white wheat flour (100%)
150 g milk (37.5%)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
40 g of caster sugar (10%)
7 g salt ( 1.75%)
130 g butter, cubed and slightly soft but still cold (32.5%)

Filling
150 g roasted and ground hazelnuts
180 g melted dark chocolate

Instructions:

Sourdough starter
1. In the morning, prepare your sourdough starter. Mix 75 g of white wheat flour, 75 g of water, and 1 heaping tablespoon of your base sourdough starter. Leave it to ferment until risen, puffed, active and bubbly. This may take from 4-12 hours, depending on the temperature and strength of your starter.

Dough
2. In the evening/late afternoon mix the dough. First, dissolve your entire starter in 150 g of milk. Add all other ingredients, except for the butter. Mix everything together. If the dough feels dry, don't be tempted to add much of additional liquid - mixing in the butter in the following phase will soften the dough. Knead the dough for 5-6 minutes and then leave it to rest for 15-20 minutes.

3. Next, knead in half of the butter quantity. Once completely integrated, add and knead in the other half. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes (it is advisable to use mixer) until smooth. Shape the dough into ball and place it into clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to ferment overnight in a cool place until almost doubled in volume. Keep an eye on the dough, you don't want to overproof it.

4. When the dough is ready, put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour, preferably more. This is an important step which will enable easier (non-sticky) shaping afterword.

5. When you are ready to shape the rolls, prepare the filling. Mix the roasted and ground hazelnuts (I roasted them for 15 minutes at 160°C) and melted chocolate. Also, take your dutch oven (or any other round pan) and grease it with butter and lightly dust it with flour.

Shaping
6. Roll the dough to be 5 mm thick or 30×45 cm (12×18 inch) wide. Drop the filling across the rolled dough and spread it thinly, leaving 1 cm (1/2 inch) space from all sides.

7. Roll the dough from the longest side in the direction away from you to get a log. Cut the log into pieces using a sharp knife or a piece of thread. Place the rolls into the pan.

Final rise
Leave the dough to rise at the room temperature until puffed. This step is temperature depending, it can take anything from 1 to 3 hours.

Baking
Thirty minutes before the baking, preheat the oven to 200°C (375°F) or 180°C (356°F) with the fan oven. When the dough is ready, put the pan oven into oven and bake the rolls until well baked, 30-40 minutes. Leave to cool slightly on the rack. Best when eaten warm.

What is your favorite rolls filling?

Let me know if you try them - tag me on Instagram (@mydailysourdoughbread) or drop a comment below :)

See you soon!

Sourdough bialys and new adventures

6 / 11 / 16

Looking at my last post, it looks I've never returned from Sicily :) Well, I didn't in a way. The memories of beautiful Sicily and its gorgeous landscape and spending time and creating new projects with Clear Sicily team are still so alive. More of the Sicily is coming in the next months and I invite you to follow me on the social media (Facebook, Instagram), where I post the glimpses of my bread adventures. There is one new adventure just around the corner as I'm soon off to the French countryside to bake some bread in a food wired oven - so stay tuned!

And now for the recipe of today's post. I'm a big fan of pizzas (even more than of a loaf of bread, but don't tell anyone, OK?) and I'm always happy to find new shapes and flavors. Bialy is one of those shapes (look at those mini pizzas!) and there is just something magical about the roasted onion in the bread.

Bialy (also bialystoker kuchen or cebularz in Poland) is a type of yeasted roll, being a traditional dish in Polish and Jewish cuisine. It is named after a polish city Bialystok. Bialys can be filled with anything, but traditionally you'll find them filled with onions, garlic, poppyseeds and breadcrumbs.

Bialys are (just like bagels, their boiled cousins) very popular over the Atlantic ocean, in New York City. They were brought to America by Jewish immigrants in the early's 1900.

Sourdough bialys
Yields: 9 bialys

Baking schedule:
Starter for the dough was prepared in the evening and left to rise overnight. The dough was mixed in the morning, left to double in volume, preshaped into rolls, left to rest, shaped and baked immidiately on a baking stone.

