secrets of light wholegrain sourdough bread?

[jawnn]

What are the secrets to making a light sour dough bread????

I have tried molasses to no avail, and white spelt flour works good for the crumb, but not the sponge texture. for that I have to use white all pupose flour, and I don't want to do that.

One book I have says to use sweetner but thats just going to make it sweet. Or taste like the sweetener.

I admit that a sticky dough rises better that a dry dough. And of course fine grinde is better that medium.

So maybe I just have to use active dry yeast?

I want to make a realy toasty (toasted sesame oil) sour bread, my starter works good, but it's not magic.

[jawnn]

The secret for making light bread is developing the gluten.

Sprouted wheat must be ground as soon as it starts to sprout, or it won't have enough gluten.

Has any one made this kind of bread????

[furrbrain]

Sourdough bread uses a "sourdough culture" for leavening.
Kneading is what develops the gluten and makes the dough elastic. The gluten forms and after rising the bread the "rise" is from the gases formed by the yeast. To get a finer texture, you rise the bread multiple times and "punch down" the dough after every rise. Sprouted flours and whole wheat flours will require more kneading to get the gluten to form which is why white flour is often used in the mix to get some rise. I'm relatively new to the macrobiotic thing but when I used to make lots of bread, I'd use one cup white to about 3 cups whole wheat.
I've often thought of using a mixmaster with a dough hook to do it, but doing it by hand is much better therapy!

[jawnn]

that doesnt work if your sour dough is not virile....I finaly started using dry active yeast the day after doing the sour sponge...it works so much better.

[Bruce Paine]

Meow!

Kneading the dough after it rises also release much of the gas that has been generated by the interaction of the ingredients.

Sourdough bread is often caused by leaving some of the gas in the bread prior to baking.

If you don't like the sour taste, knead the dough completely prior to baking and you might have a sweeter less sour natural leavened bread!

For more information on baking natural leavened breads see:

The Bread Book:A Natural, Whole-Grain Seed-To-Loaf Approach To Real Bread: by Thom Leonard

and

Breadtime Stories: A Cookbook for Bakers and Browsers: by Susan Jane Cheney has besides many natural leavened and sourdough bread recipes and one recipe for Natural-Rise Sprout Bread.

if you can't wait to get a copy of the book, visit Mother Earth News to find a Essene Bread recipe like the kind that Lifestream of Canada produces.

A really powerful naturally leavened bread is made by Lynne Gordon of French Meadows Bakery is the Sprouted Healthy Hemp Bread and it might be available in the refrigerated section of your natural foods store.

Have you met anyone in your town named Rik, furrbrain?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[furrbrain]

Nope, I've never met a Rik. Couple of Rick's here and there though! Why do you ask?
You need to have the gas in the bread, or it has rocklike texture! "Active" dry yeast makes the bread blah and tasteless. I prefer a good sourdough and honey as a food for the yeasts and multigrain flour.

[fulenn]

I love making sourdough. I keep a jar of starter on my counter and use it to make pancakes, bread, rolls, whatever. I grind my own wheat except for when I want light sourdough. For me, using whole wheat pastry flour with 1/2 cup or so of high gluten flour combined with a long--18 or more hours--rising time gives me light bread. At least it is very light and airy compared to my usual whole grain sourdough, which is pretty heavy. Using packaged yeast will help your dough rise nicely, but the taste is very different, at lest to me, and I think that packaged yeast is something to try to avoid when making balanced MB choices.

Of course, I am new to this and hope that nothing I am doing here is too unbalanced or is a poor choice to make with MB food. If it is, please let me know as I am learning.

Fulenn

[jawnn]

Has any one used home made malted barly from sprouted and toasted grains??

Or for that matter how about using koji as malt?