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!

Do you recognize the 3 early warning signs of underproofed bread?

12 / 17 / 1512 / 24 / 15

I believe we all have been there at least once.

You know:
- tight and moist crumb,
- (shiny) pale crust,
- sour and undeveloped taste,
- no oven spring,
a.k.a underproofed sourdough bread a.k.a brick.

What does underproofed mean?
It means that the yeast hasn't produced enough carbon dioxide and the gluten hasn't been developed enough to carry the bubbles of carbon dioxide and to enable expansion.

If you are tired of baking underproofed loaves, then you're at right place. In this post we'll check how to recognize early signs of underproofed sourdough bread and how to avoid them.

The general advice to tell if your bread is perfectly fermented would be to use all of your senses - how the dough looks, smells, feels and tastes.

This post is third part of the background series, where I reveal tips, tricks and secrets of successful sourdough baking. Check Part 1 and Part 2 here:
Part 1: Six biggest challenges in sourdough baking and how to overcome them
Part 2: 7 essential keys for successful sourdough baking

Under-proofed whole wheat bread

What at the three crucial parts/phases in sourdough baking we should pay attention to?

1. Sourdough starter: Make your starter work before mixing it into the dough.

I might mentioned this many times, I know. I repeat it so often, because it is really important, especially when building a sourdough starter from scratch. Depending on the flours used and the environmental temperature, your starter can need three or more days to become fully mature.

Observe your starter - it is ready to be mixed into the dough, when it rises after each feeding/refreshment.

Inactive starter will not rise your bread and as a result you might end up with underproofed loaf.

2. First rise (bulk fermentation): Make the dough alive and light.

If your usual baking routine involves three steps of fermentation (first rise, intemediate proofing between dividing and shaping the dough, final proofing) , then it's important to observe dough's development in the first rise (bulk fermentation or pointage in French).

First rise of bulk fermentation is a period after the dough has been mixed and before it has been shaped.

In bulk fermentation we aim to develop dough's strength, structure and its maturity. The dough should feel alive, strong, airy, spongy and light and the surface doesn't feel sticky (see the photo below).

One of the most important factors in efficient bulk fermentation is the temperature (both of environment and ingredients). The warmer the environment, the faster the development of the dough will be.

If the dough doesn't build strength in the first rise, you will have trouble shaping the bread and the bread will have poor oven spring, which again, will results in underfermented bread.

3. Final rise: Check how developed your dough is and if it is ready to be put in the oven.

Remember whrn I mentioned how the fermentation is basically a judgement call? Well, it applies to the final rise as well.

The most crucial thing in the final rise is to determine when the dough is ready to be put in the oven i.e. to stop the dough from collapsing into itself as the gluten strands don't have ability to hold all the bubbles of carbon dioxide. I've learned from my experience and practice that the poking test is in most cases the most efficient way to tell if the dough is fully fermented.

In poking test, we examine the dough resistance and elasticity by pressing into the dough and observing the reaction (see the photo below).

- underfermented bread: the indent fills up quickly (the gluten strands are strong, but somehow not elastic enough to allow the expansion of the dough)
- overfermented bread: the indent stays as it is (gluten strands have weakened)
- perfectly fermented: the indent comes back half way through (gluten strands are strong and elastic, meaning the expansion of the dough can be expected)

In the beginning, it might be difficult to tell what is the right reaction, but you'll become fully skilled by practising poking test many times.

Caution: do not apply poking test just after shaping, it will give you the wrong impression. Thus, make sure your dough rises in volume as well before you apply the test.

If you baked bread has not been fermented long enough, you'll be able to see this by just looking the crust (see the photo below). Underfermented dough will result in pale crust. Pale crust means that no caramelization of sugars occured. Pale crust can often occur in overfermented doughs, as the yeast eats up all the sugars and no browning of the crust happens.

If your managed to determine the perfect timing for the bread to be baked, but your crust is still pale, check out other factors as well (added salt, oven temperature, steam, etc.).

Left: Slightly underfermented sourdough fougasse. Right: Perfectly fermented sourdough fougasse.

And what to do if we underproofed bread still happens? Well, you can always make some croutons and use them in the soup, like in this recipe.

Any thoughts or questions about this topic? Let me know by leaving 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!

7 essential keys for successful sourdough baking

11 / 12 / 15

Few months ago I wrote about 6 biggest challenges in sourdough baking a beginner can face. You know, sourdough bricks, moldy starters, etc. In this post I would like to take a step further by explaining how you can get into sourdough baking fearless, well informed, and prepared of all the challenges you might face.