Ingredients:

Starter
75 g whole grain wheat flour
75 g water
1 teaspoon of your mother starter

Dough
all of the above starter (appr. 150 g)
400 g white wheat flour (or bread flour)
270 g water*
8 g salt

Filling
2 big onions or 4 smaller ones
fat for sautéed onions

* Adjust the water qauntities to the absorption needs of your flour. My flour doesn't absorb much, the dough was quite dynamic and soft at 65%. You should aim for the dough that is niether soft nor stiff.

Instructions:

Starter

1. In the evening, prepare the starter. Mix 1 teaspoon of your (active) mother sourdough starter, 75 g of whole grain wheat flour and 75 g of water. Cover and leave to ferment overnight until doubled in volume and bubbly.

Dough

2. In the morning, prepare the dough. Mix 270 g of water and all of the above starter. Add flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated and then knead the dough for 5 minutes. Next, leave the dough to rest for 1 hour.

3. Once one hour has passed, add salt and incorporate it well into the dough. Also, check if the dough is stiff and it needs more water. Now leave the dough to rise until almost doubled in volume, puffed and airy. If you want, you can perform several stretch and folds during the rise - it will help the dough to get more strength. My dough needed 5 hours to rise, your might take less or more, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

4. Once the dough is risen, use your plastic dough spatula to gently take it out to the unfloured working surface. Dust the upper surface of the dough with flour and using your bench knife or dough spatula divide it into 9 pieces, each weighting approximately 85 g. Shape a roll from each piece of the dough - see the left photo below. Dust the rolls with flour, cover them with a kitchen cloth and leave to rest for an hour.

5. In the meantime, sauté the onions and preheat the baking stone to the maximum temperature of you oven. Sauté the onions until nicely colored and softened. Feel free to add some herbs, spices or poppyseeds as well.

6. When the dough has rested and your stone has been preheated, start shaping the bialys. Dust the working surface first. Work with one piece of the dough at the time. First, dust the top surface of the roll and then flip it on dusted side down. Next, make a rim at about 1.5-2 cm away from the edge and use your fingers to flatten the middle of the dough. Make sure the middle part is very thin, you don't want the dough to puff up in the middle and get the onions out all over the place. Place each shaped bialy on the parchment paper and fill the indentation with roasted onions.

7. Transfer the parchment paper with a pizza peel onto the hot baking stone and lower the temperature to 240°C (465°F). Bake for 20 minutes or until nicely colored.

Bon appetit!

100% pane di semola rimacinata or back to Sicily

4 / 2 / 164 / 2 / 16

You know that feeling when you travel somewhere and it feels good, almost like home, and it feels like soul has anchored? I had this feeling when visiting Sicily a year and a half ago. I promised myself to come back. I didn't know when and I haven't been making any plans to come back, I just let the thought of it somewhere at the back of my mind and to puzzle itself on its own.

Guess what? Now it's that time go come back. I'm just about to leave for Sicily in couple of hours.

And the best part of it? This trip will all be about sourdough breads and flours.

If we were to find a place of (heritage) grains revival and wheat grain diversity, then Sicily is an absolute gem. Sicily is well known for its fertile soil, which makes it perfect for cereals cultivation. It is no suprise that Sicily gained title "the granary of Rome" in the Roman times. Nowadays, more and more farmers and millers are getting aware of the importance of grain preservation of old and healthier grain varieties.

All this wouldn't have been possible without Clear Sicily international team that I'm very grateful to be the part of. Clear Sicily is all about being passionate about Sicily, its products and people. And it is more and more inspired by breads and flours.

In the next ten days we'll travel around Sicily and get to know it personally. And bake a lot of sourdough bread!

As an introduction to the Sicily I would like to share with you recipe for sourdough bread with 100% semolina flour or pane di semola rimacinata. This bread is sweat, soft, and...just look at that yellow color! It's just like Sicily in my memory - sunny side up.

