Rye sourdough

Now that you have your loaves coming out more or less consistently (or at least fewer batches consigned to being croutons) you may want to start mixing things up.

Remember when trying different flours, the autolyse step becomes even more important. They absorb the water at different rates and you can easily over-do the water if you use the initial consistency as mixed as a guide.  So start out with a bit less water than you might think you need.

Cheesy sourdough

Split batch white and cheesy

Cut the salt by half

Leave the dough stickier than usual

About 3/4 of the way through mixing add 2 big hand-fulls of shredded cheese. I am partial to 4 cheese mexican blend from costco.    This can be a bit hard to mix in. Crank up the mixer to 6 for short bursts until blended .

Now add flour if needed to adjust the texture.

Sprinkle with a bit of cheese, after slashing for fun.  If you put the cheese on prior to slashing you will pull a lot of it off.

This is one where you can split the recipe and make one loaf of white and one cheesy.  I love the cheesy sourdough toasted for breakfast slathered with peanut butter.

Rye sourdough

Rye sourdough

To the starter (about 2 cups) add 2 cups dark rye flour  and 3/4 c water

2 Tbsp Vital wheat gluten  (Bobs Red Mill) or King Arthur Rye dough Enhancer (which also adds more traditional “deli-rye” flavors

Caraway seed (optional)

Autolyze and mix as you normally would and adjust consistency as normal

 

Whole wheat

To the starter (about 2 cups) add 2 cups whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur Whole Wheat)   and 3/4 c water

2 Tbsp Vital wheat gluten  (Bobs red mill)

Autolyze and mix as you normally would and adjust consistency as normal

Note that a rye and whole wheat blend is really good as well

Pizza bread

1/2 salt

Leave the dough stickier than usual

About 3/4 of the way through mixing add 1/2 c sun dried tomatoes drained of oil and chopped finely  or 1/2 c rehydrated dried cherry tomatoes from the garden. Chop after rehydrating or you will have tomato chip shrapnel all over the kitchen.    The dried cherry tomatoes from my garden are awesome and keep in the fridge for years.

One large handful shredded mozzarella  or maybe two

1 tsp Italian seasoning (Penzey’s)

Now add flour if needed to adjust the texture.

Spent Grain Sourdough

What can be better than combining brewing and baking?

Spent Grain Sourdough 2 

Spent Grain Sourdough 1

Added seeds and grains

In proper baking terms this is referred to as adding a “soaker” . You need to hydrate the seeds before adding or they will dry out the dough AND not cling very well to the dough, resulting in deflated loaves.

1/2 c seed mix  such as King Arthur Flour Harvest Grains Blend

1/4 c hot / boiling water.

Mix the seeds and water for 1/2 hour before adding to the dough about 3/4 the way through mixing . DO NOT add at the start!

Mix and adjust as usual

Closing

So think of these as jumping off points to try different flours and flavors rather than firm recipes. Now that you know how to adjust your dough be feel, feel free to try new things. Worst case,  is that you end up with more croutons or bread crumbs to use for something else.

Happy baking.