sourdough loaves

Sourdough Bread Variation: Cheese and Olive Roll

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Today, we made another variation of the Quick and Easy Sourdough Bread recipe.

For the last while, we’ve been making a Black Olive and Cheddar variation that has been so delicious.  With today’s bread baking, I did two loaves this way.

The other two loaves were made into rolled loaves.  The other change was that I used the liquid from our yogurt “cheese” making.

I also made another technique variation, by accident. :-D

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As I usually do when using sourdough, I pre-measured all the ingredients, using a doubled recipe.  At this point, the only change is the type of liquid.

Following the recipe, I added the yeast, starter, sugar, salt and 4 cups of flour into the liquid, mixing well.  It’s been a while since I’ve made it, as my younger daughter has been the enthusiastic bread baker for the last while.  The batter seemed thinner than usual, but so was the starter, and that was what the recipe said, so I went with it.  When it was well mixed, I covered the bowl and set it aside in a sun spot, then headed out for a quick run into town with my younger daughter to get some unexpected necessities.

While we were gone, my older daughter chopped up a can of black olives and shredded some Old cheddar cheese for me.

While out and about and chatting, I mentioned what I’d done with the bread so far, then realized…

I’d forgotten to double the quantity of flour.  It should have been 8 cups, not 4! :-D

No worries.  I knew that doing it this way would result in a sponge, and I was good with that variation.

This is what it looked like when we got back, about an hour later.

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Look and that beautiful chemical reaction!  So bubbly. :-D

Normally, after rising, the soda is kneaded into the dough with 1 cup of flour.  Since I was working with a sponge, I stirred in 2 more cups first, then added the soda with the 3rd cup of flour.  By the 4th cup, I was mixing it in by hand and continued to knead in more flour, little by little, in the bowl until it was thick enough to start kneading on the table.

I didn’t add much more flour after that.

After well kneading the dough, I divided it in half and set one part aside.  With the remaining half, I cut it in half again for two loaves.  With each piece, I kneaded them a bit before rolling them out into rectangles.  Leaving an edge all around, I spread out some chopped olives and shredded cheese.

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Typically, I would have brushed melted butter on the dough, first, but I didn’t feel like melting any butter, so I just used the cheese and olives alone.  After rolling the dough up, I pinched the seams to seal them and tucked the ends under before placing the rolled loaf into an oiled baking pan.  I started preheating the oven in between shaping the two loaves.

When the rolled loaves were done and waiting to go into the oven, I took the rest of the dough and kneaded in the olives and cheddar, as we have been doing normally for the past while.  The moisture of the olives does require adding a bit more flour as it’s being kneaded in.

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With these loaves, I slashed the tops so they wouldn’t split while rising in the oven.  I also rubbed the tops with oil (I’d forgotten to do that with the rolled loaves before putting them in the oven).

They took about 35 minutes to finish baking.

Despite my pinching the seams to seal the rolls, cheese still managed to escape and overflow on one side of each loaf, just a bit.

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Oh, did they ever turn out wonderful!

As of this writing, 1 1/2 loaves are already eaten.  It was basically supper! :-D

Oh, they were so good!

My daughters have asked me to keep doing these rolled loaves from now on.  They are liked even better than just kneading the olives and cheese into the dough.

While I was waiting on the loaves to bake, I posted a couple of pictures on my Facebook page.  A friend of mine asked me if I were interested in some whey in the spring, if she has any left over.

Of course, I said yes!

I have awesome friends.

As for the use of the yogurt liquid instead of water, there wasn’t a huge taste difference; the olives and cheese overpower it, really.  The texture was finer, though, and the bread moister and lighter.

This variation was a definite success!

The Re-Farmer

Black Olive and Cheddar Sourdough variation

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

For the past while, we’ve been using Sir Sour Alot to bake 4 loaves of bread, every other day.  Give or take.  We’ve been using the Quick and Easy Sourdough Bread recipe each time because… well… it’s quick and easy.

When it came to the final kneading of the dough, before shaping into loaves, that’s when we would get creative and start kneading in other ingredients.  Garlic powder, grated dry Parmesan or Asiago cheese, or both together (both from the Bulk Barn), rolled oats, shredded cheddar cheese, etc.  Whatever we have in the cupboard that we thought to try.