J. W. Goethe once said: "Everything is hard before it is easy." Well, it doesn't have to be that way.

Shall we? Let's dig into 7 simple yet essential keys for successful sourdough baking.

1. Make your sourdough starter work before your start with sourdough baking.

Before mixing a starter into the dough for the first time, make sure it is active, bubbly, and robust. If your starter doesn't rise after each feeding, neither will the bread you mixed your starter in.

Two important factors effect the activation of the starter in the beginning: flour type and temperature. Whole grain flours ferment faster and starter rises faster at higher temperatures (the optimum temperature in the beginning of the starter establishment is 25-27°C/77-80°F). My favorite flour for making sourdough starter from scratch is whole grain rye flour. Rye flour is rich is sugars and in the amylase enzymes which break down the starches into simple sugars the yeast feed on.

You can download step-by-step tutorial on how to make rye sourdough starter from the scratch, maintainance and troubleshooting tips here. It's an effective three day and no flour waste process.

2. Get to know the flour you are using.

My first learning reference for sourdough baking was the Chad Roberston's book Tartine Bread. His basic country loaf requires 75% hydration (that is water to flour ratio, for example 75% hydration means 75 g water to 100 g of flour). Using this hydration, his dough was beautifully strong, elastic and it held shape. 75% hydration for the white flour I use in Slovenia? No go.

I had to fall several times (read as scrub the runny dough from the counter) before it dawned on me that I don't have to push the water amount to percentages stated in the recipe. Instead, I have to figure out how much water my flour handles, regardless of what the recipe asks for.

The easiest way to test this, especially if you just bought a bag of new flour, is to mix your dough with lower amount of water (let's say 55-60%) and than leave the dough to rest for an hour. This process is called autolyse (from Greek word meaning self-digestion) and it's a process of the protein protease starting to break down the proteins in the flour when it's mixed with water. Broken proteins then start realigning and forming gluten network. If you see that after one hour your dough can absorb more water, simply add more water, otherwise make sure you reduce the water amount next time.

Note that whole grain flours absorb more water than white flours.

So, a hearthy tip from me before you try out one of the recipes on the blog or from any book - get to know your flour first.

3. The amount of water can make a huge difference.

Relating to the previous point, your flour might absorb more or less water than stated in the recipe. 70% hydration in my recipe, but your flour might only handle a 60% hydration or on the other hand 80% hydration.

What you aim for when mixing the flour, water, and sourdough starter is the consistency of the dough that feels right - both stretchy and elastic (the ability of the dough to bounce back). There are exceptions of course, like in focaccia baking. Since it is baked in a tray and shaping is easy, the hydration can be higher than usually.

What makes the dough stretchy and elastic? It's the gluten. Gluten is a composite of two proteins, glutenin and gliadin. Glutenin is responsible for elasticity and gliadin for stretchability.

Gluten in the flour only represents a potential for the dough to be elastic and stretchy. It's not until the water is added to the flour that gluten strands are formed. And what makes the flour to absorb different quantities of water? It's the gluten again. The more the gluten in the flour, the stronger is the flour and the longer fermentation it can handle and vice versa. The tricky part is to know the maximum of the water your flour absorbs.

Too much water in the dough and you can get from elastic dough to runny dough. On the other hand, a little bit more water in the dough and you can get from tight to open crumb. It's about balancing and the feeling in your hands. What a great learning is to feel the dough between your fingers.

4. Observe the dough, forget the watch.

Couple of months ago I bought myself a new bread book called In search of the perfect loaf. It was written by Samuel Fromartz, a journalist and an enthusiast home bread baker. I was immediately drawn by the descriptive language which makes you feel you are in Paris tasting baguettes with him and also by beautiful thoughts and insights a home baker needs. Like this one:

"Time was their most important tool: the time to let the dough come together gently, the time to let fermentation work its magic, and the fortitude not to be pushed by anything but the demands of the bread itself. "

What does the upper paragraph mean? If I paraphrase one of the other questions in his book, and which I often get asked: How long do you leave the dough to rise? The answer would be: I do it until it's risen and perfectly fermented. This is why it is important to observe and feel the dough and move to the next step based on how the dough feels, looks and smells, rather on the time and rising times stated in the recipes. Five hours in my kitchen might mean three or seven hours in your kitchen.

