Chocolate Sourdough Bread

In light of recent highly controversial and possible cataclysmic events...I am now adding the most deadly of all sourdough recipes to my blog. In case the ensuing ripple of carnage and outright panic clamoring that will inevitably result from this recipe being introduced to your home, may I suggest putting a tin foil cone on your head right away? If you are totally confused, please refer to the historical document: Random thoughts...Sourdough.

This is one I have been holding in reserve. Why? Well I wanted to have something in my arsenal in case we really got serious around here. This is one of my favorite breads of all time. Chocolate Sourdough. It's a low fat whole grain yeast raised bread that makes the most amazing toast and sweet sandwiches ever. Stuffed French toast will never be the same. Oh dear heart. The advantage of the sourdough with the chocolate is the powerful reaction of the starter with the already evil and hypnotic effects of the cocoa bean. It may be one of life's most ridiculously insane flavors for all the right reasons.

You will need:

3 cups bread flour (whole wheat works wonderfully)

1/2 cup dark quality cocoa powder

1/2 cup sourdough starter (sourdough starter )

1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp salt

2T oil

1/4 cup chopped quality chocolate (I use 85% cocoa), this stuff is powerful.

Combine the first 8 ingredients and knead 5-7 minutes until a supple dough forms. You may need to add more or less flour depending on how dry the flour is. Form into a rounded ball and put in a covered large bowl 8-10 hours. Yea, I make the dough at night, and when I wake up, it has reached perfection.

Knead the evil chopped chocolate by hand into the already amazing dough.

Form into a rounded loaf and place on a baking stone. I lightly sprinkle mine with Anise seed. Totally optional. Leave uncovered. This gives it a nice crusty crusty crust.

Allow to raise until doubled, about 3 hours. The dough is at 80 degrees or so. If you house is cooler, it may take longer to raise.

Lightly coat with flour and cut with a sharp knife, ever so slightly (about 1/4 inch into the crust).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake 30-35 minutes, until meat thermometer registers 165 degrees or higher internal temperature.

There you go. Don't tell Ace I shared this recipe. The conspiracy theories will start to fly.

Evil Chocolate Sourdough Coffee-less cake

Yea, why do I do it? I will have it wide spread throughout the land that I, chef Tess, am addicted to chocolate. It is the worst temptation for me. Ever. Bar none. We don't call it the Evil Think Tank for nothing... It usually involves the evil temptress (now I mean chocolate, not me...orTara ). Those just joining me, just know that usually the most viciously evil and tempting creations are made with my friend from culinary school and blogged. Sadly enough this cake was not made with Tara. A human tragedy I don't want to repeat.

I have this little children's' book called "How God Gives Us Chocolate", and though I adore the book, I my be doubting the wisdom in placing such a substance on the earth. I loved the picture of the last page with this cake though...it just seemed so fitting.

If chocolate alone isn't bad enough, add to it some chocolate truffle sauce and some really crazy hot chile and cherry laced bomb chunks and what did I do? Well, I took a bit...then another...then...in sheer panic that my progress with weight watcher would be thwarted, I tossed it in the trash. (I also stopped myself from fishing it out of the trash...be impressed). I didn't want to throw it away. I wanted to suck it up with my pie hole until my eyes where brown and glazed over. Death by chocolate would be so pretty. Alas, I have reserved that judgement for the rest of you. Just know that the sourdough effect really magnifies the chocolate flavor. It's deep and intense. Kind of like me...