Yesterday I needed to make a quick run into town, so I was able to pick up a can of sliced black olives.  I used half the can, chopping the black olives up finer, and kneaded it in to half the dough, together with about a cup of shredded cheddar.  (We kneaded rolled oats into the other half.)

We also used warm potato water, drained from the potatoes I’d made for supper, as the liquid.

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This is what they looked like, by the time the other loaves were done in the oven and I was about to put these in.  When kneading the shredded cheddar and olives into the dough, the cheddar basically disintegrates and gets completely worked into the dough.  So you can’t really see it, but you sure can taste it!

It took all our will power to finish off the last of the previous baking we did before going into the fresh loaves!  Two of which went into the freezer as soon as they were completely cooled.

This morning, we tried the olive and cheddar loaf, toasted.

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It was so incredibly delicious, we’re now thinking of making ONLY olive and cheddar bread from now on!

Since Sir Sour Alot expanded so enthusiastically last night, maybe we’ll do some extra baking tonight.  I even picked up more cheese – old, rather than medium, cheddar, for the extra tang.

So, to summarize, to the basic recipe we made the following changes:

  • substituting potato water for regular water in the recipe.
  • adding chopped black olives and shredded cheddar cheese (medium) to the dough during the final kneading.

I look forward to when we can start making yogurt cheese again.  After draining the liquid off the yogurt to make the cheese, I would use the liquid to bake bread, and it’s even better than potato water.

The Re-Farmer

Quick and Easy Sourdough Bread, with garlic and parmasan

/ Re-Farmer / 5 Comments

While I was driving my husband to a medical appointment and then the pharmacy, my daughters eagerly went at my new copy of Alaska Sourdough and baked bread.

This was not our first attempt at doing a sourdough yeast bread in loaves.  However, when we tried it before, we did not have any commercial yeast left.  Normally, this is not a problem; it just takes longer for the dough to rise.

Except it didn’t really rise.  Even using the oven with the light on to keep it warm and draft free, and giving it 4 hours, it still didn’t double in size.  Nor did things improve after shaping the loaves and setting it aside for a second rising of a couple of hours.

We baked it anyways and got a very dense loaf that was delicious, but it was half-way between unleavened bread and regular bread in texture.

Our home is simply too cool for doing sourdough bread without using commercial yeast, though if we had shaped them into buns instead of loaves, it might have worked better.

We have yeast now.

The girls went through the cookbook and settled on the Quick and Easy Sourdough Bread recipe because… well… it was quick and easy.

Of course, it was also modified a bit.  Because we do that.  They added Herb and Spices Parmesan (found at Bulk Barn) and garlic powder.  You can’t see it in the bread, but you can taste it!

They also doubled the recipe, because two loaves with 4 people is gone in a day.

So here is the modified, two loaf, recipe.

1 cup Sourdough starter
1 Tbsp yeast (1 pkg)
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 cups flour
optional: about 1/4 cup each, garlic powder and Herb and Spice Parmesan, or to taste.

Add yeast to warm water.  Mix in sourdough starter, sugar, salt and 4 cups of flour.  Beat well.

Put in oiled bowl and set aside in a warm spot to rise until doubled.

Mix soda win 1 cup flour.  Add to risen dough.  Knead in garlic, Herb and Spice Parmesan, plus more flour as needed, until satiny and springy to the touch.

Cut dough in half and shape into loaves.

Bake in 400F oven for 45 minutes.

Note: if using glass loaf pans, reduce heat by 25F.

The recipe did not call for a second rising, so with the doubled recipe, the first two loaves went straight into the preheated oven, while the second two loaves got a second rising while waiting.

I would go with doing a second rising.

The resulting bread has a lovely, spongy texture that is dense enough to handle being spread with rather cold butter (when we buy bread, sometimes I have to warm up the butter in the microwave for 8-10 seconds, just to be able to spread it.  Otherwise the slices just disintegrate!).

We polished off the first two loaves with some beef stew.  A marvelous combination.