Sourdough Sharing - Flatbreads

This month's sourdough challenge at Sourdough Surprises was flatbread.  I decided to give both tortillas and naan a try.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Tortillas
My starting point was these two recipes - here and here .

Ingredients
4 c flour (I used all whole wheat)
1 c milk
1 c sourdough
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together sourdough, milk and salt.

 

Slowly add in flour mixing until the dough forms a ball and is not too sticky.  Then knead the dough for 2 - 3 minutes.

 

Transfer to a well-greased bowl, grease top of dough, cover and let sit overnight.

 



My dough had a bit of a crust on it the next day but nothing too bad.

 

Divide the dough into balls and heat up a cast iron or non-stick fry pan.

  

 

Use olive oil to grease rolling pin and rolling surface.  Roll dough balls flat and thin. 

 

Place your tortilla into pre-heated pan and cook briefly on both sides. 

 

It took less than a minute per tortilla.  I turned the pan down to medium to medium low because the cast iron holds the heat and I didn't want my tortillas to burn. 

 

The recipe makes between 1 1/2 dozen to 2 dozen depending on the size.

These were very good.  I ate some warm and froze the rest for later.  Next time I make them, I will try to make them a bit larger and rounder so I can use them for quesadillas.


Sourdough Naan
My starting point was here and here .

Ingredients
1 c sourdough
1/2 c warm milk
1/4 c Greek yogurt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 c flour (I used all whole wheat)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme


Mix sourdough, milk, and yogurt.  Add dry ingredients and mix together, adding more flour if dough is too sticky.

 

 Knead a couple of minutes.

 

Turn onto floured board and knead several times until dough is smooth.  Place in a greased bowl and let rest several hours. 

 

Divide dough into 8 pieces and heat up fry pan.  Again I started at medium high and then turned down the heat.

 

Roll dough on floured board.  I found the dough a bit stickier than the tortilla dough and a bit harder to manage.

 

Cook each side until done.  It smelled very nice cooking with the herbs in the dough.

 

 

 

The naan took a little longer to cook than the tortillas because the dough was a bit thicker.  I also found it harder to keep the naan round.

 

The naan were good but my preference is the tortillas - partly because they were less trouble and partly because I have eaten more tortillas in the past than naan. 

 

Enjoy both recipes as well as the links to other flatbreads below.  ;)

Sourdough Sharing - Brioche/Babka

This month the sourdough recipe for Sourdough Surprises is to make a brioche dough and use it to make a babka.

I've never made either brioche is rich bread with high egg and butter content or babka.  Babka can be a twisted loaf with cinnamon and/or chocolate or a Urkraiain sweet bread usually containing raisins often made for Easter.

I was not able to participate due to illness and time constraints but wanted to link to the blog to have easy access to the recipes.  I do plan to try these breads someday.

Focaccia Bread

I decided to try my hand at Focaccia Bread.  I found three recipes that I combined to make my own. http://annastable.blogspot.ca/2011/01/no-knead-tomato-focaccia.html   &
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/focaccia_bread_with_rosemary/   &  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/focaccia-bread/


Ingredients
1/2 c warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast

1 1/2 c water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
4+ c flour
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
pinch pepper

1 c mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
sundried tomatoes
olive oil


I had never used sundried tomatoes in my cooking.  So last year I decided to dehydrate some Roma tomatoes.  After they were dried, I froze them.

For this recipe, I decided to try two methods of using the tomatoes.  The first was to rehydrate in water.

The second was to rehydrate in olive oil.

I also minced some garlic for the recipe as well.

To make the dough:  Stir the sugar into the warm water and add yeast.  Set aside for about 10 minutes so yeast can start to work.  Mix the spices into a couple cups flour.  Mix the water, oil, salt and yeast and add spiced flour.  Different spices can be used - some use rosemary, etc. but I am partial to oregano.  Add rest of flour, mixing until you have a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Grease bowl with olive oil and roll dough around until coated.  Cover and let rise until double.

Grate mozzarella cheese and set aside.

Divide dough in half and press each onto a well oiled cookie sheet.  Press out dough until it fills the sheet.  Set aside to rise for about 30 minutes.

Use your thumb or finger to press indentations into the dough in rows.

Drizzle on some olive oil making sure it fills many of the indentations.

For one pan, I sprinkled mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

For the second, I sprinkled on the minced garlic.

Then I added the two types of tomatoes to see which were better.  On the left are the oil ones and on the right the ones soaked in water.  Then sprinkle with the two cheeses.

Bake at 425°F for about 15 minutes or until nicely browned.  This was the cheese focaccia.

This was the garlic sundried tomato one.  Again the oil tomatoes are on the left and the water rehydrated ones on the right.

Remove them from the pan.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

The cheesy focaccia was very tasty with the herbs and cheese combination.  It was good the second, even cold.  The tomato one would have been a great addition to a spaghetti dinner.  The water dehydrated tomatoes turned out to be similar in taste to using fresh tomatoes.  The ones I soaked in oil tasted better but burned more easily because they weren't so moist.  So I have a dilemma next time I try it in how to do the tomatoes. 

Applesauce Sourdough Bread Revisited

Last year I posted my Applesauce Sourdough Bread.   http://mountaingardengleanings.blogspot.com/2010/12/sourdough-applesauce-bread.html

I decided to revisit this recipe to talk about the add-ins.  My bread is never the same twice because the add-ins change depending on what I have available.  I always double the recipe and get 6 loaves so the amounts below are for that amount.

I usually beef up the whole wheat flour with several of the following:  wheat germ, bran,  oatmeal, oat bran. I usually add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of several or all.

