Below is a small selection of recipes that have been developed and tested by community members.
Buttermilk Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
JMonkey
This is one of my favorite breads. The honey adds a touch of sweetness while the buttermilk gives it a slightly tangy flavor. It’s great for toast and sandwiches. And, as Laurel Robertson (whose recipe I’ve adapted) in “The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book” wrote, “It keeps well, when hidden.”
Formula:
Whole wheat flour: 100%
Salt: 2%
Instant yeast: 0.6%
Water: 38%
Buttermilk: 38%
Honey: 8.4%
Unsalted butter: 2.8%
Ingredients
Whole wheat flour : 500 grams or about 4 cups
Salt: 10 grams or 1.25 tsp
Instant yeast: 3 grams or 1 tsp
Water: 185 grams or ¾ cup + 1 Tbs
Buttermilk: 185 grams or ¾ cup + 1 Tbs
Honey: 42 grams or 2 Tbs
Unsalted butter: 14 grams or 1 Tbs
Mixing
Add the salt to the flour. Mix them thoroughly and then add the yeast, also mixing. Melt the butter (or, if you like, work it in later while kneading) and add the water, buttermilk, melted butter and honey to the flour, mixing well until everything is hydrated.
Dough development
You’ve got several choices on how to develop the dough.
If you’re not retarding the bread, deflate the dough after the first rise with a stretch and fold, and let the dough rise once more before shaping. It’ll take about 1.5 hours or so.
Shaping
This dough makes a great sandwich loaf, and I usually bake it in a greased 8.5” by 4.5” bread pan.
Retarding
I’ll often make the dough after dinner. After the first rise is complete, I’ll shape it, put another pan on top and then place it outside if the temperatures will get down into the 45 to 55 degree range. If it’ll be colder than that, I place it in our “cold room” which is unheated, but rarely gets below 40 degrees.
If it’s going to be a hot summer night, I’ll pop it in the fridge, but that usually means that I’ll need to let it warm up for 2-3 hours in the morning. I’ll sometimes speed up the warming by putting the pan on an upturned bowl at the bottom of a picnic cooler, throw a cup of boiling water in the bottom of the cooler and then close it up quick.
Scoring and baking
I usually score the dough with a single slash down the center, but it’s not necessary. I bake at 350 degrees F for about 55 minutes. If you like, you don’t even need to preheat the oven. Just pop it in cold and turn the oven on.
San Francisco Style Sourdough
JMonkey
I don’t make white breads very often, but I make this one every so often to satisfy the occasional, overpowering hankering. If you like, you can substitute whole wheat flour for up to half of the white flour, or you can simply use a whole wheat starter. You’ll probably want to increase the water, though by 1 to 3 Tbs.
Formula:
White flour: 100%
Salt: 2%
Water: 72%
30% of the flour is in the starter. (I’ll give two recipes, one for starter at 100% hydration and another at 60% hydration)
Ingredients
White flour: 350 grams or about 3 cups
Salt: 10 grams or 1.25 tsp
Water:
Starter: Two options
Mixing
Dissolve the starter into the water, and then add the salt. Finally add the flour and mix until all is hydrated.
Dough development and the first rise
However you develop the dough, from the time you mix until the time you shape the dough, it’ll take about 3 to 4 hours for the first rise at room temperature.
Shaping
Be gentle. You want to retain as many of those air bubbles as possible. Rounds and batards are the traditional shapes for San Francisco-style sourdoughs.
Second rise and retarding
Sourdoughs benefit quite a bit from retarding – many people think loaves that have been retarded taste better. You can simply cover the shaped dough and place it in the fridge or, if you’re lucky and the overnight temperature will be between 45 and 55, you can simply place it outside, in which case the bread will probably be ready to bake when you wake up.
If you put it in the fridge, it’ll need to warm up for 3-4 hours to complete its rise.