Semolina is coarsely ground durum wheat (grano duro, Triticum durum - a variety of wheat) and it's often used to make pasta. When it's called semola rimacinata in italian, it reffers to semolina which has been re-milled to make it finer and more suitable for bread baking. There is a vast variety of breads in souther Italy made with semola rimacinata, like Pane di Altamura (Provincia di Bari), or Mafalda and Pane di Lentini in Sicily to name just a few. The natural yellow color comes from carotenoids present in the grain.

And now, let's hop to the recipe.

100% pane di semola rimacinata
Yields: 1 medium-sized loaf

Baking schedule:
Starter for this bread was prepared in the evening, the dough was mixed in the morning, left to rest 1 hour and then left to rise until fully proofed for another 3 hours.

Ingredients:

Starter
70 g of your (active) mother sourdough starter
250 g of semolina flour (farina di semola rimacinata)
225 g of water

Dough
300 g of semolina flour
200 g of water
9 g salt

Instructions:

Starter

1. In the evening, prepare the starter. Mix 70 g of your (active) mother sourdough starter, 250 g of semolina flour and 225 g water. Cover and leave to ferment overnight until doubled in volume and bubbly.

Dough

2. In the morning, prepare the dough. Mix 200 g of water and all of the above starter. Add flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated and then knead the dough for 5 minutes. Next, leave the dough to rest for 1 hour.

3. Once one hour has passed, add salt and incorporate it well into the dough. Also, check if the dough is stiff and it needs more water. If you want to add some addins like seeds or pistachios, now it's the time.

Knead the dough again for 5 minutes and then pre-shape it into boule (round loaf) and leave it to rest covered for 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the rising basket - dust it well with flour or line a rising basket with a table cloth and dust it with flour.

4. After 10 minutes have passed, shape the dough into boule and place it into rising basket smooth surface-down. Leave the dough to rise until it increases in volume and passes the poking test - make an indent with finger into the dough and observe the reaction - if the indent springs back slowly, the dough is ready to be put into oven, if it spring back quickly, leave it to rise a little bit longer.

My dough needed 3 hours, yours might need more or less, depending on the activity of your starter and ambient temperature.

Baking

5. At least 30 minutes before baking preheat your oven to the maximum temperature of your oven along with dutch oven or a baking stone. I used dutch oven.

6. When the oven is preheated, take the loaf out of the rising basket, score it with a blade or sharp knige and transfer it to dutch oven. Put your dutch oven into oven.

7. Bake the loaf for 20 minutes with the lid on at 240°C/465F°F and 25-30 minutes with lid off at 230°C/445°F and until bread gets nice dark color.

Talk soon and stay tuned!

Life twists and sourdough cinnamon and chocolate twist bread

2 / 15 / 16

There were some sunny Christmas days spent in the mountains and there was a car crash couple of days later. I was overlooked and there was nothing I could do. I was in shock and I wasn't in shock. I was angry. The moment of collision was long and it was short. I didn't know if I would make it. I did. It hurt and it still hurts. Not much will for baking, but time for recovery and thinking. I don't know if I can call this being lucky, but in that moment of crash and not knowing, I felt how it's like having regrets of not living fully. Because, when you make some steps towards that side, you are alone with yourself. And regrets hurt the most.

So, when life gives you twists, you make a twist bread, right?

" Life has many twists and turns and sometimes what looks like a very bad day can be just clearing the way for good things to come. "

Sourdough cinnamon and chocolate twist bread
Yields: one twist bread baked in dutch oven (you can also use any other round pan)

Baking schedule:
The dough for this bread was prepared in the morning, left to rise until almost doubled in volume, shaped, and left to rise until passing the poking test. It was baked in a same day.