How does the perfectly fermented dough look like? If we take a look at the first rise (bulk fermentation), then you are looking for airy, bubbly, strong, and live dough, which of course has also increased in the volume.

" ... None of this is easy, but it's further compunded by the fact that the baker needs to have a solid understanding of what is perhaps the most difficult aspect of bread making - fermentation. If you misjudge this - and fermentation is truly a judgement call - then the defects will be magnified in every other step of the process. "

My advice: Practice and observation. And repeat.

5. It's easy, just do some planning.

A lot of people get inspired by sourdough baking due to its health benefits and deliciousness. However, when I mention them I sometimes leave my dough to rise 12 hours in the fridge while I sleep or I'm at work or that my dough needs a 5-hour rise, they say to me: " But Natasa, I don't have time for this."

The reality is, that sourdough baking is not an all-day job. It takes as little time to mix and knead the dough and leave it to rise. The rest, it's the bacteria and yeasts that do their job and we do ours in the meantime :).

Sourdough baking can be easily fitted to our busy daily lives, it just take a little bit of planning and experimenting in terms of sourdough starter quantities and environment temperature. If you have challenges fitting the baking into your schedule, drop me an e-mail and we can have a take a look closely on how to optimise the baking for your needs.

6. Don't over complicate.

What if I let my starter rise more than 12 hours? What if I left my starter in the fridge for three days, will he die? What if I don't let the dough to rise for full three hours? What if I miss one stretch and fold, will my bread still be good? What if I knead my dough only for 4 minutes instead of 6? Can I use rye starter instead of whole grain starter?

All those questions in my head. What I've come to in the end, is again our ability to apply a judgement call based on our observation, environment and ingredients we use.

7. Master one recipe before moving to another.

It can feel highly overwhelming to keep failing in getting a delicious sourdough bread with crunchy crust and open crumb. Trust me, I've been there for a long time.

The most important step is to not give up, because, after all, it is not the recipe you are mastering, but the understanding of the fermentation. When you understand the basic principles of fermentation and you understand and know when the dough is ready for the next step, you're on a highway to apply this knowing to any kind of recipe and you get creative with no limits.

And this is the beauty of sourdough baking.

If you enjoyed this article, please take a second to share it on your favorite social media channel.

And if you have any feedback or questions, please leave a comment below!

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.

Rustic rye sourdough bread with milk kefir

8 / 16 / 15

Freestyling is a kind of skill I am still learning in my life. It's about how to act spontaneously, from the heart and without being burdened by many "what if-s" and "it should-s". It's about riding the flow and about being present in each moment, observing what is happening and re-acting accordingly.

Writing this, I remembered the words by John F. Demartini, one of the most inspiring people on the planet, that whenever we think something is missing in our lives, we actually already have it - but just in different form. I realized that in my life freestyling comes in the form of sourdough bread baking.

I visualize, mix and then I ride the flow - the act of creating something new.

In today's post I share my latest freestyling - rustic rye sourdough bread with milk kefir. This hearty and warm loaf will charm you with its deep earthy flavor and lightness in every bite. Just like that - spontaneously.

Rustic rye sourdough bread with milk kefir
Yields: one big loaf

Baking schedule:
This bread was mixed in the morning, left to rise for 3 hours at the room temperature, shaped, left to rise again at the room temperature and baked on a baking stone.

Ingredients:
250 g whole grain rye flour
250 g white wheat flour
110 g milk kefir
250 g water
200 g active whole grain rye sourdough starter (100 % hydration)
10 g fine sea salt

Instructions:

1. In the evening prepare your sourdough starter. Mix 100 g of whole grain rye flour with 100 g of water and one teaspoon of your active (or straight from the fridge) sourdough starter and let it ferment until puffed and bubbly (until the next morning).

2. In the morning, dissolve all of your risen starter in the mixture of 110 g of milk kefir and 250 g of water. Next, add all of the flour (500 g), and 10 g of salt and mix all ingredients until they come together. Knead the dough for 5 minutes so it becomes a little bit stretchier. Since there is rye flour, the dough will stick to your fingers. Try to wet your hands in-between the kneading from time to time to avoid that.

Left: mature rye sourdough starter. Right: Mixed dough.

3. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and let it rise until doubled in volume. Cover it with a lid or a piece of cling film to prevent the dough from drying out. My dough needed three hours to double, yours might take less or more, depending on the environmental temperature and activity of your starter. If you want to speed up the fermenetation, place the bowl to a warm place, i.e. slightly warm oven.