Sourdough Chocolate Coffee Cake

Mix well in a non-metal bowl and let stand 2-3 hours:

1/2 cup thick sourdough starter

1 cup warm water

2 cup cake flour

1/4 cup buttermilk powder (or nonfat dry milk powder works)

Main cake batter:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

3 squares of melted baking chocolate (or 3/4 c cocoa 3T oil)

Crumb topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 lb butter

1/4 cup baking cocoa

Cream the butter, sugar, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time and beat with each addition. Combine melted chocolate and butter mixture. Add the sourdough mixture to this and stir well ( by hand about 300 strokes). Pour into a greased 9inch by 13 inch cake pan. In a separate bowl, combine all the ingredients for the crumb topping and mix until the butter is the size of small peas. Sprinkle over the top of the coffee cake. Bake 350 degrees 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Sourdough Waffles

When I was much younger, had anyone ever told me I would frequently make
sourdough pancakes , I would have laughed painfully hard and started... snorting. Not at all lady like. Then I probably would have giggled really small Elmo from Sesame Street "tee hee's" for a few hours afterward. It's a good thing I'm not on Sesame Street. I'd have a hoot with those fuzzy little guys, especially the Swedish chef...although I think he was with the Muppet Show. I digress. I don't laugh like that anymore (at least at the idea of sourdough pancakes or waffles).

A couple of people have asked for my sourdough waffle recipe. So, here it its : sourdough pancakes . For the waffles, I omitted the orange zest time. I also added 1 T of cinnamon. Other than that, it is the exact same recipe. If you want to do whole grain wheat. Remember to use soft wheat if you grind your own flour. Did you miss that one? :Flour making day...flour power. If you don't grind your own flour...use a whole grain cake flour, you will have much fluffier pancakes. All purpose will work, just be sure not to over mix.

I could have just said "use the sourdough pancake recipe for waffles as well as pancakes", and not done the pictures. I was hoping however that the leaning tower of waffles would inspire.

Toaster waffles: Once these are made and cooled, they can be laid out on a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap and frozen. Transfer the frozen waffles to a gallon size freezer bag, and there it is. Toaster waffles for really cheap! Healthy. Made with love. Yipeee!

IHOP has nothing on these bad boys, right?!

There you go.

Apple Sourdough Bread

In order to make the Apple Sourdough, you will need some Apple Sour. Look for directions in the previous post: Apple Sour...The Starter based on Apples. There is no commercial yeast or fat in this bread. It's purely apple, flour, water, salt and honey. That's as natural as an apple falling off the tree...

You will also need whole wheat bread flour from hard white or red wheat. I mill my own flour. (See the posting: Flour making day...flour power.) but you can buy an quality flour (like King Arthur). My only hard fast rule, is that the flour must be fresh. Take a pinch in your fingers and if there is not a hint of bitterness, it is fresh and ready for bread.

There are two "builds" or stages of this bread. Basically one dough that ferments a long time and then is broken up and made into a final dough. All in all you handle the dough between 5-10 minutes a day, for 2 days. I don't know if that is too much time. I think it's worth it, and frankly people spend that much time watching commercials. Why not turn off the tube and make some bread. It brings me a whole lot of "quiet". The repetitive motion is almost like meditation...but I eat my Zen results. Haa.

The first dough, or build has these ingredients:

2 T honey

1 cup water

3/4 cup Apple sour

4 1/2 cups whole wheat bread flour.

Combine and knead 5-7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Form into a ball and place in a large lightly oiled bowl, covered, for 8-10 hours (or refrigerate up to 24 hours depending on what your schedule is like).

Second Build:

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup shredded apples

1/2 cup water

Dough from first build

1 1/2 cup whole wheat bread flour

1 T salt
(1 cup cooked wheat or grain if desired)

In a large bowl or kitchen aid, combine apples, water, and dough from the first build (cut up into several pieces...I kinda just mush it up with my fingers like I'm back in kindergarten). Add the salt and 1 cup of the flour. Knead 5-7 minutes (add the whole cooked grain the last minute of kneading so that gluten can develop properly for good bread). Add the remaining flour only if dough is VERY wet. It should be a moist dough. Remove dough from bowl and form into a ball. Place in a large covered crock or bowl and allow to raise 5-8 hours in a 75-80 degree room (dough should be about 80 degrees). If you want to have dough raise in the fridge, it can be there for 18-24 hours. Remove from bowl and form into 2 loaves (need help on forming loaves? The posting? sprouted wheat bread with a meat grinder has step by step pictures). Place loaves in 8 by 4 by 4 inch loaf pans, or free standing artisan bread on stoneware like I do. Make sure stoneware is coated with cornmeal or seeds. Mist with water and place in unheated oven out of draft 3-4 hours, depending on the dough temperature. If dough was in the fridge, it will take at least 4 hours.
Remove from oven. Turn oven on to 425 degrees to preheat. Bake 20 minutes then lower temperature to 375 degrees and bake 20 more minutes, until internal temperature is 175 degrees tested with a meat thermometer.

