Sneaky Sandwich Sourdough
My husband and and small boys quite like whitish sandwich bread, and although they like my sourdough boules and batards for dipping in soup, it is difficult to convince them to eat sourdough in any other form. I have read in a few places that the long fermentation times plus the lactobacilli in sourdough improve the digestibility and lower the GI rating of bread (in comparison to bread prepared commercially with the shortest possible rises, etc). Seeing as the family like toast and sandwiches from time to time, and I always make a instant yeasted loaf for that, I thought it couldn't hurt to try a sourdough sandwich loaf and test out the family's reaction. So, today I am baking a sourdough sandwich loaf which is all white bread flour except half a cup of fresh ground whole wheat flour. Of late, my starter has been less sour than it was before, so perhaps that will help, too. Anyway, here are the pics of the crust and crumb. While it was baking it filled the house with a delicious almost buttery smell which I find utterly irresistable! Let's hope they like it too....
A cool loaf and two slices of toast later...
The children gobbled it up! It is not sour, is quite light and fluffy, and very much what I was after. Success!
Comments
Looks delicious. Sourdough only, or spiked with instant yeast?
No spiking, just sourdough starter. I try not to mix yeast with my sourdoughs, as I find instant yeast has a really strong sweetness which overpowers the sourdough flavour... Plus, I figure the sourdough and instant yeast must work in quite different ways since they work at such different rates, so I don't usually mix them.
The bread looks wonderfull I need to try a sandwich bread would you share your recipe.
Thank You
Dimitry
http://www.ourwholesomehomes.com
My recipe is very simple and easy.
Ingredients:
1 Cup ripe starter (taken from fridge, fed, and left in a warm place for a few hours, approx 100% hydration)
0.5 Cup warm water
1.5 Cups white bread flour
0.5 Cup wholewheat flour
1 scant (not quite full) teaspoon salt
Handful of Sesame Seeds
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
I mix up all the ingredients listed above, knead for 5 minutes, then rest in the mixing bowl covered with plastic wrap for 10 minutes. After it rests, I take it out and knead a little more, then stretch it out into a big rectangle and fold it up like a letter (to increase surface tension of the dough). I leave it 30 minutes and then do another stretch and fold, then repeat. After the last stretch and fold I leave the dough to rise for another 4 hours or so. Then I shape (for sandwich loaf I roll up into a nice tight log and place in a breadpan), and place in the refrigerator overnight, covered with oiled plastic wrap. First thing in the morning, I take the pan out and leave it somewhere warm until the dough has risen well above the top of the bread pan. I preheat the oven to 230C, bake for 10 minutes then turn the temp down to 190C, and cover the bread with foil for the remaining 20-25 minutes (my family doesn't like a dark brown top, the first 10 minutes makes it a nice golden colour so the rest of the bake I cover it). Let cool, then slice up and enjoy!
Sounds simple and most very tasty, indeed! Thanks for sharing this!
Happy baking!
Theose look lovely! Sourdough sandwich bread is all what I do at home. I make 2 - 4 loaves each week, use mostly 1/3 unbleached flour and 2/3 WW flour as base then I play with it by adding different ingredients to make various flavors. My family loves my SD sandwich bread and they won't it any other ways. Al
I've tried this same idea more times than I can count.. my dough just turns to soup, lies flat and flabby in the pan, and never comes up above the top of the tin. But darn it, I see that it can be done.. that's so irritating! :-)
Mike, sourdough behaves differently compared to regular yeast breads. A lot of us encountered challenges when first started. No need to feel irritated.
If you post the recipes used at your attempts some of us may be able to help you.
Al
Oh, don't mind me.. :)
I've tried the ol' 1:2:3 recipe, which I believe works out to like, 66% hydration? I've tried 58%, 60%.. several times, to no avail. All with 1.8-2% salt additions. I got some advise somewhere else on here that it's a matter of stretch and folds and such till it get's really taut, but I just don't seem to have the knack for that yet. I've had great success with 100% sourdough on the hearth, freestyle.. but never had anything go right for me once I put it in a pan.
That is so bizarre that you have success with a free form loaf and not with a pan! I used the same recipe here that I use for my free form loaves (with one exception, I use more whole wheat than white flour for my free forms) and had no trouble. It sounds like your dough is too wet for the pan loaf maybe? Do you roll it/shape it all before placing it in the pan? I'm sorry you haven't had success with sourdough sandwich loaves yet!
This looks awesome but I'm surprised it's not sour as I thought retarding the dough in the fridge builds sour flavor. Maybe your starter just creates mild bread...interesting.