4. When the dough has risen, take it out to the working surface using your plastic dough scraper. Dust the dough with a flour, flip it upside down and fold it in half and slightly shape it into a ball. Let it rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime, prepare a piece of parchment paper and dust it with any bran (I used spelt bran) or coarsely milled flour.

5. Take your bench knife and transfer the dough to a parchment paper. Use your hands to shape the dough to a round shape (see the photo below) and then generously dust it with any of white flours (I used wheat flour). As the dough will rise and expand it will leave a beautiful pattern (see the photo of the baked bread above).

Left: Proofed dough ready to be shaped. Right: shaped bread.

6. Leave the bread to rise. My dough took 2 hours, yours might take less or more. As the dough will rise, it will expand and it also might tear at some places, but that's OK. How will you know your bread is ready to be put in the oven? Check the dough by pressing it lightly with your finger from time to time. If the indent comes back slowly, it is ready.

7. At least 30 minutes before the dough is ready to be put in the oven, preheat your baking stone and a separate baking tray that you put on the lower rack to the highest temperature of your oven.

8. When ready, load the bread 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, then lower the temperature to 220°C (428°F). Bake for another 30 minutes or until the bread's crust gets beautifully dark. When baked, let it cool on a cooling rack for at least 2 hours before slicing.

If the bread was perfectly fermented, it will feel light in your hands and the crumb will be uniformly aerated. The crumb of the underproofed bread will be dense and crust pale.

Enjoy your bread with a slice of sheep cheese, fresh tomatoes and a glass of wine ;)

Roasted pumpkin seed pesto sourdough bread + TEDxYouth talk

5 / 15 / 155 / 15 / 15

Monday, May 11, was really a special day for me. I was invited to share my story about sourdough bread baking at the TEDxYouth event, inspire young people to see the bread from the different perspective and share what sourdough bread baking has learned me about life.

When I gave up commercial yeast 4 years ago due to the health issues, I thought it was the worst thing that could happen to me. But man I was wrong - limiting myself to not eating bread made with commercial yeast has brought me to completely new dimensions of bread baking. I am very grateful for the experience and I wouldn't change a thing.

And on this Monday evening, it was this I wanted to share with the audience: giving up something or limiting yourself to something is not necessarily a bad thing. It's what make us think even more to find new solutions and we become more creative. You just have to know where are you going. If you know that, everything is possible.

TedxYouth talk and the talk's story scribe. Photo: Bojan Okorn and Samo Bešlagič

And now let's hop to the recipe :)
Remember the roasted pumpkin seed pesto from the last week? I saved some of it and put it in the sourdough bread - this time with stiff sourdough starter.

Roasted pumpkin seed pesto sourdough bread
Yields: one big loaf

Baking schedule:
This bread was mixed in the evening, left to rise for 3 hours at the room temperature, shaped and then put in the fridge for 11 hours. It was baked in the morning of the following day.

Ingredients:
400 g white wheat flour
280 g water (70 % hydration level)
190 g active whole grain wheat stiff sourdough starter (90% hydration)
8 g fine sea salt
3 tablespoons roasted pumpkin seed pesto
1 tablespoon pumpkin seed oil

Instructions:
1. In the morning of the day you will mix the dough, prepare your sourdough starter. Mix 100 g of whole grain wheat flour with 90 g of water and one teaspoon of your active (or straight from the fridge) sourdough starter and let it ferment until doubled in volume. This is very stiff starter, so its consistency will feel more like a dough and you might not see any rise in the first few hours. If you want to speed up the fermentation, put the jar in a warm spot.

2. In the late afternoon, dissolve all of your risen starter in 280 g of water. Next, add 400 of flour and mix all ingredients until they come together. Cover the bowl with the kitchen cloth and let the dough rest for 1 hour (or at least for 30 minutes). Letting your dough to rest after mixing it is a great option if you don't know how much water your flour absorbs. You can start with less water, let the dough rest and then see if you need to add more water.

3. After 1 hour, add 8 g of salt, roasted pumpkin seed pesto, and pumpkin seed oil and then knead the dough for 5 minutes so it becomes stretchy.

4. Leave the dough in the bowl to rise for 3 hours at the room temperature (if it's too cold, you might put the bowl in a slightly warm oven to give the dough a boost to rise properly). Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth to prevent the surface of the dough from drying out.

5. After 3 hours the dough should look very alive, risen, and stretchy. You might even see the bubbles on the dough surface.

