Simple Four Day Sourdough Starter... that might just change your life!

Sourdough is nothing to be scared of, and it might just change your life a little bit!

Personally speaking, I've suffered most of the time when I've eaten bread over the last decade (and a little bit more), and discovering sourdough has been a revelation of almost biblical proportions for me. Not only can I eat, nay enjoy, nay... consume in ecstatic rapture (is that OTT?) bread - it's become the tastiest, most delicious, full-of-flavour bread I've eaten.

I now have an understanding of why some artisan sourdough bread is soooo expensive in the shops. Out of my price range, to be fair - and yet, now I can make it myself. Last night, I ate the most delicious bread I've ever eaten in my life - and I made it (and that's really saying something for me)!

A selection of breads made from my sourdough starter, and I'm quite new to this!

What's so special about sourdough? It's the long, slow ferment. This allows the natural wild yeasts that you capture in your starter to slowly work their magic in your dough over a long period of time. There's a lot written about the health benefits of sourdough, and the fact that it's better for diabetics, and for those who suffer eating wheat and gluten because of the way the gluten is broken down over the long ferment (unlike commercially made breads, and even home made bread made with commercial yeast), and the healthy bacteria in the bread, and all sorts of things. There's a really interesting article here which will give you a great insight into what is so good about it. And I'm buying into it, not least because from my own personal experience, I can actually eat this delicious bread without any ill digestive effects. And it's not just bread - you can make pancakes, muffins, crumpets, croissants, hot cross buns (more later!) and all kinds of things - it's amazing!

Softest White Bread Rolls - (includes Thermomix method)

These are lovely, soft and pillowy bread rolls - delicious warm and buttered on the side of a hot bowl of soup, or as burger buns, or encasing juicy thick slices of sizzling butcher's bacon...

I had to take one for the team here - me and wheat don't really get on - and especially white flour: that's a killer for me! However, for me, part of showing other people how to cook things, is finding the perfect way to cook them, and making it as 'no-fail' as possible for everyone (without fancy equipment). So it had to be done with my nemesis, white bread and all things white-bread-related! You don't have to make these with a Thermomix, you can mix and knead the dough by any method you choose, until the dough becomes soft and elastic (in the machine of your choice, or around 10 minutes or so by hand), and carry on from there.

      

For me two of the foremost 'danger' points of making your own bread (before you even get to the cooking part!) are using water which is either too cold, or too hot for the yeast ('lukewarm' can mean different things to different people!), so that it either doesn't activate, or you kill it - and then after the kneading part, the main area for failure is putting your bread somewhere which is the wrong temperature to rise.

I have always put my bread into the combination / convection oven to rise, as there is a setting for 40C which rises it perfectly. However, not everyone has an oven they can set to 40C, so it was time to get out of my comfort zone in rising bread (for the first time ever), and try a way of rising it which anyone else could do, along with making sure the water for the bread was the right temperature.

I took tips from a number of sources to put together a recipe which worked perfectly including the recipe for bread rolls from the TM5 demonstration, the 'Bestest Bread Rolls Ever' recipe from the Australian recipe community, my own preferences when making bread, and tips on getting the bread to rise from some of the lovely, helpful people on the Facebook group, 'Thermomix Owners UK'.

So, with thanks to all of the above, here is the amalgamation of ingredients and method to produce some rather delicious bread rolls, which I hope are as great a success for everyone else who tries them, as they are for us!

Makes 8 rolls, from 251 calories per roll, potentially in under 1 hour! 5 -10 minutes active time, 20-30 minutes rising time, and 25 minutes cooking time. [Calories in square brackets]

Rustic Wholemeal Spelt and Linseed Loaf (with Thermomix instructions)

A small family-sized loaf, perfect to throw together for lunch with soup, or a selection of sliced meats and cheeses, or whatever you fancy really... making fresh bread always makes lunch feel special for us!

Spelt is an ancient form of wheat which is not gluten free (and therefore not suitable for coeliacs, or those who are intolerant of wheat or gluten), but which many people find easier to digest than wheat. The addition of linseeds adds extra nutrients and healthy omega oils to the bread.

You don't need a Thermomix to make this loaf, just mix together and then knead for ten or so minutes until the dough is elastic, as you would with ordinary bread (or put the dough in a bread machine or similar to knead it for you!), then follow the instructions from putting the dough into the tin onwards.

We really enjoyed this yesterday, with my cream of celeriac soup - I have to confess, we didn't wait for it to cool down, and butter may have dribbled down peoples' chins along with soup - what a delightful bunch we are!!

Spelt and Honey Bread Rolls - includes Thermomix Method

From flour to rolls in just under an hour - seeds are optional, but add to the delicious, nutty flavour.

Although these are made with honey, don't worry, they're not sweet. The honey is just there in place of sugar, to feed the yeast, and can be substituted for other things if you would rather not use honey (see ingredients). However, if you should want the honey taste to be more prevalent, simply add more to taste!

The facts: Spelt is an ancient, hybrid species of wheat (also known as dinkel wheat and hulled wheat). It's higher in nutrients such as vitamin B1, B2 and iron than regular wheat and it's pretty versatile, as it's great for making really tasty, soft and light bread, as well as being suitable to make pasta with. It *does* contain gluten, however, therefore it is not suitable for people with coeliac disease, but some people who have minor difficulty digesting normal wheat, may find spelt easier to digest.

Biology lesson over! (Well, the important bit was to make sure there was no confusion over spelt containing gluten). Now onto how to turn it into tasty rolls, with a lightly crusty top, and a deliciously nutty and moist, soft centre - in under an hour! I always used to find making any kind of bread/s quite daunting, so there are plenty of photos in the method to refer to, so you know you're on the right lines!

Makes 8 medium to large sized rolls (one is enough for lunch!), or you could divide it into more smaller rolls if you prefer.