If you don’t want to bother with retarding, you can let it rise for another 2 to 3 hours at room temperature. You can also speed things up (and increase sourness) by placing the dough on an upturned bowl in the bottom of a picnic cooler, throwing a cup of boiling water in the bottom and covering it quickly. After an hour, throw another cup of hot water in. The rise should only take a couple of hours this way.
Baking
Score the bread as you like. Hash marks are traditional for rounds, and batards usually take a single, bold stroke down the center or a couple of baguette-style slashes.
While you can certainly bake this bread on a cookie sheet, it benefits from a stone and some steam, or a covered baker. However you do it, bake at 450 degrees for about 35-40 minutes.
JMonkey
I don’t make white breads often, but there’s nothing quite like a few homemade baguettes to accompany an elegant meal. This recipe was adapted from “Bread” by Jeffrey Hammelman.
Overall formula:
* White flour: 100%
* Water: 66%
* Salt: 2%
* Instant yeast: 0.36%
* 33% of the flour is pre-fermented as a poolish at 100% hydration with .07% yeast
Poolish:
* White flour: 160 grams or 1.25 cups
* Water: 160 grams or ½ cup + 3 Tbs
* Instant yeast: Just an eeny-weeny pinch (about 1/32 of a tsp)
Final dough:
* All of the poolish
* White flour: 320 grams oz or 2.5 cups
* Water: 160 gram or ½ cup + 3 Tbs
* Salt: 9 grams or 1.25 tsp
* Instant yeast: 1 to 2 grams or 1/2 + 1/8 tsp
The night before: Preferment
The night before, dissolve the yeast into the water for the poolish, and then mix in the flour. Cover and let it ferment at room temperature for 12-16 hours. Once the poolish has bubbles breaking on top and has started to wrinkle, it's ready. It'll also smell really nice - sweet and nutty. Mmmm.
Mixing and dough development
For the final dough, measure out the water and pour it into the poolish to loosen it up. Then pour the entire mixture into a bowl. Mix together the salt, yeast and flour, and then add it to the bowl as well. Mix it all up with a spoon and, once everything is hydrated, knead it the traditional way, until it passes the windowpane test. Cover and let it ferment for two hours, giving it a stretch-and-fold at the one hour mark.
Shaping
If you’re making baguettes, divide the dough into three pieces, and preshape into rounds. Cover and let them rest about 20 minutes. Then shape into baguettes about 12 inches longg and cover, letting them rise for about 1 hour to 90 minutes.
Score and bake on a preheated stone in a 460 degree oven with steam for about 25 minutes.
If you want to make a round or a batard, you’ll need to bake for about 35 to 40 minutes.
JMonkey
This traditional Italian bread is made from a very wet dough and is barely shaped. As a result, it’s full of nice, big holes. Great with olive oil or a good-tasting vinegar, and some pasta. This recipe was adapted from “Bread” by Jeffrey Hammelman.
Formula:
* White flour: 100%
* Water: 73%
* Salt: 2%
* Instant yeast: 0.36%
* 30% of the flour is pre-fermented as a poolish at 100% hydration with .07% yeast
Poolish:
* White flour: 136 grams or about 1 cup
* Water: 136 grams or about ½ cup
* Instant yeast: Just an eeny weeny pinch (about 1/32 of a tsp or 1/10 of a gram)
Final dough:
* All of the poolish
* White flour: 318 grams or two generous cups
* Water: 195 grams or 1.25 cups +1 Tbs
* Salt: 9 grams
* Instant yeast: A heaping 1/8 tsp or .5 grams
The night before: Preferment
The night before, dissolve the yeast into the water for the poolish, and then mix in the flour. Cover and let it ferment at room temperature for 12-16 hours. Once the poolish has bubbles breaking on top and has started to wrinkle, it's ready. It'll also smell ... really nice - sweet and nutty.
Mixing and dough development
For the final dough, measure out the water and pour it into the poolish to loosen it up. Then pour the entire mixture into a bowl. Mix together the salt, yeast and flour, and then add it to the bowl as well. Mix it all up with a spoon and let it sit for one hour. At one hour, give it a stretch and fold, followed by two more every 30 minutes. Then let it ferment for another hour or two, for a total of 3-4 hours bulk fermentation.