6. Using your plastic dough scraper, take the dough out on a lightly floured working surface. Pinch the ends of the dough together in the middle, turn the dough upside down and let it rest for 10-15 minutes so that the final shaping will be easier as the gluten will relax.

7. In the meantime prepare the rising basket and dust it well. I like to line my rising basket with a kitchen cloth and flour it with white wheat flour.

8. To shape the bread, turn it upside down, stretch it a little bit with your fingers and then fold the bottom part over the center, left side over the center, right side over the center and also the upper side over the center. Transfer the dough to the rising basket fold-side up. Sprinkle some more flour on the top and cover it with the rest of the kitchen cloth. Put the basket in the fridge. Let it ferment until the volume of the dough has visibly increased (at least by a third) and when the indent you make with your finger springs back slowly and not all the way up (poking test). If it springs back quickly, leave to ferment longer.

Left: mixing in the pesto. Right: Fully proofed sourdough bread.

9. In the morning, my dough is usually ready, when I wake up (I've been practising this for years :)). Normally, you would get up and check how the dough responds to the poking test. If the dough is ready, preheat your oven to the maximum temperature of your oven along with dutch oven or a baking stone for at least 30 minutes before baking. I used dutch oven.

10. When the oven is preheated, take the loaf out of the rising basket (tip: take a chopping board and put it over the rising basket and then flip everything upside down) and transfer it to dutch oven. Score the loaf and put your dutch oven into oven.

11. 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 golden color. Cool on a cooling rack before cutting for at least 1 hour.

What inspires you to bake sourdough bread?

Sourdough walnut swirl bread

4 / 17 / 15

When I was younger I would often ask my mom to make me a plum jam swirl bread. It was my ultimate comfort food. I got lost in the velvety crumb texture and seductive scent of baked plums and crunchy crust burnt in the wood-fired stove. Many years later I know that stepping into comfort food means overhearing my heart's whisper calls to reality and avoiding questions about how I really feel. I know how I feel. It's spring with all its light, lightness and uncertainties that just ask to be acknowledged. However, not with food, but with awareness. In this way I can leave the baked goods to just bring up all their hidden beauty unburdened by my thoughts. Just like the sweet sourdough walnut swirl bread, potica.

Potica [po-TEET-sah] is a typical Slovenian festive swirl bread eaten for Easter and Christmas. It comes in different shapes (round, long) and different fillings (walnut, poppy seeds, tarragon, chocolate, coconut, cracklings, carob). Regardless the varieties, good potica is nowadays still considered as the pride of each housewife.

Sourdough walnut swirl bread - potica [po-TEET-sah]
Yields: for 4 people that are having a cup of tea in the afternoon

Baking schedule:
The dough for sourdough walnut roll was mixed in the morning, left to rise for 4.5 hours, then rolled and left to rise for the second time for another 1.5 hour. Sourdough starter was mixed a night before and left to rise overnight.
If you would like to make the roll during the week when you are at work, mix the dough in the morning and then just make sure you leave the dough to rise at the temperature to have the dough doubled in volume when you come home from work.

Ingredients for the dough:
225 g white wheat flour
150 g active white wheat flour sourdough starter
100 g walnut milk (or any other milk of your choice)
1 tablespoon rum
1 tablespoon honey (I used acacia honey which has quite neutral taste, you could also use floral honey)
35 g fat (I used 12 g of butter and 2 tablespoons of lemon peel infused olive oil that tastes like a liquid lemon peel :)
4 g fine sea salt

Ingredients for the filling:
150 g ground walnuts
200 g apple sauce
1 tablespoon rum
1 tablespoon honey

Other: 10 ice cubes for steam during the bake

Instructions:

1. The night before preparing the walnut swirl bread, mix 75g of white wheat flour, 75 g of water and 1 tablespoon of your active sourdough starter. Leave to ferment overnight or until risen and bubbly on the surface.

2. In the morning, dissolve all of your starter in walnut milk. Add honey, rum, fat, salt and mix well. Add 225 g of flour and knead the dough until all ingredients come together. The dough will be quite soft. You could notice that the dough has a slight purple to grey tone - is it because of the tannins in the walnuts. Then knead the dough for 5 more minutes until the dough becomes smooth. Transfer it to a clean and slightly greased bowl and leave to rise until doubled in volume. It took 4.5 hours for my dough to double. If you would like to speed up the fermentation, you can place the bowl into a slightly warm oven.

