Sourdough bread… for me it is the quintessence of ‘Russian food’. Along with kefir of course 🙂 Well, they do have the ‘wild yeast’ stage in common! And you can make both at home, by the way. I’m still making my kefir with this creamcheese recipe, just skipping the straining stage. And then enhancing it with a slice or two or an entire gorbushka (the butt piece of the loaf and the best piece too) of crusty sourdough bread. Here are two recipes – one of a ‘white’ bread for breakfast and the other of a ‘black’ bread for lunch and dinner.

I’ve been using this recipe for some time now, each time altering it but mostly making dark or ‘black’ bread with it. The recipe is perfect for those who are only beginning to bake sourdough bread. But it is also just fine for those who need a basic recipe easy to remember and a procedure easy to follow.

A year ago – Three Times Chocolate: Danish Swirl Bread, Panforte and Cookies

Two years ago – Sablé aux figues or Fig Jam Shortbread

Three years ago – Pommes. Pommes de Terre too

Sourdough Bread adapted from www.hefe-und-mehr.de is a super recipe which leaves you so many ways to explore! For the entire recipe and detailed instructions, visit the link above.

My changes: I usually increase the amount of rye flour, add whole wheat flour, rye bran, seeds, etc etc. As for the procedure, I normally bake the bread a bit longer at the highest temperature, cause I really like it crusty!

Remarks: I usually mix the starter in the evening, leaving it to ferment overnight, then proceed with the recipe next day. Also tried leaving the rising dough in the fridge and it baked wonderfully. The only problem here is that the dough sticks to the ‘basket’ (I’m using heavily floured glass bowl) so that when you turn it over, the top of the loaf gets damaged a bit. But this you can always remedy with a cross slash 🙂

Result: The crumb is thick and particularly chewy if you add seeds. The procedure is easy and flexible and the recipe is super-adaptable. Each time the bread is somewhat different although the recipe stays the same.

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And here’s the ‘white’ bread, although it would have been whiter if I hadn’t added quite a lot of whole wheat flour and hadn’t used rye sourdough culture. However, this is still ‘white’ to my mind, so we’re eating it for breakfast. Made huge goryachie buterbrody (hot sandwiches) with this bread, mmm! I know, I know, this is all very cheap gourmandise but I like those microwaved sandwiches with cheese and herbes de Provence on top 🙂

Rolled Oat Sourdough Boule adapted from  www.ashaggydoughstory.com will make two big loaves that slice perfectly to make tasty buterbrod! The original recipe (follow the link above) will give you all the necessary instructions.

My changes: Used 4-cereal mix (barley, oats, wheat and rye) instead of just plain oats. My sourdough culture is made with only rye flour so the result was darker than what it should be with the white flour culture. Also couldn’t resist the temptation to add about 500 g whole wheat flour instead of all-white flour. For the want of covered bakers I used a cast iron pan and a pan covered with aluminum foil. I also baked my loaves a bit longer.

Remarks: The procedure is quite flexible so you can adapt it to your lifestyle so to say. The recipe makes quite large loaves so you might want to freeze one once it gets completely cool (I normally do that).

Result: This bread tastes great and looks great – with this swirly slash on top. Don’t mind the oats that will fall off 🙂 Just enjoy the chewy yet soft sourdough bread: crusty with airy crumb!

I’ve posted some more oatmeal bread recently. Adding these two recipes to Sourdough bread collection.

G.