Shaping
Remove the dough onto a well-floured surface, and gently pat it out into a rectangle, carefully degassing any truly gigantic bubbles that you notice. That’s it. No more shaping required. Let it rest, covered, for about 90 minutes.
Baking
Dimple the loaf with wet fingers all the way across and almost all the way through to the bottom of the loaf. Load onto a hot stone at 460 degrees with steam and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. Let it rest one hour before slicing.
This bread started out as an 8 loaf recipe that I made and sold at church for fund raising for food for the hungry. At 5 dollars a loaf it was quite successful for that year. This makes a goo bread with no preferment but it is soooo much better with a long preferment and and a long rise so less is more where the yeast is concerned
The mix is:
25 % stone ground whole wheat flour
75% all purpose house label unbleached white flour
66% hydration
Yeast content can vary depending on how big a hurry you are in but never more than 2 teaspoons
salt about 1.5 %
On day one:
Make a poolish with8 ounces of stone ground whole wheat flour and 8 ounces of water and as much yeast as will lay on a table knife blade.
On day two:
add 14 ounces of water to the poolish and a teaspoon of dry yeast just to kick things along.
In a large bowl place 24 ounces of flour and a half tablespoon of salt. mix this a little and add the poolish and mix the whole into a shaggy ball. Cover and let rest while you have a cup of coffee.
Knead the dough in the bowl through several turn and fold strokes. Cover and let rest for another cup of coffee. come back and dust the dough with a tight fist full of flour and form a smooth ball. make sure that you scrape the bits and pieces of dough from the bowl and include them in the ball.
Pour a couple of tablespoon of melted bacon fat around the ball and turn the ball of dough over so it is well greased and the bowl is also. Cover and find something else to do for about two hours or more . If the dough is well risen, spread a handful of flour on the table and dump the dough out and put the bowl in the sink to be washed.
Divide the dough into three pieces and form each into a tight round loaf and dust with enough flour that it is not at all sticky. place all three on a well greased baking sheet and allow to rise and rise. just before baking make a slash across each loaf.
Pre-heat the oven to 450 and bake the loaves for about 40 minutes
This freezes well.
JMonkey
There is no other bread for a Reuben.
This recipe was adapted from “Bread” by Jeffrey Hammelman.
Formula
Whole rye flour: 40%
White flour: 60%
Water: 75%
Salt: 1.8%
Caraway seeds: 1.8%
40% of the flour (all the rye) is in the starter at 100% hydration
Ingredients
White flour: 300 grams or about 2 generous cups
Rye starter (at 100% hydration): 400 grams or 1.25 cups
Water: 175 grams or ¾ cup
Salt: 9 grams or 1.25 tsp
Caraway seeds: 9 grams or 1 Tbs + 1 tsp
Mixing
Dissolve the starter into the water, and then add the salt and caraway seeds. Add the flour and mix until everything is hydrated.
Dough development and the first rise
You’ll want to do either the stretch and fold or traditional kneading. Either way, it’ll be a little tricky because the rye will make the dough sticky. Keep at it – the dough will come together, though it will be more clay-like than a 100% wheat dough.
Shaping
Be gentle. You want to retain as many of those air bubbles as possible. Rounds and batards are the traditional shapes.
Second rise
You can let it rise for another 2 hours at room temperature. You can also speed things up (and increase sourness) by placing the dough on an upturned bowl in the bottom of a picnic cooler, throwing a cup of boiling water in the bottom and covering it quickly. After an hour, throw another cup of hot water in. The rise should only take a 90 minutes this way.
Baking
Score the bread as you like. Hash marks are traditional for rounds, and batards usually take a single, bold stroke down the center or a couple of baguette-style slashes.
While you can certainly bake this bread on a cookie sheet, it benefits from a stone and some steam, or a covered baker. However you do it, bake at 450 degrees for about 40 minutes.