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

3. Just before you see your dough getting doubled in volume, prepare the filling and your baking dish. For the filling: mix ground walnuts with warm or cold apple sauce, honey and rum. Mix well until you get smooth paste. If the filling feels dry add more apple sauce to make it more spreadable. To prepare a baking dish grease it with fat (butter, coconut oil) and sprinkle it with flour.

4. When the dough has doubled, use a plastic scraper to take it on a working surface and shape it into a ball. Leave it to rest for at least 10 minutes so you will be able to roll it easily as the dough will not shrink back.

5. Roll the dough to be about half centimeter thick (or less if you would like to have more swirls seen in the profile) and to be as long as the inner perimeter of your baking dish (use a piece of string to measure it). Spread the filling across to the edges but leave a 2 cm stripe at one longer side without filling.

Left: Walnut fill. Right: dough with walnut fill prepared to be rolled.

6. Start rolling the dough tightly at the longer edge with filling. When done, carefully transfer it to a baking dish seam-side down and make sure you tuck the ends together.

7. Leave the dough to rise again. It took my dough 1.5 hour to be fully proofed. How will you know the dough is ready to be put in the oven? Make an indent with your finger and observe the reaction - if the indent springs back quickly, leave it to rise a little bit more. If it comes back slowly, you will know it's ready to be put in the oven.

Left: dough after being rolled. Right: dough ready to be put in the oven.

8. At least 10 minutes before the bake, preheat your oven to 200°C (392°F) along with baking pan that you put on the lower rack.

9. When ready, place the baking dish into oven, throw ice cubes on the baking pan and close the door. Bake the roll for 15 minutes at 200°C (392°F), 20 minutes at 180°C (356°F) and for another hour at 160°C (320°F). The top crust should be brown, but most importantly make sure the bottom is also baked. This time my oven played tricks on me, so I had to take the roll out of the baking dish after one hour and bake it on a baking pan afterwards.

10. When baked, let it cool for at least an hour, then slice it and serve it with warm milk or tea. The crumb should be soft and airy with small bubbles.

Khorasan wheat and 100% whole grain wheat sourdough breads with wild garlic

4 / 11 / 155 / 4 / 15

Something really magnificent and totally unexpected happened two weeks ago - My Daily Sourdough Bread blog was selected from a record-breaking pool of nearly 50,000 entries as the one of the six finalists in the Best Special Interest Blog category in Saveur Blog Awards 2015!

I can't describe with words how grateful I am to be in a company of all beautiful and inspiring blogs and how grateful I am for your support in the first round!

The Universe always offers us the opposites, the complementary sides of life. Sometimes it takes more time and effort to see them, but it is worth it. Without them we could not thrive. How would a colorful and hearth-warming spring feel without grounding winter? How would joy feel without sadness? How would sadness feel without joy? Would we appreciate opportunities without being rejected? It's through the opposites the Universe teaches us not to cling to any of two sides, but to stay in the middle, to be in the balance, to be in the now and to feel gratitude - for what it is, as it is, and as it is unfolding in front of us.

I love how the spring gradually unfolds itself. Daffodils, morning bird singing, blooming forsythias. And wild garlic, free and early fresh green herb of the year to harvest. Wild garlic is also known as the bear's garlic, as the bears awakened from the winter hibernation would dig up to the ground to get the bulbs and leaves that would help them detoxify. It's after the bear (Ursus arctos L.) that the plant got its Latin name - Allium ursinum L. In German, wild garlic is called Bärlauch, in French ail des ours, in Dutch beerlook and in Italian erba orsina.

I live in a part of the country which is known for being a brown bear's natural habitat, so picking wild garlic is always a bit adventurous for me. You know, how would the inner calmness feel without the outer excitement ? :)

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum L.)
Also known as ramsons or wood garlic, wild garlic can be found in deciduous (sometimes also in coniferous) woodlands with moist and slightly acidic soil. If you pay attention when walking through through the forest, the typical garlic-like scent should be present in the air. The smell gets more obvious if you rub couple of wild garlic leaves between your fingers. This is a good test to distinguish wild garlic from other similar looking but poisonous plants like Lily of the Valley (Convalaria majalis L.), autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale L.) and false helleborine (Veratrum album L.). However, if the garlic scent is on your fingers, avoid picking other plants and testing them by rubbing them between the fingers afterwards. Three other wild garlic features are: convex leaves with one main vein, individual green stem, and long white bulb. It flowers in white in the end of April or beginning of May or even later at higher altitudes.