Ingredients:

Starter
100 g water
100 g white wheat flour (bread flour)
1 tablespoon of your (active) sourdough starter

Dough
all of the above starter (appr. 200 g)
180 g warm milk*
370 g white wheat flour (bread flour)
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
6 g salt

Filling
100 g soft butter
60 g sugar (I used brown sugar)
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
50 g of grated chocolate (I used 70% cocoa chocolate)

* Please adjust the liquid content to your flour. If your flour absorbs more liquid, feel free to add more liquid during mixing. The dough for this bread is soft and not so sticky, but not runny (see photos below).

Instructions

Sourdough starter

1. In the evening, first prepare your sourdough starter. Mix 100 g of white wheat flour, 100 g of water, and 1 tablespoon or your base starter. Leave it to ferment until risen, puffed, active and bubbly, so you will be able to mix it into the dough next morning.

Dough

2. In the morning, mix the dough. First, dissolve all of your starter in 180 g of water. Add egg yolk and melted butter. Next, add all of the flour (370 g), salt and sugar. Mix well, and knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth. Shape it into ball and place it into a bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap and leave to ferment until doubled in volume (right photo below). My dough needed 3.5 hours, yours might take more or less, depending on the temperature of your kitchen and power of your starter.

3. When you see the dough is about to be ready, prepare the filling. Mix softened butter, sugar, cinnamon and grated chocolate.
Also, take your dutch oven (or any other pan) and line it with a piece of parchement paper and grease it with butter.

Shaping

4. Roll the dough to be 5 mm thick or 30×45 cm (12×18 inch) wide. Drop the filling across the rolled dough and spread it thinly, leaving 2 cm (1 inch) from all sides.

5. Roll the dough from the longest side, then thuck the ends underneath. Cut the rolled dough in half length-wise. You can cut as I did, leaving some part of the dough uncut or you can completely cut it in half. Flip the cut halves outwards.

6. Start braiding two strands one over another. Tuck the ends together to form a circle. Place the twisted bread into dutch oven and let it rise.

Final rise

Leave the dough to rise until puffed (doubled in volume). My dough needed 1.5 hours.

Baking

30 minutes before the baking preheat the oven to 200°C (375°F). When the dough is ready, put the dutch oven into oven and bake it until well baked, 30-40 minutes.

Take care!

Gratitude sourdough bread + FREE gift tags download!

12 / 13 / 1512 / 11 / 17

I later learnt that this fruit bread was well known bread in German spoken countries (Austria, Germany), where it is called kletzenbrot. Kletzen is a German word for dried pears and brot means bread. Kletzenbrot is traditional Christmas fruit bread (besides stollen).

This year I decided to bake this delicious bread (in simplified and non- traditional version) on my own and share it with others.

Rye flour, orange peel, roasted hazelnuts, chocolate chips, dry plums, dry apples, and roasted rye malt - MAGIC.

Roasted rye malt? It gives the bread that special brown color and little bit of sweetness.

" Breaking bread is the best way to feel connected. "

And since I'm sure you'll also be sharing your breads with others, I've prepared printable gift tags, which you only need to cut out and then simply decorate your delicious bread gift. Download the tags below.

- DOWNLOAD CHRISTMAS GIFT TAGS HERE -

And now, let's hop to the recipe.

Gratitude sourdough bread (with dry fruits, chocolate and nuts)
Yields: one medium-sized loaf

Baking schedule:
This bread was mixed in the evening (late afternoon), left to rise for 3 hours at the room temperature until slightly risen, shaped and then put in the fridge until passing the poking test (in ny case 12 hours). It was baked in the morning of the following day.

Baking schedule alternative:
Mix the dough, leave it to rise for 3 hours hours until the dough gets alive, slightly risen and puffed, shape it and leave it to rise at the room temperature until passes the poking test (time is dependant on the ambient temperature).