JMonkey
A hearty, German-style rye that’s loaded with flaxseed
This recipe was adapted from “Bread” by Jeffrey Hammelman.
Formula
Whole rye flour: 60%
White flour: 40%
Flaxseeds: 10%
Water: 80%
Salt: 1.8%
40% of the flour (rye) is in the starter at 100% hydration
Ingredients
White flour: 200 grams or about 1.5 cups
Whole rye flour: 100 grams or 1 scant cup
Rye starter (at 100% hydration): 400 grams or 1.25 cups
Water: 200 grams or ¾ cup + 2 Tbs
Salt: 9 grams or 1.25 tsp
Flaxseeds: 50 grams
Soaker the night before
Mix the flaxseeds and 150 grams (about 1 cup) of the water together. Cover and let sit overnight.
Mixing
Add the remaining water to the flax seed soaker, and then mix with the starter. Separately, mix the the flours and the salt, then mix all ingredients until everything is hydrated.
Dough development and the first rise
You’ll want to do either the stretch and fold or traditional kneading, though traditional will probably serve you better. Either way, it’ll be a little tricky because the rye – and there’s a lot of it in this bread – will make the dough sticky. Keep at it. The dough will come together, though it will be much more clay-like than a 100% wheat dough.
The first rise will take about 3 hours at room temperature.
Shaping
Rounds and batards are the traditional shapes.
Second rise
You can let it rise for another 2 hours at room temperature. You can also speed things up (and increase sourness) by placing the dough on an upturned bowl in the bottom of a picnic cooler, throwing a cup of boiling water in the bottom and covering it quickly. After an hour, throw another cup of hot water in. The rise should only take about 90 minutes this way.
Baking
Score the bread as you like. Hash marks are traditional for rounds, and batards usually take a single, bold stroke down the center or a couple of baguette-style slashes.
While you can certainly bake this bread on a cookie sheet, it benefits from a stone and some steam, or a covered baker. However you do it, bake at 450 degrees for about 40 minutes.
Because of its high rye content, this bread should cool for at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours to allow the bread set up. If you cut into it too early, the center will be more liquid or gelatinous than solid.
JMonkey
This recipe makes four doughballs, each of which will make a pizza that's about 12" in diameter. They freeze well, and will keep for at least a month. To use a frozen doughball, just transfer it to the fridge the night before you want to bake. Then follow the baking instructions as written.
If you wish to make this as a 100% white flour pizza, reduce the water to 510 grams.
Formula
* Whole wheat flour: 60%
* All-purpose white flour: 40%
* Water: 80%
* Olive oil: 5%
* Starter accounts for 2% of the flour at 60% hydration
Ingredients
* Whole wheat flour: 420 grams
* AP flour: 290 grams
* Water: 570 grams
* Salt: 15 grams
* Olive oil: 36 grams
* Whole wheat starter: 25 grams
The night before, dissolve the starter into the water, and then add the salt and the oil. Finally, mix in the flours, until everything is nicely mixed. Then, let it rest for about an hour, and then do three stretch and folds with about 20-30 minutes between each. Cover the dough, and let it rise all night.
The next morning, see whether the dough has risen enough (8 - 10 hours is usually enough) and then divide it into 4 doughballs of about 340 grams a piece. Two dough balls go into the plastic baggies in the fridge, while the others go in plastic baggies in the freezer.
Remove the fridge doughballs two hours before baking, and shape them into tight balls. Then cover each with a cereal bowl. While they warm up, prepare the toppings.
Tomato sauce (for two pies -- makes more than you'll probably need)
Mix this up, and set it aside, adding salt if it needs it. Some canned tomatoes are already well salted. With the brand I use, though, I usually have to add 1/2 tsp or so.
Cheese blend (for two pies)
Other toppings are, of course, up to you. I like chicken sausage, black olives and mushrooms, myself. Roasted red bell peppers are awesome. Fresh tomatoes are great (under the cheese), when available, as are fresh basil leaves, added just after the pie comes out of the oven.