Isn't it beautiful?

Here's my final word...for now...

You can add flavors!

Some of my favorite savory loaves include:

Raisins and Rosemary (1 cup golden raisins and 1/3 cup chopped rosemary)

Roasted Garlic (about 3/4 cup in place of the shredded apple added in the second build with 2T crushed fennel seed)

Roasted Bell pepper (about 3/4 cup chopped roasted red bell peppers in place of the shredded apple, added in the second build)

Sweet loaves:

Sweet potato: add 1/2 cup cooked mashed sweet potato, 3T cinnamon, 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger, 1/2 cup chopped nuts...like hazelnut or almonds.

Apple cinnamon and spice: Add cinnamon and spice. Glaze with icing.

Apple Sour...The Starter Based on Apples.

One of my most amazingly simple and favorite breads is called Apple sourdough. It has a deep, woodsy, floral flavor. Very earthy. Very rustic. Very domestic goddess-like. You want this bread in your life. It's beautiful. Like me--well Ace says so anyway. All great things are brought about by a little sacrifice. This one takes a little time.
Apple Sour is a basic starter for sourdough based on apple pulp. Either applesauce or shredded apples work, but in order to make the Sourdough bread, you will need to make the SOUR. This is how it looks.

I keep it in a quart mason jar, with a piece of cloth over the top so that it can breath.

Yes, it is always stored on top of apples like this (what, do you think I'm insane? It's for the picture silly...)

To make the sour you will need:

2 cups of shredded apple (or applesauce)

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

Directions: Combine all the ingredients in a glass or plastic container, covered with cloth for 8-10 days. Leave at room temperature. Do not stir. When mixture is bubbly and smells fermented, it should be ready for bread making. I use this in place of yeast. You read that right. No yeast required. There is natural yeast in the apple sour (also called apple starter).

Once you have used the portion for the apple Sour for the dough, put the entire bottle in the fridge and keep it there up to 2 months...until you want apple sourdough again. I promise, it won't be that long before you want it again though!

24 hours before you want apple sourdough, remove jar from the fridge, add:

1 cup shredded apple, or applesauce

3T water

3T sugar

Stir with non-metal utensil, and cover with cloth. After 24 hours start the dough.

Whole grain apple sourdough and rosemary rolls

Part of the beauty of being insane, is there is no longer any expectations for normal. Not that I have ever REALLY fit into the category of normal. These rolls don't fit that category either. Not normal. Completely unusual. Random thought. In college we had a code name for those unusual guys~never dating you (sorry but)..."fun-guy". (Yea, Fungi). Back to the rolls. Not my bodily rolls. We will never discuss those. Never.

These rolls however, are in need of serious reflection. Again, not my mirror reflection. Dang I hate the stair stepper. I use it, but I don't love it.

Hmm. We will not talk about my shallow first boyfriend..."Playa".

Rolls. We're talking about rolls. Head shake. Focus.

These rolls...are good.

They are made using a sourdough starter based on shredded apple. It takes a few days to get it going (recipe to follow later). I thought however, that I would give a teaser of what could be made with it, so as to really add some suspense and drama. Again, not as if I need more drama in my life. EEk.

Once the apple sour is added to the dough I also add some sprouted wheat. That dough raises, does its happy thing. Gets taken for a spin by yours truly. It's a passionate adventure for a dough ball. Then and only then, to make sure it isn't too healthy, a nice slathering of garlic butter.

