100% Whole Grain Sourdough Bread Recipe

1. 100% Whole Grain Sourdough Bread Recipe This recipe is an authentic 100% Whole Grain Sourdough (Natural Wild Yeast) bread recipe. It is the way bread has been made for thousands of years. Instead of using baker’s yeast, it uses a yeast start that is cultivated from wild yeast, flour, and water. This mixture produces lactic acid, which increases the availability of some nutrients such as folate, potassium, and magnesium. The acid and long process make it more digestible too. The yeast start creates prebiotics that helps keep the gut healthy and happy with friendly bacteria. Some evidence suggests whole grain sourdough bread is less likely to spike blood sugar levels. Traditionally made sourdough is often better than store bought sourdough as sometimes they don’t use a long rise method. It is the long rise and yeast starter that creates this beautiful and healthy bread. Ingredients  1 C warm Water or Milk  1/2 cup natural yeast start -Bubbling at full strength  1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil  1/4 cup honey

2.  1 teaspoon salt  5 cups whole grain flour  1 or more cups flour (barley flour, spelt, other)  2 Tablespoons gluten flour (optional) Directions Mix dough and long rise: 1. ** Two nights before baking take start out of the refrigerator. ** If you keep your start in the refrigerator you need to bring it out two nights before you bake. Measure out 1/2 cup of yeast starter in a jar, cover with cloth or pickle pipe and put in a warm spot on the counter. Let the start sit and feed it every 6-8 hours for about 48 hours until it is bubbly and raising. When it is doubling in less than six hours it is ready to use for baking bread. Click Heere to read about Yeast Starter complete car. 2. Add warm water, starter, oil, honey, and salt to a big bowl. Stir with a Danish Dough hook or wooden spoon. Add Gluten (optional) and then 5 cups of the flour one cup at a time. A Danish dough hook comes in handy for adding the flour. If you have an electric machine, you can use it. The dough will start to form a mass and not stick(cling) to the sides of the bowl. Stir with the hook for about 5 minutes and then pour the dough onto a clean wet surface. 3. Keep a small bowl of water near to keep the kneading surface and hands wet. Knead for about another 5-10 minutes. Make sure the dough doesn’t get too watery that it starts to run. (You can also just knead the dough in a bowl and use the dough hook to knead instead of turning it out on a surface to knead at this point.) 4. Flour the board with some flour and switch to hand kneading. The flour should be dough-like enough now to work by hand. Work about 1/2 - 1 cups of flour into the dough, kneading small amounts at a time until the dough has some ‘bounce.’*Whole Wheat flour takes longer to absorb water than white flour so it is best to keep the dough on the wet side. The total kneading time should be 10-20 minutes. *Don’t work too much flour into the dough, or the bread will be crumbly. 5. Windowpane Test:

3. Test the dough to see if it has been appropriately kneaded by taking a small golf-ball sized ball of dough and pull it-stretch it. If it will get thin in the middle and show light through it without breaking or getting big holes, it is ready. If it pulls apart or gets holes, you need to knead it a bit more. 6. Place the dough in a greased big bowl covered with oiled plastic or wax paper wrap. It is easy to spray the wrap with ‘Pam’ to get the oil-coated. Let the dough sit at room temp 68°-80° Fahrenheit for 6-12 hours .If it is warm in the kitchen, the time will be shorter than in cooler spaces. I found a 6-hour rise in a room in the mid 70° was a perfect combination. *Calculating the rise was the step that took me the longest to figure out. You need to experiment with your start, flours, and climate.