Shaping the pie
First, an hour before I'm ready to bake, insert a stone and set the oven as high as it will go. When you're finally ready to shape, generously dust a peel with semolina flour or cornmeal. Then, make a small pile of AP flour next to where you'll shape. Coat your hands in flour, take a dough ball, coat it in flour on both sides, and then place it on your knuckles. Bounce the dough on your knuckles in a circle, gently stretching the dough with each bounce. When it's halfway there, place it on the peel, and stretch it all the way out. Mmake sure you stretch the edges apart -- don't stretch across the dough, because the center will be fairly thin and will tear.
Before adding the toppings, make sure that the pie will move on the peel. Then add sauce, cheese and toppings, and bake on the stone for 9-11 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes on a rack before cutting into slices.
JMonkey
This may be my favorite hearth bread. When made well, it has an open crumb, which is unusual for 100% whole grain breads, and a deliciously sour and nutty flavor.
Overall Formula
Whole wheat flour: 60%
Whole spelt flour: 30%
Whole rye flour: 10%
Water: 75%
Salt: 2%
5% of the flour is in the starter, which could be whole wheat, whole rye or whole spelt, and can be 60% hydration or 100% hydration.
Ingredients
Whole wheat flour: 300 grams or 2 generous cups
Whole spelt flour: 150 grams or 1 generous cup
Whole rye flour: 50 grams or a generous 1/3 cup
Whole grain starter: 40 grams if stiff (a dough ball about the size of a golf ball); 50 grams if wet (about 3-4 Tbs)
Water: 375 grams or 1.5 cups + 1 Tbs
Salt: 10 grams or 1 and 3/8 tsp
Mixing
Dissolve the starter into the water, and then add the salt. Mix the flours together well, and add to the water. Mix until everything is hydrated.
Dough development and the first rise
However you develop the dough, it’ll need to rise at room temperature for 8-10 hours. Use the wet finger test to see whether it’s fully risen in the morning.
Shaping
Be gentle. You want to retain as many of those air bubbles as possible. Rounds and batards are the traditional shapes.
Second rise
You can let it rise for another 2 to 3 hours at room temperature. You can also speed things up (and increase sourness) by placing the dough on an upturned bowl in the bottom of a picnic cooler, throwing a cup of boiling water in the bottom and covering it quickly. After an hour, throw another cup of hot water in. The rise should only take a couple of hours this way.
Baking
Score the bread as you like. Hash marks are traditional for rounds, and batards usually take a single, bold stroke down the center or a couple of baguette-style slashes.
While you can certainly bake this bread on a cookie sheet, it benefits from a stone and some steam, or a covered baker. However you do it, bake at 450 degrees for about 40 minutes.
JMonkey
This is a great dinner bread – the seeds add a rich nutty flavor to the loaf, which is already full of sourdough flavor. It’s a bit too much for most sandwiches, though. This recipe was adapted from “Bread” by Jeffrey Hammelman.
Overall Formula
White flour: 80%
Whole wheat flour: 20%
Water: 80%
Salt: 2.3% (high, because of all the seeds)
Sunflower seeds, toasted: 12%
Sesame seeds, toasted: 6%
Flaxseeds: 7%
Water: 75%
20% of the flour is in the starter (which should be a whole wheat starter), which is at 60% hydration
Ingredients
Soaker
Flaxseeds: 30 grams or 3 Tbs
Water: 120 grams or ½ cup + 1 Tbs
Final Dough
White flour: 370 grams or about 3 cups
Water: 235 grams or 1 cup + 1 Tbs
Stiff whole wheat starter: 160 grams or about ½ cup
Salt: 11 grams or 1.5 tsp
Sunflower seeds, toasted: 60 grams or 1/3 cup + 2 Tbs
Sesame seeds, toasted: 34 grams or ¼ cup
All of the flaxseed soaker
Making the Soaker
Mix the flaxseeds and the water for the soaker together. Cover and let sit overnight.
