My sourdough journey is still relatively new, but I have been enjoying learning and experimenting over the past year and a half! I didn’t really know much about the benefits of sourdough, or that it is really a whole different way to eat bread products. After making and killing two starters, I finally bought a dehydrated one from Ballerina Farm and have been enjoying using my starter in everything from bread to bagels to pancakes and more!
Why Sourdough?
A sourdough starter is basically fermented flour and water. The major health benefits of sourdough is that the fermentation process makes the bread easier to digest and provides probiotics for good gut health. Modern wheat products have been modified many times over, making it difficult to digest, and many people now have sensitivities or outright allergies to it. Sourdough’s fermentation process often makes it digestible for those with this sensitivity (not those with Celiac Disease). A sourdough starter is very versatile and can be adjusted with almost any type of flour: all purpose, wheat, einkorn, and even gluten-free. I feed mine unbleached all purpose, and often use it in recipes mixed with whole wheat.
Easy Bread Machine Sourdough Loaf
Making sourdough bread can be a process that you need to think of well ahead of time. I am not always that on the ball, so I have looked for recipes that make that time a bit shorter and have adapted them to my liking. This is one of those recipes, and my husband says it is the best bread I have ever made! Now, I am not a sourdough expert, and what I do is not seen as the “correct” way to prepare and make sourdough bread, but it works and is delicious.
Start the night before you want to make your bread by feeding your starter. You want to have it nice and bubbly in the morning when you start assembling the dough. Before beginning, place ½ raisins in a bowl and cover with water. This plumps them up before baking and adds more moisture to the bread. To start the bread dough, pour about a 1 ¼ cups of room temperature water into the bread machine pan. Add in about 1 cup of sourdough starter and stir a bit to partially dissolve. Add in 1 TB sugar, 1 cup of bread flour, and two cups of unbleached all-purpose flour. Mix together to form a very rough and shaggy dough. Let this mixture autolyze for about 30 minutes, then add 1 tsp of sea salt, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and ½ cup raisins. Set your bread machine to the Dough program and let it run. Once finished, you can let the dough sit in the warm machine for another hour to continue rising and fermenting.
Transfer the dough to a greased bowl (I use glass with some oil). Stretch and fold the dough every 20 or so minutes 5-6 times. This introduces more air into the dough and helps make it light and fluffy and makes the signature holes in sourdough bread once baked. Shape into a loaf and transfer to a greased bread pan. Cover with a tea towel or oiled plastic wrap and let rise another hour or two (time will depend on how warm your house is). Note that sourdough doesn’t always rise a lot before baking, but it will get a nice oven rise. Preheat your oven to 425*F (I did 400*F on convection) and make for 40 minutes. If the top starts getting darker than you prefer, you can loosely place aluminum foil on the top for the last 15-20 minutes of baking. Let cool before removing from pan; let cool completely before storing wrapped or in an air-tight container.
Sourdough Directions and Tips
While the above directions have yielded the best results in my kitchen, there are variations and substitutions you can try as well, plus some other thoughts about sourdough in general:
-I have used 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or 3 cups bread flour. Both have turned out well, I just prefer the mixture. I have not yet experimented with whole wheat, but should work well, though you might need to add more water to make the dough moist enough.
-I have been using organic cane sugar in my recipe, but it turns out the same with regular granulated sugar.
-Use less than 1 tsp cinnamon if you don’t want a strong spicy flavor.
-This dough is purposely on the “wet” side; I find the bread gets airier and fluffier that way. You can use less water for a dryer dough to work with, but know that the bread will be a bit denser.
-I have doubled this recipe to make two loaves, but check your bread machine manual to make sure your machine has the capacity to handle a doubled recipe.
-I have found this recipe to be pretty forgiving with timing as long as your starter is fed and bubbly when you start, so don’t stress too much about getting the timing exact.
-You can also feed your starter in the morning, make the dough in the evening, do the stretch and folds, then cover and put in the fridge overnight to proof and bake in the morning. Take the dough out at least an hour before baking, transfer to a loaf pan, then bake as recipe states.
-This bread is delicious served toasted with cinnamon butter, cream cheese, or peanut butter!
Bread Machine Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread Recipe and Ingredients
Yields 1 Loaf
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups room temperature water
¾ cup fed, active sourdough starter
1 TB organic cane sugar
1 cup bread flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup raisins
Directions
- Feed starter the night before making the dough to start with an active, bubbly starter in the morning.
- The next morning, put raisins in a bowl and cover with water to soak while you assemble the bread dough.
- Add water and sourdough starter to your bread machine pan; mix to dissolve slightly. Add in sugar and flour, mix until a shaggy dough forms. Let autolyze for 30 minutes. Add in sea salt, cinnamon, and drained raisins.
- Set your bread machine to the Dough program and let run. Once completed, let dough sit in the closed machine for up to an hour to further rise and ferment.
- Transfer to a greased bowl and perform stretch and folds about every 20 minutes. Complete 5-6 rounds of stretch and folds, then form the dough into a loaf shape and transfer to a greased bread pan. Let rise for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 425*F (400*F for a convection setting). Bake bread for 40 minutes. Check after 20 minutes; if the top is getting too browned, loosely place a piece of aluminum foil on top for the remainder of the baking time.
- Let the bread cool before removing it from the loaf pan. Cool completely before storing.
Hill Road Homestead 
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