Ingredients

Sourdough starter
50 g whole grain rye flour
50 g water
1 tablespoon of your base starter (the one you keep alive)

Dough
all of the above sourdough starter (appr. 100 g)
225 g whole grain rye flour
225 white wheat flour (or bread flour)
2 tablespoons of roasted rye malt*
350 g water - 77% hydration dough
(pay attention to the water level, adjust it to your flour's absorbance - if you flour absorbs less water, add less water in the beginning, it is easy to add it more later if necessary)
9 g fine sea salt

Fruit soaker
40 g dry apples, chopped to small pieces
100 g dry prunes
50 g rum

Other
60 g chocolate chips (I used these)
orange zest of 2 organic oranges
70 g roasted hazelnuts, chopped (roast them for 8-9 minutes at 230°C/446°F)

* if you don't have roasted rye malt at hand, substitute it for cocoa powder but make sure you add some (appr. 1-2 tablespoons) sweetener (honey, maple or agave syrup) to compensate for the bitterness.

Left: roasted rye malt. Right: Dry apples, dry prunes, chocolate chips, and roasted hazelnuts.

Instructions

1. In the morning, first prepare your sourdough starter. Mix 50 g of whole grain rye starter, 50 g of water, and 1 tablespoon or your base starter. Leave it to ferment until risen, puffed, active and bubbly, so you will be able to mix it into the dough in the late afternoon.
Next, prepare a fruit soaker. Mix rum, dry prunes and dry apples and let them soak until you are ready to mix the dough.

Rye sourdough starter ready to be mixed in the dough.

2. In the afternoon, mix the dough. First, dissolve all of your starter in 350 g of water. Add all of the flour (450 g) and rye malt. Mix well, knead for couple of minutes, cover the bowl with a lid, kitchen cloth or plastic wrap and leave to rest for half an hour.

3. After half an hour add salt, all of the soaked fruits, roasted hazelnuts, and chocolate chips and knead them well into the dough.

4. Leave the dough in the bowl for another 2.5 - 3 hours at the room temperature. Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth to prevent the surface of the dough from drying out. If it's too cold, you might put the bowl in a slightly warm oven. What we aim for is nicely puffed and slightly risen dough after this first rise (bulk fermentation) - the proof that the dough is getting alive. You don't want to ferment it too much, as it can overproof in the fridge.
In the meantime prepare the rising basket and flour it well. I lined my rising basket with a kitchen cloth and floured it with whole grain rye flour and white wheat flour.

5. After 3 hours the dough should be puffed and alive. Take the dough to unfloured (!) working surface and use your wettened hands to gather the dough into ball. The dough is very sticky, so don't bother too much with shaping.
Transfer the dough to a rising basket, dust it with flour, cover it with the rest of the kitchen cloth, and then put everything into a plastic bag to prevent the dough from drying out in the fridge. Transfer the rising basket in a plastic bag into the fridge and let it rise until passing the poking test (when the indent you make with your finger springs back slowly and not all the way up). The dough should also be nicely risen.

My dough needed 12 hours, yours might need less or more, depending on how well was the dough developed after the first rise and activity of your starter.

6. At least 30 minutes before baking preheat your oven to the maximum temperature of your oven along with dutch oven or a baking stone. I used dutch oven.

7. When the oven is preheated, take the loaf out of the rising basket and transfer it to dutch oven. Don't score the bread (it will make a beautiful pattern by itself) and put your dutch oven into oven.

8. Bake the loaf for 20 minutes with the lid on at 240°C/465F°F and 20-25 minutes with lid off at 230°C/445°F and until bread gets nice dark color.

Left: proofed dough just before being put in the oven. Right: baked bread.

9. Cool on a cooling rack before cutting for at least 1 hour and then enjoy every bite of it.

What is your favorite way of bread sharing and what are your favorite Christmas surprises and breads? Tell me in a comment below.

Sourdough Krampus directly from heaven!

12 / 1 / 1512 / 1 / 15

It's the first day of December.

Looking back to the childhood, December always ment expectations. Expectations of warmth, kindness, visits, feeling good, having fun, but most of all, the arrival of St. Nicholas. He brought presents - oranges, dry fruits, walnuts and sometimes also some toys.