Toasting
Spread the sesame and sunflower seeds on a cookie sheet and toast them for 5 to 6 minutes at 380 degrees. Unless you have a high-end toaster oven, I’d recommend avoiding it – some will burn, while others will be raw. Very unpleasant.
Mixing
Dissolve the starter into the water, and then add the salt and the soaker Finally add the flour and seeds. Mix until everything is hydrated.
Dough development and the first rise
However you develop the dough, from the time you mix until the time you shape the dough, it’ll take about 4 hours for the first rise at room temperature.
Shaping
Be gentle. You want to retain as many of those air bubbles as possible. Rounds and batards are the traditional shapes.
Second rise and retarding
Sourdoughs benefit quite a bit from retarding – they often taste better. You can simply cover the shaped dough and place it in the fridge or, if you’re lucky and the overnight temperature will be between 45 and 55, you can simply place it outside, in which case the bread will probably be ready to bake when you wake up.
If you put it in the fridge, it’ll need to warm up for 3-4 hours to complete its rise.
If you don’t want to bother with retarding, you can let it rise for another 3 hours at room temperature. You can also speed things up (and increase sourness) by placing the dough on an upturned bowl in the bottom of a picnic cooler, throwing a cup of boiling water in the bottom and covering it quickly. After an hour, throw another cup of hot water in. The rise should only take a couple of hours this way.
Baking
Score the bread as you like. Hash marks are traditional for rounds, and batards usually take a single, bold stroke down the center or a couple of baguette-style slashes.
While you can certainly bake this bread on a cookie sheet, it benefits from a stone and some steam, or a covered baker. However you do it, bake at 450 degrees for about 40 minutes.
JMonkey
I make these for breakfast every so often. They’re 100% whole wheat, but, really, you’d not know it, especially if you use buttermilk in the dough. That’s not to say that they’re exactly healthy, but however detrimental they may be to the body, these warm sticky buns are awfully good for the soul on a grey and chilly weekend morning.
Dough Formula
Whole wheat flour: 100%
Milk or buttermilk: 58%
Egg: 12.4%
Honey: 18.8%
Butter, melted: 6.2%
Salt: 2%
Instant yeast: 1.3%
Dough Ingredients
Whole wheat flour: 450 grams; 3-4 cups
Lukewarm buttermilk or milk: 275 grams; 1.25 cups
Egg: 1 large, lightly beaten
Honey: 85 grams or 1/4 cup
Butter, melted: 28 grams or 2 Tbs
Salt: 9 grams or 1.25 tsp
Instant yeast: 6 grams or 2 tsp
Filling ingredients
Brown sugar: 210 grams or 1 cup packed
Egg White: 1 large
Cinnamon: 14 grams or 2 Tbs
Salt: Just a pinch
Currants or raisins: 100 g; or 2/3 cup
Chopped pecans or walnuts: 60 grams or ½ cup
Sticky Bun Topping Ingredients
Brown sugar: 140 grams; 5 ounces; 2/3 cup packed
Cinnamon: 2 to 3 grams; 1 tsp
White flour: 3-4 grams or 1 tsp
Salt: Just a pinch
Melted butter: 56 grams; 2 ounces; 4 Tbs
Corn Syrup, honey or brown rice syrup: 39 grams; 1 3/8 ounces; 2 Tbs
Chopped pecans: 106 grams; 3.75 ounces; 1 cup
Cinnamon Roll Glaze
Powdered sugar: 120 grams or 1 cup
Lemon juice, milk or water: 15-30 grams or 1-2 Tbs
Mixing
If the honey's cold, I like to put the butter and honey in the same bowl and heat it for about 1 minute on medium power in the microwave. But, however you do it, first mix the milk, egg, honey and butter. Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a separate bowl, and then add to the liquids. Mix until everything is hydrated. If you wish, you can knead the traditional way now, or do as I do and use the stretch and fold method starting at 1/2 hour after mixing, and doing two more folds 20 minutes apart.
You may have to adjust the flour or add some water -- the dough should be tacky, but not sticky. In any case, if you've kneaded, the dough will be ready in 60-90 minutes and, if you've done the stretch and fold, it'll be done in about 2 hours.