Wild garlic growing in woodlands with moist soil.

Wild garlic has antibacterial properties and it also helps to reduce blood pressure, especially when eaten in large quantities. It can be used in salads, soups, eaten fresh in spreads, with pasta, smoothies,... - you name it! I've decided to mix it into bread.

I made two breads, one with white wheat and khorasan wheat flour and another whole grain wheat flour, just to see how the taste and color would be affected. Fresh wild garlic (or pesto) will give your bread a unique (almost salami like) taste, however the color of the dough in whole grain wheat sourdough bread will not be affected (i.e. changed to green). To get greener crumb, use more wild garlic or use white flours to make the change in color more pronounced. When I made my first sourdough bread with (a lot of) wild garlic, it didn't rise. I was thinking if its antibacterial properties affected the bacteria in my starter.

Khorasan and whole wheat sourdough bread

Left: khorasan wheat sourdough bread. Right: 100% whole grain wheat sourdough bread.

Khorasan wheat and 100% whole grain wheat sourdough bread
Yields: one small to medium loaf each

Baking schedule:
Both breads were mixed in the evening, left to rise for 3 hours at the room temperature, shaped and then put in the fridge for 10-12 hours. They were baked in the morning of the following day.

Ingredients for 100% whole grain wheat sourdough bread:
400 g whole grain wheat flour
315 g water + 15 g water (82% hydration)
100 g active whole grain wheat sourdough starter (70% hydration)
8 g fine sea salt
1.5 tablespoon of wild garlic pesto or 2 handfuls of wild garlic finely chopped

Ingredients for khorasan wheat sourdough bread:
200 g white khorasan wheat flour
250 g white wheat flour
300 g water (66% hydration)
100 g active rye sourdough starter (100% hydration)
9 g fine sea salt

Instructions (written for 100% whole wheat sourdough bread but to be applied to the khorasan wheat sourdough bread as well):

1. In the morning of the day you will mix the dough, prepare your sourdough starter. Mix 70 g of whole grain wheat flour with 50 g of water and one teaspoon of your active (or straight from the fridge) sourdough starter. On the photo below you can see my starter in the morning (left) and couple of hours later (right).

Left: freshly mixed whole grain wheat sourdough starter. Right: Risen and well active starter after couple of hours.

2. In the evening, first mix 315 g of water, 100 g of active whole grain wheat sourdough starter, and 400 g of whole grain wheat flour. Mix until all ingredients come together. Leave to rest (autolyse) for 30-60 minutes.

3. Observe how the flour has absorbed the water during the resting period. If you don't know how well your flour absorbs the water, the resting period is a good choice to test it.
Add 8 g of salt and 15 g of water. If the dough feels stiff, add more water. Knead the dough for couple of minutes.

4. Leave the dough to rise for another 2.5-3 hours at the room temperature (if it's too cold, you might put the bowl in a slightly warm oven). If you like, you can apply few stretch and folds to the dough. To make one stretch and fold, grab the dough underneath, stretch it up and fold it back onto itself.
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 2.5-3 hours, the dough should look slightly puffed. Take the dough out on a lightly floured working surface and shape it into a ball by pinching the ends of the dough together in the middle and then transfer the dough to a rising basket. Sprinkle some more flour on the top and cover it with the rest of the kitchen cloth. Put the basket in the fridge. Let the dough ferment until noticeably risen in volume and when the indent you make with your finger springs back slowly and not all the way up. It usually take my dough 10-12 hours.

Left: whole grain wheat sourdough bread ready to be put in the oven. Right: Baked whole grain wheat bread.

6. When the dough has risen enough, put the dutch oven (or a baking stone) into oven and heat it to the maximum temperature of your oven for at least 30 minutes.

Left: Baked khorasan wheat sourdough bread. Right: khorasan wheat sourdough bread ready to be put in the oven.

7. When dutch oven/baking stone is preheated, take it out. Put a piece of parchment paper and a chopping board over the rising basket and turn everything upside down. Score the bread and transfer it to a dutch oven.

8. Bake the bread for 20 minutes with the lid on (or with steam - to create steam, throw couple of ice cubes onto the hot pan at the bottom of the oven) at 240°C/465F°F and 20-25 minutes with lid off at 230°C/445°F and until bread gets nice golden color. Cool on a cooling rack before cutting for at least 1 hour.