St. Nicholas day is celebrated in many European countries on December 6th and it's a special day of gift-giving for children.

In Slovenia, St. Nicholas is called Miklavž, and he is accompanied by angels and devils which are called parklji corresponding to the Austrian Krampus.

Boy, I was afraid of Krampuses! As I lived in a village, local boys dressed up into Krampuses, yell as loudly as they could and went knocking from doors to doors. Sometimes they would sneak into the house and search for the kids who "misbehaved". I was always hiding under the bed and closing my ears until the screaming passed.

Nowadays, I don't expect anything from December. But I just can't wait for the days to be longer again, starting on the winter solstice. It's when my New Year starts.

Let's sneak into what St. Nicholas brought this year for you - it's the recipe for corn Sourdough Krampus - so delicious, coming directly from heaven!

Sourdough corn Krampus
Yields: 4 big Krampus breads or 6-8 smaller ones

Baking schedule:
Sourdough starter for these sourdough Krampus breads was mixed in the evening, left to rise overnight and mixed into the dough in the morning. The dough was left to rise untile doubled in volume, then shaped, left to rise again until proofed and baked.

TIP: you can also prepare the dough in the evening, leave it to rise until doubled in volume overnight (make sure, you don't overproove it!) and bake the breads in the morning.

Ingredients:

Starter*
50 g water
50 g whole grain rye flour (or any other flour)
1 tablespoon of your active sourdough starter (I used rye starter)
* add more starter to the dough if you want it to ferment faster

Dough
100 g finely ground corn flour
100 g boiling water
220 g slightly warm milk
400 g white wheat flour (or bread flour)
9 g salt

Other
ground anise
pumpkin seeds
raisins
ice cubes for creating steam in the first minutes of baking

Instructions:

1. In the evening, prepare your starter. Mix 50 g of whole grain rye flour, 50 g water and 1 tablespoon of your active starter. Cover and leave to ferment overnight until nicely puffed bubbly, and active.

2. In the morning, first prepare the corn flour - pour the boiling water over it, mix well and leave to cool. Once cooled, prepare the dough. Dissolve all of your starter in milk, add wheat and steamed corn flour, and salt. Mix well and then knead the dough for 5 minutes so it becomes elastic, soft and workable (left photo below).

3. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover the bowl with cloth or wrap to prevent the dough from drying out. Leave it to rise until doubled in volume. It took my dough 5 hours, yours might take more or less, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Left: Mixed and kneaded dough. Right: proofed dough ready to be shaped.

4. Once the dough is ready, transfer it to unfloured working surface, lightly dust some flour over the top of the dough and shape it into ball. Cover the dough with a cloth or wrap and leave to rest for 10 minutes, so the gluten relaxes. In this way, the shaping will be easier.

5. After 10 minutes, divide the dough into 4 parts. Take each part (one at a time) and first elongate it to a rectangular shape. Use your scissors or bench knife to cut into the bottom part of the dough to shape the legs. You can leave them as they are or you can roll each leg with your hands a little bit.

6. Cut into the upper part to make the horns. Finish the horns by rolling and thinning each part with your hand. Next, turn them on the inside on outside. If the dough feels sticky, wet your hands with little water and then try again. You can use your imagination to shape the Krampus bread in any shape you like.

7. Brush your Krampus breads with water and decorate them with raisins (make eyes), pumpkin seeds or ground anise to give them an extra sweet taste - it goes well with corn flour.

8. Transfer the breads to a lightly floured parchment paper and cover them with a plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. Let them rise for about 90 minutes or until they pass the poking test. Make an indent with your finger and observe the reaction. If the indent comes back quickly, leave them to rise more. If the indent comes back slowly, your breads are ready to be put in the oven.

9. At least 30 minutes before the dough is ready to be put in the oven, preheat your baking stone (or a tray, if you don't have a baking stone) and a separate baking tray that you put on the lower rack to the highest temperature of your oven.