Filling and Topping
Meanwhile, for the filling, mix everything together until smooth except the dried fruit.
If you’re making sticky buns, mix the topping ingredients except for the pecans. Corn syrup will give you a better consistency for the topping because it prevents the sugar from crystallizing, but I don't often have it on hand, and have had good results with both the alternate ingredients.
If you’re making cinnamon rolls, you can mix up the glaze now and cover it, or you can wait until the buns are just about to come out of the oven. Start with 1 Tbs of lemon juice, milk or water (I really like the flavor that lemon juice gives to the glaze) and stir it, adding more liquid until you get the consistency you like.
Shaping
Grease a 9x13 inch pan. If you’re making sticky buns, spread the topping on the bottom of the pan, placing the pecans on top.
Then, on a lighlty floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle that's roughly 12x16 inches. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a margin of about an inch or so on the top and bottom edges. Scatter the dried fruit and the nuts over the filling.
Roll the dough into a log and then, using a serrated knife or some dental floss, divide the log in half. Next, cut the two halves in half. Finally, divide each of these sections into three so you end up with 12 buns. Place the buns in the pan.
If you want your buns now, let them rise for about an hour or so until they're just barely touching each other, and then bake. But, if you want to bake them the next morning, simply cover the pan tightly with plastic or aluminum foil, and pop them in the refrigerator or a cold room (if it’s in the 40s or 50s, I sometimes just put them outside). The next morning, you may want to let them warm up for about 1 hour before baking, but I find mine are usually ready to go into the oven right away. You’ll know they’re ready when the buns are touching each other and are about 50% bigger than they when you shaped them.
Baking
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. When they are baked, for sticky buns, put foil or parchment paper over the top of the pan, and quickly invert it onto a cooling rack. Scrape any topping left in the pan on top of the buns.
For cinnamon buns, leave the rolls in the pan and drizzle the glaze over them with a fork or a spoon.
They should probably cool for 20-30 minutes before you dig in, but I'll leave that to your discretion.
JMonkey
My daughter basically lives on these for breakfast. I save up old starter over the week in the fridge and make these both during the week and over the weekend. Super easy, and they freeze very well. Simply split and freeze. When you want one, pop it directly in the toaster from the freezer. I learned this recipe with volumetric measures, and never bothered to convert to grams. I adapted this recipe and converted it to whole wheat from a posting at The Fresh Loaf from KJKnits.
Ingredients
Sourdough starter: 1/2 cup (stiff or wet, makes no difference)
Milk: 1 cup if you use wet starter; 1.25 cups if you use stiff
Whole wheat flour: 2 cups
Honey: 1 Tbs
Salt: ¾ tsp
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting
Dissolve the starter into the milk and then add the flour. Stir to combine, cover with a plate or plastic, and leave out for 8 hours or overnight. It’ll be pretty wet – don’t worry, it’ll firm up by morning.
The next morning, add the honey, salt and baking soda and mix well. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes with wet hands. With your fingers, flatten it out to 3/4" thick and cut with a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass into rounds. Reflatten the scraps to make additional muffins. You’ll get 10-12 muffins. Place muffins on a surface dusted with semolina, cornmeal or flour cover and let them rise for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Spray griddle or skillet lightly with spray oil or add a little butter. (Actually, if it’s nonstick, you may not need any grease at all.) Heat to medium high and cook muffins for about 5 minutes on each side, or until browned on the top and bottom and cooked through. These have great griddle spring and rise quite a bit. They’re done when the sides are firm.
Split with a fork and toast if you like. As noted above, they freeze very well.
JMonkey
This is another of my favorite breads. Slightly sweet, but also tangy, it’s perfect for sandwiches, but also stands well alone, with just a bit of butter.
