I’ve been playing with some variations on the Basic Sourdough Tutorial I wrote last week…
Grain bread isn’t popular at our house, but I was inspired by Michelle’s recent loaves to give it another go. I picked up a bag of mixed grains at Harkola for just $1.30. It contained kibbled wheat, kibbled corn, kibbled rye, malted wheat and linseed. The night prior to baking, I soaked 100g of the grains in a large quantity of water…
The next morning, I made a double batch of sourdough, reducing the water just a little to take into account the extra liquid from the grains. Here’s the formula I used, and I constructed the loaves following the basic instructions, although I did (optionally) prove them in my bannetons. The soaked grains were drained really well and then added to the wet ingredients…
- 300g ripe sourdough starter
- 480g water
- 50g olive oil
- 1kg bakers flour
- 20g fine sea salt
- soaked grains
These quantities made one large and two small loaves with a tasty, elastic crumb. The presoaking softened most of the grains to a chewy consistency, although the linseed was still quite hard.
I delivered the two small loaves to neighbours, and have been enjoying the large one sliced and toasted. I still can’t sell it to the family though!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
That looks AMAZING. Can’t wait to get my starter!
Have you picked it up yet? :)
I like the idea of soaking the grains first, i must try that, my latest experiment is to make a sourdough loaf using kefir as a starter! wish me luck! c
Oh good luck! I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before! :)
I wish I was one of the neighbours! The bread looks delicious,I could have that with marmalade jam. :-)
Thanks Sponge! I thought it was very nice – the boys were kind though, they said it was “not bad”. :)
That looks marvelous. I like a seedy/grainy bread but not anyone else around here. Today I’m making a sourdough rye with caraway seeds- my favorite, but Frank won’t even consider taking a bite. That’s alright- I just freeze half of the loaves and give away a portion of what I have remaining.
You are really good with sourdough bread- well with bread of all kinds, Celia- I admire your continued sense of trying new breads and methods.
I love caraway seeds, but Pete won’t go near them either, Heidi! And thanks for the compliment – coming from you O Bread Queen, that means a lot! :) xx
Fantastic look bread Celia – would love a slice of that with lashings of butter – scrumity! I have never soaked my seeds before, must definitely try that next time I bake a loaf.
Have a super week ahead.
:-) Mandy xo
Mandy, an old miller friend of mine insists that’s how it was done in the old days, before bread needed to be baked in hurried commercial quantities. I do prefer it to hard grain bread…
Hmmm… looks delicious! Do you home deliver? ; )
Ah I wish, love.. :)
With that parrot on the cover of the bag of grains, it looks like something to put in the bird feeder. Is that what your family thinks? When Alfie was two he used to go to Family Day Care and he’d come home saying, ‘I don’t like the sandwoos, they have stones’ – he wasn’t a fan of grain bread then and still isn’t now. Personally, I love grain bread and your loaves fresh from the oven and cooling on the wire rack look wonderful xx
Parrot? I think it’s a rainbow lorikeet, and it better watch out for Alfie.. :)
Wish you were closer and I could run a loaf to you, Charlie!
Looks delicious! I really need to get onto making a starter!
Clare, hope you have fun with the starter! :)
Yummy! I love grain bread :) (frankly, I prefer it to wholemeal…) I imagine your house just smells amazing with all that bread baking! x
Oh, no-one will go within a bull’s roar of wholemeal here.. :) xx
Sign of good taste…? ;)
Celia you read my mind. I was actually going to email you and see if you knew much about seeded breads. This is perfect! We’ve already thought of a name for Priscilla’s clone too (Will named it… it’s a boy). I love grainy bread.
Claire darling, Priscilla with an “s”, she’s a diva, you know.. :) Love the name you’ve chosen!!
I can attest to this bread’s deliciousness – Celia bought me some grain mix and gave me the recipe and i made a loaf yesterday. Very happy about the way it turned out.
Rachel, that is just wonderful – I’m so glad it worked out so well for you!
Grain bread is still on my “To Try” list. Thanks for the tip about soaking the grains, I suspect that would make quite a difference to the texture (and my teeth).
Amanda, interesting you should say that. When my miller friend John was talking about soaking grains, he mentioned that in the old days when all bakers presoaked their grains, no-one ever complained of cracked teeth from biting into their sandwich!
Beautiful loaf, Celia. I can smell it toasting. I make a similar loaf with about half wholemeal flour. ‘They’ can’t see the grains!