True confessions, it is the heart healthy stuff. I hate to disappoint my jugular. Do you see the little grains of wheat sticking out randomly on these rolls?

Once baked I generously apply more garlic butter, fresh chopped rosemary, and a lot of fresh crushed fennel, black pepper kosher salt and oregano. Yea. I think I need to give the recipe for Apple Sour now, huh? After I eat one of these rolls to keep up my strength...

Carmel Orange Hazelnut Danish...

There you are...the love of my life! These little bad boys are a butter-roll in Danish. The butter I infused with orange and lavender and then used brown sugar in the roll in, as is done with the Kouign Aman (Kouign Aman a Celebration in Opposites)--but the classical version uses granulated sugar. The brown sugar gave an amazing caramel addition to the already evil pastry! The result was a salty sweet infused love bomb. I can't EVER make them again or I will need to confess to my bishop. Seriously... I used the same recipe with an addition of a bit of sourdough and a much longer fermentation (2 days to be exact) which resulted in a deep flavor. Well worth the wait if you ask me! Because of this, I was able roll up the Danish and leave them on my kitchen counter overnight to rise. This lovely Christmas morning, we had hot pastry that I hardly had to think about...Though now I can't STOP thinking about.

Sourdough pancakes

Orange Sourdough pancakes with warm Ginger Apricot Cherry Sauce

One of my favorite things to do is make sourdough pancakes. They are light and fluffy. Adding orange zest the night before gives a very full flavor. There's nothing like it on earth. This batch happens to be topped with some of my homemade Gingered Apricot Cherry Sauce. Another reason I like home canning...I can make something special for my family. It's Christmas Eve, so I also added some shavings of dark chocolate... Now that is something celebration worthy!

Orange Sourdough pancakes

The night before, combine:

1/2 cup sourdough starter

2 cups whole wheat flour (preferably whole wheat cake flour)

2 cups water

zest of 1 orange (if you don't want orange flavor, omit the zest)

8-12 hours later add:

1/2 cup water,

2T sugar

dash of cinnamon

1tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1tsp baking soda

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Mix until just combined. Don't mix too long or batter will give you tough pancakes...cook on a hot griddle with good nonstick cookware I don't even need any oil. The best part...seeing my kids little mouths full of whole grain pancakes Christmas Eve!

Homemade Sourdough Starter...

Sourdough Starters Done the Chef Tess Way

Sourdough leavening is as old as the rocks. Maybe because someone ages ago decided they didn't like the heavy bread. Was it an accident from dough left out too long? Probably. I don't know the exact time in history it was started, but it goes way back! Yeast got on some dough. It fell in Love with the wonderful environment and stayed. Kind of like me and Arizona (...at least in the winter). Yeast is everywhere. If that shocks you I apologize. If you have a fancy air filter that gets all the yeasts and spores and stuff out of the air, you will have to use a pinch of commercial yeast (by this I mean the dry stuff you buy at the store).

Personally, I prefer starters made without commercial yeast, just the spores in the air. It is a longer process, but the flavor is gorgeous. The longer the sourdough has been going, the better the flavor. Yeast is different everywhere too, so my Arizona sourdough will never be San Francisco, because airborne yeast is different here. Not bad, just different. My starter has been around my house going on 15 years. I love it! Feed it every couple of days. It's better than a pet goldfish!

This is a real old fashioned way but basically you take 2 cups flour, 2 cups water and let stand uncovered (or covered with cheesecloth to keep bugs away) and out of a draft for several days until it bubbles (mine took about a week). Do not use a metal container! The acid reacts to the metal and it's really scary. Like a bad horror movie.

* The temperature of the room is important. I call it the 85/90 rule. not higher than 90 degrees for best flavor.

*Stir it a couple of times a day when you think of it.

* If you want it to go a little faster, add 1/4 tsp yeast and it takes a few days to get bubbly and perfect.

Now you have your own baby starter. It is everlasting yeast!

