Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

I had played briefly in the past with a no-knead version of sourdough bread, but without much success. But, being a bit more experienced in this baking method at this point, I decided to try my hand at it again.  I made a batch a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't bad, but I wanted to use more whole wheat flour AND have more sourdough flavor. Well, yesterday I had success!  

There are very few ingredients in this bread, but its simplicity belies the complexity of its flavor and textures. The bread rose well, had fine sourdough flavor, and the crust was beautifully golden-brown and crusty.  I promised to share the recipe with you today and I've been working on this post most of the day, to make sure that I didn't forget any details that will help you have success with sourdough bread baking.


3.) 3 times the recipe will make either three 2 lb. loaves, four 1 1/2 lb. loaves, six 1 lb. loaves, or (as I did) two (approximately) 1 3/4 lb. loaves + one 2 1/2 lb. loaf.
4.) 2 1/2 lbs. of dough (weight before baking) should be baked in a 10" round pan or

1 lb. of dough should be baked in either 7 x 3 x 2 1/2 loaf pans or 8-9" round pans.

You could also bake all 4 lbs of the doubled dough as "mega boule" or giant round loaf in an 11-12" round Dutch oven or similar pan, or a large stoneware baking cloche. (See Tips below for information about pans and other baking vessels.)

6.) Before you start, read the information about pans and baking vessels in "Tips" below.

Printable Copy

BRYANNA'S CRUSTY HALF-WHOLE WHEAT NO-KNEAD SOURDOUGH BREAD

© Bryanna Clark Grogan 2016

Servings: 24

Yield: One 2-pound loaf, or two 1-pound loaves (weight of dough before baking)

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 cup unbleached white flour

2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups warmish water

3/4 cup active sourdough starter (use your own, or my San Francisco-Style Vegan Sourdough Starter-- see link above)

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix together the Dry Ingredients.

In a smaller bowl or pitcher, whisk together the water and sourdough starter. Stir this into the Dry Ingredients just until all of the flour is absorbed into a "shaggy" dough. (I like to use a Danish dough whisk for this-- see photo below.) 

Freshly mixed dough

A Danish dough whisk

Cover the bowl-- here are some options for that: 1.) cover with a fitted lid, if the bowl has one; 2.) cover with a damp towel and set a large board or pan lid over that; 3.) place the bowl inside of a large food-safe plastic bag and twist-tie it closed, leaving plenty of room for the dough to rise; 4.) scoop the dough into a covered proofing bucket, if you have one.

Let the dough rise at normal room temperature for about 12 hours (up to 18 hours). I start the dough in the evening and let it rise overnight, and plan to finish the bread in the morning. I mix the dough and set to rise about 9 pm, so that I can get it made into a loaf or loaves and rising again by 9:30 or 10 am the next morning.

After the first long rising, the dough should look softer and be doubled in size.

Don't stir the dough down. Cloak the dough with flour, and cover your work surface with a sheet of baking parchment or a silicone mat, flouring it well. Note: The dough will be quite sticky-- keep your hands and the parchment floured and use a bench knife/dough scraper to handle the dough whenever possible.

Using the dough scraper, scoop the dough onto the floured surface, sprinkle it with a little more flour and stretch the dough a little, folding it over on itself twice. 

Cover the dough with a domed lid or pot, or a damp tea towel, and let rest for 15 minutes.

NOTE:  If you don't plan to bake right away, you can refrigerate dough in a covered bowl or bucket, or even a zipper-lock bag, for up to 5 days.  Then take the dough out and let rise for 8-12 hours or overnight.  

While the dough is resting, get your pan(s), or whatever baking vessel(s) you are using, ready. Then choose the similar-sized and shaped vessel(s) in which you are going to rise the loaf or loaves. Cut a piece or pieces of baking parchment to fit into the rising vessel(s) with some overlap. Just lay it over the vessel and sprinkle the middle with flour. (NO OILING IS NECESSARY!)