10. When ready, load the Krampus breads with a parchment paper on a pizza peel and slide it on a baking stone. Throw 10 ice cubes on a baking tray, close the oven door and lower the temperature to 230°C (446°F). Bake for 20 minutes or until nicely baked golden crust. If you can't put all the breads into the oven at once, transfer the rest of them into fridge to prevent overproofing.

11. When baked, let them cool on a cooling rack and then enjoy with a cup of warm milk and jam.

What are your childhood memories of December? Let me know in a comment below.

Happy December!

Perfect autumn treat: Sourdough pumpkin rolls

10 / 16 / 1511 / 11 / 15

Not many words are needed in the autumn. The nature keeps transforming with each moment, serving us with stunning landscapes and the last produce in its humble yet powerful way. It's moving inwards. To reflect, to rest and to build up again for the next season.

Not many words are needed for these pumpkin sourdough rolls either. All we need to do is to let the flour, water, salt and pumpkin transform into bread and then simply turn inwards and enjoy every bite of it. Pumpkin orange will give you energy and the soft crumb will make it perfect for fresh butter and soothing honey. All that is needed is a cup of tea, a cozy chair and a blanket to swing ourselves towards our time to reflect, to rest and to build up for the next day.

Let's do it.

Pumpkin sourdough rolls
Yields: 12 big rolls baked in the 24 cm (9 1/2 in) pan

Baking schedule:
Starter for these pumpkin sourdough rolls was prepared in the evening and left to ferment overnight. The dough was mixed in the morning, left to rise for the first time for 2.5 hours, then shaped into rolls which then rised for another 2.5 hours until being ready for the oven.

Ingredients:

Starter
200 g water
200 g white wheat flour (bread flour)
1 tablespoon of your active sourdough starter (I used rye starter)

Dough
380 g mashed baked pumpkin (I used hokkaido pumpkin) - * see the note below
300 g white wheat flour (bread flour)
100 g whole grain spelt flour
150 g water
10 g salt

Other
Bran for coating rolls
Butter for greasing the pan
10 ice cubes to create steam in the first minutes of baking

* My mashed baked hokkaido was very dry. If you use other pumpkin like butternut or even a canned pumpkin puree, make sure to pay attention to the hydration level of the dough. Butternut and canned puree tend to be quite moist, so you will probably have to add more flour if keeping the same water level as in the recipe.

Instructions:

1. In the evening, prepare your starter. Mix 200 g of white wheat flour (bread flour), 200 g water and 1 tablespoon of your active starter. Cover and leave to ferment overnight until nicely puffed and bubbly (see the photo below).

2. In the morning, first prepare the pumpkin puree. Cut the pumpkin into small cubes and bake them at 230°C (446°F) until nicely soft. Smash the pieces with a fork, set aside and let it cool. If you see any large pieces of the baked skin, remove them.

3. Add all the flour and water to the starter. Mix thoroughly and let it rest for 20 minutes. The consistency of the dough should be more on a stiff side but still soft and easy to knead. After 20 minutes add salt and pumpkin puree and knead them both well into the dough. If your dough is too stiff, add little bit of water.

Left: Starter ready to be used. Right: Kneading mashed baked pumpkin into dough.

4. Leave the dough to rise until nicely puffed (see the right photo below) or almost doubled in volume. My dough needed 2.5 hours at the room temperature, yours might need less or more, depending on the temperature in your kitchen. It is important that in this step the dough develops gluten strands and becomes aerated and strong. As there is larger quantity of the starter and whole grain spelt flour in the dough, it is expected for the dough to rise fast.

Left: Kneaded dough. Right: Dough after first rise, ready to be shaped into rolls.

5. Use your plastic dough scraper and take the dough to a clean working surface. In the next step you will divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. You can do this visually or you can weigh the dough and then divide the weight by 12 to see how much each piece should weigh. I chose the later option. My dough weighed app. 1380 g, so each piece was around 115 g.

