Homemade Sourdough bread with Seeds and Rolled Oats

Sourdough bread with Seeds and Rolled Oats

You can either make your own sourdough starter from scratch, find a baker that will give you some, or perhaps one of your friends already has some. People are generally very happy to share the bread making experience, as was my friend Felicity, who gave me the dough starter and a lesson in how to make it. To make this bread, you don't require a bread maker or a a dough hook in your mixer, just a passion to make your own bread, eat well, and it can easily all be done by hand.

You should already have 500g of Desem or Sourdough  in the fridge. You can take off the exact amount needed from your Mother dough or Desem for the recipe and use as such. Or you can take a small amount and give it 2 feeds to use for the recipe. I have done both and I don't think it makes a lot of difference as far as the quality of the final loaf of bread goes. It is more dependent on whether or not you have the time to wait for the dough to grow in between feeds, or if you want to make your bread straight away. However if you are time poor and need to make your bread straight away, you will need to feed your Desem in the fridge as well so that you don't lose it.

To make this bread, you will either need a large bread tin or tray to cook it in, and a good set of scales. All quantities need to be accurately weighed.

 Take 60g of Desem from the Mother dough in the frig, and double it with 2/3 flour and 1/3 water to double the amount. Add the combined flour and water gradually to the Desem until it is all combined. Let 60 g double to 120g. Take off 90g , feed it again, and let it rise to 180 g. Take off 20g. and use 160g for the following recipe.Allow 24 hours for all of this rising to happen.

Remember: When Desem in the fridge is down to 250g  double it with 1 part water and 2 parts plain flour. Put straight back in the fridge. Leave for 2 days and use as before.

Recipe:

350g Baker's Flour 76%

110g Other Flour 24%

12g salt 2.6%

160g Desem or Sourdough 34.7%

270g Water 58%

Porridge:
Make a porridge in a tray with boiling water from the following and allow to cool:

100g Rolled Oats 21%

60g Sunflower Seeds 13%

40g Linseeds 8%

200g Boiling Water 43%

30g Honey 6%

30g Oil 6%

Next step:

Sift the dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl.

Mix the 160g Desem and the 270g water with the porridge.

Add the porridge and Desem to the flour and combine well. Rest the dough for 10 minutes.

Turn onto an oiled or floured bench and knead gently for ten seconds. I use flour on my bench to knead the dough.

Knead again and place in a clean large oiled mixing bowl.

 Cover, place in a warm spot,  and allow to make a 50 % rise.(This generally takes a few hours)

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead again and knock back dough and place into the oiled bread tin you intend to cook the bread in or on a cooking tray if you intend to make a round loaf.

Allow to rise another 50%, or until the dough rises to almost fill the bread tin and then cook it. Sprinkle some flour on top for a nice finish.

Oven temperature:

220 deg. C. for 10 minutes

200 deg. C. for 20 minutes.

Remove bread from the tin and if it is still slightly soft around the crust, place it back in the hot oven without the tin to bake for a further 10 minutes to crisp up the outside.