Liz, they’ll run even further from wholemeal than grain bread! It’s a clever idea though.. :)
Am laughing ’cause hotlyspiced just got in ahead of me asking about the parrot on the seed packet: it does look as if it was meant for our feathered friends :D ! Meanwhile I love everything grainy , so whilst I wait for my starter [surely arriving soon!] shall happily put this next to your last tutorial: don’t worry, shall start at ‘the very beginning, it ‘s a very good place to start’ according to song!!
It really does look like birdseed, doesn’t it? :)
Charlatans they are! Bet the neighbours were happy though. We’ve just had a middle eastern shop open nearby, went in last week to look for grains but they didn’t have any. Bet if I ask though they’ll probably be happy to trial. Off to town I’ll go…
Ali, the local health food store is always a good bet…
I love bread with a bit of a chew to it, delicious sweetie!
Becca, I like it too, but just try convincing the boys…sigh.. :)
Great Celia, looks lovely. I might have to try this as part of my grain experiment. It is not overly popular in our house either although I love it.
Jane, I’ve made a really nice loaf in the past from actually cooking the grains too – now that was more palatable to the masses! Dan Lepard has some really nice recipes in his book!
I’ve not tried using grains in my bread, Celia — not that I’ve baked all that much bread. Still, when I get back into baking bread again, I really must give grain a try — and now I know where to come to learn about the process. ;)
John, you’re very kind, thank you! Grain bread isn’t even available in our local Italian bread shop – no wonder my boys won’t eat it! :D
I’ve always wondered if soaking would make a difference. I’ve also used Dan Lepard’s recipes where he uses alcohol (one loaf with red wine, one with ale) – this seems to soften the grains.
Sally, I really like the alcohol soaked grains (there’s one where the grains are soaked in Alsace riesling, which I thought was very fancy!). Dan’s bread recipes are fantastic! :)
I shouldn’t read your posts after dinner, now I’m hungry again. That looks delicious. I tried a round loaf on the weekend and had the same problem as Fiona who commented on the first tutorial. Maybe it’s a Qld thing! I’ll have a look at Heidi’s tutorial and try again.
Jo, maybe try lowering the hydration of your dough?
May be if you soak your grains for 24 hours you could sell it to your family. I love chewy grains in my bread and am sure I would love yours.
Norma, I actually get a better result when I cook the grains first, which was suggested by Dan Lepard. Although then it’s less like grain bread, and more like grain-flavoured bread.. :D Wish I could share some with you! x
I’ve really got to get some of that lovely starter! :D I love grain bread personally :)
Just say when, darls.. :)
The soaking is intriguing Celia, At first I assumed you were doing it for health reasons a la Nourishing Traditions but, further up in comments, I see that you were advised by a miller to do this. When I include seven grain in my regular bread I get a less risen loaf so I’ll definitely try this.
Rose, I’m not sure how it affects the rise, but it’s definitely easier on the teeth! :)
Celia, Thank you daughter of Priscilla has arrived – haven’t got a name sorted but something about Queen of the Desert comes to mind!
The grain bread looks yummy. Hopefully if I get her going tomorrow morning she will be ready for baking on Satuday!
Thanks heaps from across the ditch
Annie! Hooray, you got it! Priscilla’s full title is, “Priscilla, Queen of the Refrigerator”, so you’re right on the money about the name. Please do let me know what you end up calling him/her. And please send me photos! :)
If you get her going tomorrow and pop her in the fridge, remember to pull a little out at lunch time on Friday to start feeding her up before you make your dough on Saturday morning. The basic tutorial has instructions! :)
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2013/02/11/bread-101-a-basic-sourdough-tutorial/
[…] through the night. Before bed i also soaked some of the grain mix in water. Celia had shared her recipe for a grain loaf and early the next morning i began following the steps in her basic sourdough tutorial: mixing the […]
What a delicious sounding dish, especially with some of the vegetables fresh from your garden. The pesto had to have added terrific taste. I’m happy that I could introduce you to pumpkin seed oil as I love its nutty flavor. Thank you so much for the link…I really appreciate it.
Karen, it really has been a great find – delicious, and such an unusual colour! Thanks again for the headsup! :)
Celia…since you all make yogurt I would simply harvest some whey and soak the grains in just enough whey to cover, or a water n whey blend, or yogurt even works. This will start to digest the grains, even the linseed. Plus the whey or yogurt infused grains add even more fermentable power.
Am underway on the grain loaf. Shebru is working the charm and I have soaked grain in chenin blanc, because you do! Also added carraway seeds so it will interesting to see the results.