Most recipes you will find use sourdough starter more as a flavoring agent than a leavening agent. It just depends on what your prefer. I like a pretty tart sourdough. I have some fun starters. 4 I keep going on a regular basis: Raisin, Apple, white, and whole wheat. Those recipes will follow in the next few weeks.

First you need to know how to "set a sponge" , also referred to as a "start" for a recipe:

(I do this with most of my recipes...here are the ratios)
12 hours before planning to mix a recipe, mix 1/2 cup starter, 2 cups flour, 2 cups water (I use white grape juice). Cover bowl (Important non metal!!) with cheesecloth. Just before mixing the recipe, take 1 cup of batter to replenish the starter in your crock for the next batch. Use the balance in your recipe.

My Basic Recipe Sourdough Bread

1/4 tsp yeast (optional, but it speeds things up a bit)

2T sugar

1 cup water (body temperature)

1 1/2 cup sour dough *starter (this is the sponge you set 12 hours in advance)

3 1/2 cup- 4 cups Bread flour

2 tsp salt

1 egg (for egg wash)

Mix starter* (the sponge you started 12 hours ago, minus 1 cup) yeast, and warm water, and sugar. Add remaining ingredients except eggs. Knead 300-400 strokes by hand, or 5 minutes med. speed kitchen aid mixer. Form into a ball and place in a covered crock allow to raise until doubled, about 3-4 hours if your room is between 75 and 80 degrees. Punch down and form into loaf. I roll it out and fold it into thirds, and then roll it into a loaf. Cover with a little oil, and then cover with plastic until doubled again, about 1 1/2 hours. A deep dish baker is perfect for a good crusty loaf. Beat egg and brush over unbaked loaf. Put 2 T water in the baker with the bread. Bake at 450 Degree covered 15 minutes, and then uncovered 15-20 minutes more, or until internal temp. reaches 170 degrees.

Keep sourdough starter in plastic or glass, as it will have a nasty reaction to metal (have I said that enough times already?!). Stir with clean utensils. Not the ones you have stacked in the sink from cooking chicken or whatever. Yuck. Keep loose cover. Sourdough starter may be kept in the fridge for several weeks and fed periodically (I give it 1 cup water, 1 cup flour). Take it out for a date, feed it, warm it up for a day or so, and then put it back in the fridge...not unlike my dating life before I met ACE!!

Note: I do my best to make recipes usable for home cooks. If you want the weight conversions I will post them. Please let me know. I make no apologies for trying to bring it home. Have fun and try something new! Also, if your flour has been exposed to a lot of moisture in the air, it will take less flour to make a good bread. If your flour has been exposed to air conditioning or extreme dry (like the dessert) you may need more moisture. Measurements are not exact, but very close.

Sourdough Biscuits With Garlic and Cracked Pepper

I love Sourdough! I use the starter not only for bread, but also for cake, pancakes, and biscuits. Last night I made these for dinner with the simple addition of fresh pressed garlic and cracked black pepper. It had such wonderful taste I had to share! They quite literally flew right off the tray!

Sourdough Biscuits

2 cups flour ( I use whole grain white wheat...I grind my own, but King Arthur makes some)
1T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening (I use the healthy variety called Spectrum-- cold pressed shortening)
1 cup sourdough starter (more to come on Sourdough starters...I promise!!)
melted butter (or olive oil)
1 clove crushed garlic
fresh cracked pepper

Mix together the dry ingredients. With a pastry blender or a fork, cut up the shortening into the flour mixture until the pieces are tiny... like peas. Stir in the sourdough starter just until it is blended. Put a little flour on the counter top and put the dough on the flour. Put a little flour on top of the dough and with a rolling pin roll out in a circle until the dough is 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a cutter. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet... a pretty thick one so they won't burn. Bake at 450degrees for 10 minutes. Crush garlic into melted butter and spread over biscuits. Crack pepper over the top and serve hot. Perfect and quick for dinner! These would be AMAZING with cheese folded in the dough! About 1/4 cup sharp cheddar or blue cheese...ouch...