Formula:
Whole wheat flour: 100%
Salt: 2%
Water or milk: 75%
Honey: 4.2%
Unsalted butter: 2.8%
30% of the flour is in the whole-wheat starter. (I’ll give two options, one for starter at 100% hydration and another at 60% hydration)
Ingredients
Whole wheat flour: 500 grams or about 4 cups
Salt: 10 grams or 1.25 tsp
Water:
• Using a wet starter: 225 grams or 1 cup
• Using a stiff starter: 285 grams or 1.25 cups
Whole wheat Starter: Two options
• Wet starter (100% hydration) 300 grams or 1 ¼ cup
• Stiff starter (60% hydration) 240 grams or 1 cup
Honey: 21 grams or 1 Tbs
Unsalted butter: 14 grams or 1 Tbs
Mixing
Dissolve the starter into the water, and then add the salt. Melt the butter and stir in the honey – add both to the water. Finally add the flour and mix until all is hydrated.
Dough development and the first rise
However you develop the dough, from the time you mix until the time you shape the dough, it’ll take about 3 to 4 hours for the first rise at room temperature.
Shaping
Shape into a sandwich loaf and place it in a greased 8.5”x 4.5” pan.
Second rise and retarding
Sourdoughs benefit quite a bit from retarding – they often taste better. You can simply cover the shaped dough and place it in the fridge or, if you’re lucky and the overnight temperature will be between 45 and 55, you can simply place it outside, in which case the bread will probably be ready to bake when you wake up.
If you put it in the fridge, it’ll need to warm up for 3-4 hours to complete its rise.
If you don’t want to bother with retarding, you can let it rise for another 3 hours at room temperature. You can also speed things up (and increase sourness) by placing the dough on an upturned bowl in the bottom of a picnic cooler, throwing a cup of boiling water in the bottom and covering it quickly. After an hour, throw another cup of hot water in. The rise should only take a couple of hours this way.
Baking
There’s no need to score the bread, but I often do anyway. Bake for about 55 minutes at 350 degrees F. No steam or pre-heating required.
JMonkey
I make these just about every Saturday. They’re light and delicious, with a light sourdough flavor. They freeze well. Adapted from a recipe in “The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion”
Ingredients:
Overnight Sponge
Whole wheat pastry flour: 10 ounces or 2 generous cups
Honey: 2 Tbs
Buttermilk: 18 ounces or 2.25 cups
Sourdough starter: 8 ounces (if it’s the wet kind, use only 16 ounces or 2 cups buttermilk)
Final Batter
All of the sponge
2 large eggs
6 Tbs (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Mix up the sponge the night before. Cover it and let it sit. The next morning, it should be bubbly. In another bowl, beat the egg with the melted butter until light, and then mix in the salt and baking soda. Dump this mixture into the sponge -- if the sponge is acidic enough, it should bubble quite a bit when it hits the alkaline baking soda. Mix it all together and then spoon it into a hot waffle iron. You'll know your waffle iron better than mine, but it usually takes about 4-5 minutes. I judge by the volume of steam -- when it starts to dissipate, they're usually done.
This recipe makes 8 to 10 traditional waffles. If you've got a Belgian waffle maker, I'm afraid you'll have to find out for yourself how many it will make, but no matter. The recipe stands well to doubling, even quadrupling, and leftover waffles freeze beautifully, so don't worry about making too many. When you want one for breakfast, just pop it directly into the toaster from the freezer.
Links
[1] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/buttermilk-and-honey-wholewheat-sandwich-bread
[2] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/san-francisco-style-sourdough
[3] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/poolish-baguettes
[4] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/ciabatta-poolish
[5] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/25-percent-whole-wheat-bread
[6] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/40-rye-caraway
[7] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/60-rye-flaxseeds
[8] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/overnight-sourdough-pizza-crust-60-whole-wheat
[9] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/overnight-whole-grain-sourdough-wheat-spelt-amp-rye
[10] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/threeseed-sourdough-bread
[11] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/whole-wheat-cinnamon-rolls-amp-sticky-buns
[12] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/whole-wheat-sourdough-english-muffins
[13] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/whole-wheat-sourdough-sandwich-bread
[14] http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/whole-wheat-sourdough-waffles