6. Preshape each piece of the dough into ball and let them rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare you pan - grease it with butter and dust it with any of the whole grain flour or even with bran to give it nice coating which will prevent the rolls from sticking to the pan.

7. Shape each piece of dough into roll (make sure you create some tension of the surface) and roll it in the bran. Place the roll into pan. When done with all 12 pieces, cover the pan with a kitchen towel and let the rolls rise until puffed. My rolls needed 2.5 hours. Use the poking test to see if and when the rolls are ready to be put in the oven. Make an indent into the dough with your index finger and observe how the dough reacts. If the indent comes back quickly, leave the dough to rise longer. If the indent springs back slowly, your rolls are ready.

Left: Shaped rolls. Right: Perfectly proofed rolls.

8. At least 30 minutes before the rolls are ready to be put in the oven, preheat your oven and a separate baking tray (that you put on the lower rack of the oven) to the highest temperature of your oven.

9. When ready, load the pan with rolls into oven. Throw 10 ice cubes on a baking tray, close the oven door and lower the temperature to 230°C (446°F). Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 200°C (392°F). Bake for another 30 minutes or until the crust gets beautifully dark. When baked, take the rolls out of the pan completely (in one piece!), let it cool on a cooling rack for at least 1 hour before tearing.

Serve with homemade butter (check how to make it here) and honey.

[VIDEO TUTORIAL] How to make amazing & simple GLUTEN-FREE sourdough bread – Secret Process Revealed

7 / 23 / 152 / 27 / 17

It was four year ago when I first started with my sourdough baking journey. I decided to give up commercial yeast, since I felt tired all the time (especially after eating bread and other foods made with yeast), I wasn’t motivated to do anything, had trouble concentrating throughout the day and my abdomen was bloated. Properly prepared sourdough bread make a huge difference for me. I can now enjoy bread without burdening my body.

At that time my boyfriend was already on the gluten-free diet, so he couldn't enjoy my freshly baked sourdough breads with crunchy crust, soft and moist crumb, and irresistible smell. I was a big bread lover and just thinking about having to stop eating bread was quite a challenge.

For him, challenge was to find a decent gluten-free substitute for bread. We looked closely to commercially available gluten-free breads and flours, but they all contained something that we could not or would not want to eat: soy proteins, artificial vitamins, xanthan gum, guar gums, eggs from unknown sources, large amounts of high-starch flours, sugars and other artificial sweeteners, commercial yeast, artificial fruit juices etc.

We knew and felt that none of these ingredients would really nourish our bodies and mind on the long run.

One day, I challenged both of us who would make decent gluten-free bread first. Well, I can tell you, I lost. After a long trial and error period he came out with amazing gluten-free bread and it turned out that sourdough fermentation worked best and gave the best results. The end results were bread, a process and a recipe that you can make at home without complicated ingredients.

So, today I'm sharing a recipe and a process for this amazing and simple gluten-free sourdough bread and gluten-free sourdough starter with you!

It's gluten- free sourdough bread with simple ingredients, cruncy crust, soft, moist, open and flexible crumb and it cuts without crumbling and falling apart. You can bend it a good amount without breaking and it holds together well. It has delicious flavour with all health benefits that sourdough fermentation provides and is friendly for your wallet.

Honestly, I didn't came across a decent and simple gluten-free bread anywhere on the internet - the breads are either expensive to make or end results are not palatable. These process and recipe are really a breakthrough. For the first time, gluten sensitive or people with allergies can have great bread back into their diets without suffering the consequences of gluten or other allergens in their system.

Why you will love this gluten-free sourdough bread?

• rich in fiber (because of psyllium husk)
• fermentation lowers the glycemic index and prevents blood sugar spikes
• simple ingredients with no hard-to-get flours and starches
• easy to prepare
• easy to fit the sourodugh baking into your daily life
• cheap
• perfect for sandwiches, tastes delicious and goes well with other foods
• easy to digest and keeps you light
• eggs-free, diary-free, soy-free, xanthan gum -free, guar gum-free, sugar-free