I also add flax.  I add whole seeds for fiber and I grind some in the coffee grinder to help lower cholesterol.  I read that whole flax seeds don't help with cholesterol so I add both.  I usually add around 1/2 cup total - whole and ground flax.

I have also bought some whole grains from time to time - wheat, etc. and run them through the coffee grinder to break them up a bit.  Last time I baked, I added 3/4 cup of whole wheat grain and ground it slightly to break up the kernels of wheat.

I also like to add seeds.  My favorite is sunflower seeds but have added pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, and/or sesame seeds as well.  I often add about 1 cup of sunflower seeds and 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sesame and/or poppy seeds.

When I am making the bread I mix all my add-ins in a bowl and add part of it into the mixer while adding the flour.  I then add the whole wheat flour and finish with the white flour.  When I make six loaves, I usually mix a quarter of the dough at once.  So to do this  start with 2 to 2 1/2 cups of liquid.  I then add about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of add-ins, 1 to 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and about 1 to 2 cups of white flour.

I have also thought about adding raisins, cranberries or other dried fruit but haven't as of yet.  I think I would only make a single recipe (3 loaves) if I added fruit.  I have also toyed with the idea of adding pumpkin instead of applesauce.  Maybe someday.  ;)

Swedish Thin Bread

Another Swedish recipe I learned from my mother-in-law is Thin Bread. 

My in laws were a farming family and ate hardy meals both at lunch and supper.  They always had bread, buns or thin bread with each meal.  The buns and thin bread were warmed in the oven if they had been frozen so were always eaten warm with butter melting on them.

The Thin Bread recipe I am including is from Treasured Recipes - 70th Anniversary of the Bethesda Lutheran Church - 1911 - 1981.

To make the thin bread you need a special roller or can use a fork to prick the dough.  Here is my regular rolling pin and my thin bread roller.

Notice the "nubblies" (I don't know what they are actually called but nubblies seems like a good word) on the surface of the roller.

Ingredients
3 c flour
3 c whole wheat flour
1 c marg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
(I use 1 1/4 c half and half and 1 1/4 c water instead of the following)
1/2 c cream 
1 c water
1 c buttermilk

Mix dry ingredients and cut margarine in, as for pie crust.  Combine with liquids and mix as dough.

Cut off small portions of dough and roll into a small ball.   This recipe makes about 12 large pieces so you may want to cut it into 12 before you start rolling them out.  You can make smaller pieces if you wish as you usually break off a piece to eat anyway.

Place on floured board and roll very thin.  Flip the dough and add more flour to the board as needed.  I don't get too concerned with odd shapes unless they don't fit on the cookie sheets.

Use a "thin bread" roller, or if you don't have one, prick entire surface with a fork.

I make several passes with the roller so there are lots of holes.  I usually flip the dough over and use the roller on the other side as well.

Place on ungreased cookie sheets.  I use all the cookie sheets I have and fill them all before I start baking them.

Bake in a hot oven 375-400F.  The cook time is between 5 and 10 minutes depending on the heat of the oven and the thinness of the bread.  I often flip them over once they start to bake.  You have to watch them carefully so they don't burn.

Set out to cool if you are going to freeze them.  When I freeze them, I place them either in a large plastic container (but that takes so much room) or in a large plastic bag and make sure they are on the top so they don't get crushed.  I usually don't freeze them, though, and we have a feed of thin bread for a few days.

Eat warm slathered in butter.  You can eat with a meal in place of bread.

We like ours as a snack sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.



Enjoy!  :)

Sourdough Applesauce Bread

I make this bread more than any other bread.  It is very moist and tasty. 

The original recipe says it makes 2 loaves but I always double the recipe and get 6 loaves.  So unless you have very large loaf pans, I would make it into three loaves.

adapted from Rita Davenport's Sourdough Cookery Cookbook

Ingredients (for 3 loaves)

1 package yeast

¼ cup warm water - I add about 1/2 tsp sugar

1 cup sourdough

¼ cup oil

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ cup applesauce - I use unsweetened homemade

1 Tbsp salt

1 cup hot water

3 cups whole wheat flour - I substitute some flax seed, ground flax, wheat germ and bran for some of the whole wheat flour (more info below)

¼ tsp baking soda

3 – 4 cups flour

Mix together yeast with warm water/sugar and set aside . In large mixing bowl combine  oil, brown sugar,

sourdough, applesauce, salt, hot water, and baking soda. Mix well. 

Stir in yeast mixture.

I add flax seed, ground flax, wheat germ and bran to substitute for about 1 cup of the whole wheat flour.  I mix them together and then add them to the whole wheat flour. 
VARIATION - I sometimes add seeds as well - sunflower, pumpkin, poppy, sesame - some or all - 1/2 cup to 1 cup total.  I just mix them in with the whole wheat flour then adjust the white flour as it is being stirred in.
NOTE - to grind flax seed, I use my blender.

I use my Cuisinart to mix and knead the dough.  I put in about half the liquid, half the whole wheat mixture and a cup or so of the white flour.  Add the white flour a bit at a time until the dough forms a ball and the bowl is clean.  I then knead it with the dough hook for 5 - 6 minutes.  Remove and repeat with other half.

If you make bread by hand add the whole wheat mix to the liquid with about 3 cups of white flour.  Add more flour until you have a stiff dough.  Knead for 10 minutes adding more flour as needed.

Place in a greased bowl.

Cover and set in a warm place. I use my oven with the light turned on.  Let rise 1 to 2 hours or until double in size.

Punch down dough and shape into loaves. Place in greased loaf pans.

Cover and let rise until double.

Bake at 350 F for 35 to 45 min.  Bread is done when a loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Brush the top with melted butter. Enjoy!