My soaked dough bread recipe

I haven't shared my bread recipe before, I think because I was still refining it, and then I memorised it, so I didn't really need to write it down!  Also, I'm hopeless at following recipes, so I forget that other people want to use them.  This bread is a "soaked" flour recipe.  This means that you add some kefir or yoghurt to slightly ferment the dough before baking, but it does not rely on wild yeast or a starter like sourdough.  It takes longer than a standard bread recipe, but does not require any "dough conditioners".



Soaked flour bread in a bread maker

3 1/4 cup flour (wholemeal wheat, spelt etc, it will rise better if you add some white flour due to the gluten content)
about 1/2 cup seeds - sunflower, chia, hemp etc

about 370 mL of water (this is why recipes are a problem for me, you just get used to what the dough needs to look like, this will vary with the flour you use and the amount of seeds)

1 Tbsp (i.e. a splash) of kefir or yoghurt

1 tsp of honey (to taste, this was originally more, but I don't like my bread sweet)

1 tsp of olive oil

Mix all of the above 4-24 hours before required, and leave at room temperature (this is the "soak" time that allows the microbes and enzymes in the kefir or yoghurt to break down the proteins and carbohydrates in the flour).  This also depends on your room temperature too!  I the middle of summer, it probably only need 8 hours.  In winter I put the bread maker next to the woodstove to stay warm.

When ready to bake the bread, add 1/2 Tbsp of commercial yeast and 1/2 Tbsp of salt (to taste).  Knead (20 min on the bread maker, possibly shorter by hand!) and leave to rise for about an hour.

Then you can either bake the bread in the bread maker, or tip it into another bread tin (we don't like the size of the bread maker tin), allow to rise again to desired size, and bake in the wood stove or Webber BBQ for about an hour.

This bread doesn't always work perfectly, it depends on the ingredients and the temperatures, maybe I need a more repeatable recipe!  But when it does work, you get a lovely tasty loaf.

I'd love to know if you try this recipe and what you think!  Do you have any other simple bread recipes to share?

Here's my previous bread post, with more photos and thoughts and instructions....

Overcoming the breadmaking challenge
The home-made bread compromise
Homemade bread - so far so good after 4 months
Still baking bread - using the BBQ over summer

And for more about fermentation, see my posts about Nourishing Traditions:
Nourishing Traditions review - Mastering the basics
Nourishing Traditions - from start to finish
Nourishing Traditions - more chapter reviews
Nourishing Traditions - Grains and Legumes
Nourishing Traditions - Snacks, desserts and "superfoods"