Baking Brown Bread with a Sourdough Starter

It took running out of bread in the house for me to realize that I have neglected sharing this very easy recipe for baking everyday brown bread with a sourdough starter with you. What is brilliant about this recipe is that if you take a careful look at the list of ingredients on your Low GI bread in the shops, you will notice that they use largely the same ingredients. This bread really will sustain you much longer than most. As always, I give advice for using alternative raising agents as well.

I took this recipe from one of South Africa's oldest and dearest recipe books and adjusted it to use the sourdough starter.

The Kook en Geniet is a book used by most of our grandmothers and is still in use today.

Start by mixing all of your dry ingredients together: 1 teaspoon (5 ml) sugar, 4 cups (1 litre) Brown Bread Flour, 2 cups (500 ml) Cake Flour, 2 teaspoons (10 ml) salt, 1 tablespoon (12,5 ml) brown sugar.
Option 1: If using Instant Dry Yeast, add two packets to the dry ingredients.
Option 2: If using Active Dry Yeast, add two packets to 3 cups (750 ml) lukewarm water with the 5 ml sugar dissolved in the water. Let it sit until it becomes frothy.

Mix the dry ingredients well before adding 1 tablespoon (12,5 ml) oil and 2 cups sourdough starter.

Add lukewarm water a little bit at a time until the dough comes together.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it becomes an elastic ball.

Put in a bowl and cover with plastic.

Allow to rise to approximately double in size in a warm dry place.

Prepare two bread tins with non-stick spray and coat the bottoms with flour.

Knock the dough back and knead for another 5-10 minutes.

Divide the dough in two and spread it evenly in the bread tins.

Cover with plastic and allow to rise to double in size again.

Preheat your oven and bake for an hour at 200°C.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Brush with melted butter or egg yolk. Cover with a damp cloth to prevent a hard crust from forming.

Serve with butter and condiments as per your favorites.

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