After the 15 minutes are up, if you are making more than 1 loaf, cut the dough in half with the dough scraper. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to your work surface, or to your fingers, quickly shape dough (or dough halves) into ball, oval or loaf shape(s), depending on the shape of the vessel(s) in which you are going to bake the bread. Do this by folding the dough under itself. If making more than one loaf, I advise weighing the dough (on floured parchment) so that you have even loaves, but you can "eyeball" it. Note: The process will be a bit sticky and messy, but, with flour and a dough scraper, you'll get there!

Place the shaped dough seam-side-down on the parchment-lined rising vessel(s) you have prepared earlier and dust the top of the dough lightly with more flour. With scissors, cut off the excess parchment just above the top of the rim of the vessel, leaving just enough to be able to grasp on each end in order to transfer to the hot baking vessel(s) when the time comes.

Place the rising vessel(s) inside of a food-safe plastic bag and twist-tie it closed, leaving plenty of room for the dough to rise; or cover with damp tea towels; or use a proofing box, if you have one. Let rise at a normal room temperature, setting your kitchen timer to 1 hour. When that hour is up, place your baking vessel(s) (see Tips) in the oven and turn the oven to 475°F. Now set the timer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, IF the loaves have doubled in size (if not, let rise some more until they do), transfer the risen loaf or loaves to the (hot!) baking vessel(s), using the parchment under the dough as a "lifter", and set the dough (parchment and all) into or on your baking vessel(s). (Don't worry-- it won't stick or burn!) Cover with the lid(s) and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid(s), lower the heat to 350ºF and bake another 15 minutes, or until the bread is a beautiful crusty golden-brown. With hands protected by heat-resistant oven mitts, remove the bread immediately, discarding the parchment, and cool on a rack.

If you can resist, it is best to wait until the bread is cooled (mostly, at least!) before tasting.

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition (per serving): 60 calories, 2 calories from fat, less than1g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 157.3mg sodium, 48.2mg potassium, 12.7g carbohydrates, 1.4g fiber, less than1g sugar, 2.1g protein.

Tips

PANS FOR BAKING: (PS: This info is useful for baking all kinds of no-knead crusty breads.)

I have used all kinds of pans for baking this type of crusty bread, including an enamelled cast iron Dutch oven (8 1/2" across the bottom, 12" across the top, 5" deep), Granite Ware roasting pans of 3 sizes, and oval glazed ceramic casseroles with lids (I have one that is 9" x 6" x 3", and one that is 10" x 7 1/2" x 3". They can handle 2 to 2 1/2 lbs of dough respectively.) You could also use a deep cast iron skillet with a raised lid, even a Pyrex lid, over the top.

If you have a bread cloche (a stoneware or ceramic dish with a bell-shaped lid for baking round loaves), of course you can use that. I have a Pampered Chef Round Lid/Bowl Baker Roaster and matching Sassafras SuperStone Deep Dish Pizza/Pie Baker (I found them at a thrift store for a song!) that I haven't tried yet, but I plan to soon. (We are told not to preheat these before baking, but many bakers on Pampered Chef forums state that they do preheat them with no problem-- just don't spray them!) UPDATE: I baked this bread in the Pampered Chef combo mentioned above, with EXCELLENT results! See the photos at this post. You can also use a pizza stone with an overturned ceramic or cast iron or Granite Ware pot or roaster, or even the ceramic insert of your slow cooker, for the lid. If you Google "improvised bread bakers and cloches", you'll find lots of ideas, such as this from: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/22370/my-improvised-la-cloche-thai-style

You can improvise a cloche for bread baking: a flower pot cloche. It's simply an inexpensive unglazed domed flower pot turned upside down on the matching rimmed dish that comes with it. The dish is 9 inches across the bottom, 11 inches across the top and 2 inches deep; the pot itself is 7 inches across the bottom, 10 inches across the top and 4 1/3 inches deep. Place the risen bread in the dish (with the baking parchment it rose in) and turn the flower pot upside down over it. You can plug the hole in the flower pot with a little wad of aluminium foil. (The bread never actually touches the clay, by the way.) This will set you back $10; a La Cloche Baker costs upwards of $50. (Alternatively, place the risen dough on a heated pizza stone and place a large overturned dome-shaped clay flower pot over the dough.)