Left: Khorasan wheat sourdough bread crumb. Right: 100% whole grain wheat soudough bread crumb.

What's your favorite spring harvest?

100% whole grain einkorn wheat sourdough bread

3 / 18 / 154 / 22 / 15

Do you know the feeling when you have a picture of what something should be but life and reality take their own spin? It's what happened to me this winter when I bought my first bag of einkorn wheat berries. I admit, I had some expectations about einkorn. I thought einkorn should at least have some of the characteristics of the modern wheat. Well, not really. The dough made out of freshly milled einkorn wheat flour is very sticky (similar to rye) and unless you plan to spend more time washing your hands than enjoying your bread, I advise you to touch the dough as less as possible.

So, what is einkorn wheat?

Einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum) is one of the first forms of wheat cultivated by humans. The word einkorn comes from German and it literally means one kernel. Einkorn has the single kernel per spikelet, or husks containing kernels on the head of the grain plant. For comparison, modern wheats have at least four kernels.

As spelt, einkorn is also a hulled wheat and thus requires an extra processing step which is called threshing and in which the hulls are removed. The hull has an important role: it can protect the grain from stray chemical contamination and insects making it an easier grain to grow organically.

Left: Einkorn wheat berries. Right: freshly milled eikorn flour.

And why is einkorn wheat good for you?

a) Being a diploide species, einkorn has 14 chromosomes while modern wheats have 42 and thus making it more friendy to our gut.

b) Einkorn has less starch, namely less amylopection (amylopectin + amylose = startch) which is responsible for blood sugar spike.

c) Studies suggest that the gliadin protein (gliadin + glutanin = gluten) is not as toxic as with modern wheats making it easier to digest.

When tasting bread, I try to be aware of the feeling it leaves in my stomach. Without exaggeration, I found the einkorn bread to be the most digestible of all gluten grains sourdough breads. Try it for yourself and let me know how it worked for you. And now, let's hop to the recipe.

100% whole grain einkorn wheat sourdough bread
Yields: one small to medium loaf

Ingredients:
400 g whole grain einkorn wheat flour (I used freshly milled flour)
265 g water + 10 g water
100 g active rye sourdough starter (100% hydration)
8 g fine sea salt

Instructions:

1. In the evening, first mix 265 g of water, 100 g of active rye sourdough starter (I fed mine in the morning), and 400 g of whole grain einkorn wheat flour. Mix until all ingredients come together. Leave to rest (autolyse) for 30-60 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky. It helps to have wet or greased hands to handle the dough easier.

2. After the rest you will notice the dough has relaxed a little bit. Add 8 g of salt and 10 g of water. If the dough fills stiff, add more water. Knead the dough for couple of minutes. To prevent sticking, wet your hands from time to time and use knuckles.

3. Leave the dough in the bowl for another 2.5 hours at the room temperature (if it's too cold, you might put the bowl in a slightly warm oven). Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth to prevent the surface of the dough from drying out. 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.

4. After 2.5 hours, the dough should look slightly risen and alive. Take the dough out on a lightly floured working surface. Pinch the ends of the dough together in the middle and transfer the dough to a rising basket. Work fast, as the dough will stick to your hands. Sprinkle some more flour on the top and cover it with the rest of the kitchen cloth. Put the basket in the fridge. Let the dough ferment until noticeably risen in volume and when the indent you make with your finger springs back slowly and not all the way up.

5. This is how the dough looked in the morning. It has been fermenting for 11 hours. If you want the dough to rise slower, add less starter to the dough and if you want it to ferment faster, add more starter or leave the dough at the room temperature for half an hour after shaping it.

Einkorn bread ready to be put in the oven.

6. When the dough is ready (or just before you think is ready), put the dutch oven (or a baking stone) into oven and heat it to the maximum temperature of your oven for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, keep the bread in the fridge to prevent overfermenting.

7. When dutch oven is preheated, take it out. Put a piece of parchment paper and a chopping board over the rising basket and turn everything upside down. Score the bread and transfer it to a dutch oven.

8. Bake the bread 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 golden color.

Cool on a cooling rack before cutting for at least 2-3 hours, otherwise the crumb can be gummy.

Einkorn is my favorite grain and it has learned me a lot. Especially to observe and take everything as it is and as it is unfolding in front of you, since this is all you have at that moment. Expectations are just illusions.

Have you tried baking with einkorn wheat? What was your experience? Tell me in a comment below.

Einkorn description reference found here.