Hi all,

I remember reading a few weeks back on this site about incorporating kefir into bread recipes, but I don't remember if anyone posted any results.

I tried this a few days ago and made one of the best loaves I have made to date.  I started with my usual 50% hydration sourdough starter and fed it a mixture of 50/50 kefir and water and 50/50 whole wheat and bread flour for 3 days to get the starter used to addition of kefir.  I noticed that my starter would rise a lot faster than normal (twice as fast as usual).

The final bread was about 75-80% hydration.  I used the following amounts:

2 oz starter

2.5 oz whole wheat flour

7.5 oz bread flour

4 oz kefir

4 oz water

1 tsp salt

I fermented at room temperature (about 72 F) and stretched and folded every 60 minutes for 4 hours.  I shaped into a loaf, slashed, and let it bench proof for another hour.  15 minutes before putting into the oven, I brushed it with a mix of 1 tsp melted butter and 1 egg yolk.  I then liberally applied sesame seeds and pushed them in with a piece of saran wrap.

I baked it for about 20 minutes on a stone in a 475 oven (that is the max my oven can get to even when I set it to 500).

The bread had a dark brown crust, but it stayed soft due to the glaze.  The sesame seeds toasted nicely and gave the bread near the crust a subtle sesame flavor.  The crumb was nice and open, and the bread was incredibly moist.  The flavor was a bit more mellow than my normal sourdough and I can't say enough about the flavor.

I will definitely be making this bread again in a couple of days, and will be sure to take some pictures and post them.