What about unglazed "clay bakers" or terra cotta bakers (such as Romertopf)?

I didn’t think these would work at first, but as long as you soak the pot (both bottom and top) in cold water for 15 minutes before placing it in a cold oven to preheat, it works just fine! I have a number of them, bought cheaply at thrift stores. I have one Romertopf-wanna-be that is very much like the Romertopf 109 or 110 (3 to 5-pound size that measures 12 x 8 1/4 x 6-inches. All of my clay bakers 2 or 2 1/2 quart size.

Here is some different advice from a forum at http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15322/la-cloche-instructions

"Romertopf is good for any small loaf that needs steam

I have an older unglazed Romertopf and I used to use it for bread all the time. I always pre-heated it while the oven was heating up; sometimes I pre-soaked it and sometimes I didn't, and that didn't seem to make much difference. I mostly used it for no-knead, but I'd say it's good for any bread that is baked with steam. The main reason I stopped using it is that the breads I'm making these days won't fit inside it, so for baguettes and miches I switched to a stone and steam pan arrangement, or in some cases a bigger cloche. I now prefer this because I find it easier to load loaves on a flat surface than in the deeper Romertopf. But there's no question that the results it produced were terrific." (Note: there are large clay bakers, too.)

Lately, I have made conventional (but crusty) "sandwich loaves" by baking the dough in regular rectangular bread pans (metal or Pyrex) INSIDE of a large roaster.

Two 9 x 5" or 8 1/2 x 5" bread pans (with no handles), or two 7" round pans, or one 10" round pan will fit in a large oval roaster 15 1/2" long, 11" wide and 4" deep. (That's my largest oval roaster, but there are 18" and 19" ones, and even a rectangular one 21" x 15"!)

A medium oval roaster 12" long, 8" across and 3" deep will hold a 9 x 5 bread pan (with or without handles).

A small oval roaster 11" long, 7" across and 3" deep on it's own will hold a 2-3 lb. of dough, or it will hold a bread pan 8 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 2 1/2" OR 8" x 4" x 3".

Pre-heat the bread pans inside the roaster. Rise your bread in a pan or basket or anything else that will yield a loaf pretty much the size and shape to fit into the heated bread pan. When the oven comes up to temperature and the roasters and pans are hot, transfer the loaves (with the parchment) into the hot bread pans, cover the roaster and bake as directed.

UPDATE Jan. 14, 2016: I was lucky enough to find a large rectangular roaster in great shape at Value Village, and it only set me back about $4.00 Cnd-- a real bargain! (Actually it might be a Granite Ware roasting/baking pan with a roaster lid, but they fit together.) Below I'll post some pics I just took of the pans I can fit into it. I could probably also bake 3 short baguettes in this pan.

When used with the smaller pan on the bottom, the baking space is about 14 1/2 x 9 1/2".

When used with the larger pan on the bottom, the baking space is 14 x 9".

Three 8 x 4" bread pans fit perfectly.

One 9 x 5 plus two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2" bread pans.

One 10" round pan plus one 8 1/2 x 4 1/2" bread pan.

Two 9 x 5" bread pans (with handles-- you might get 3 in without handles and edges).

Happy Baking!

I've been refreshing my old sourdough starter lately, thanks to the interest of a couple of friends.  I've been playing with no-knead crusty sourdough bread and will do a post on that very soon.

While refreshing my starter and making extra for my friends, I found myself with too much starter today, but so nice and bubbly and sour that I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.  Since we were expecting company today, I decided to make a batch of sourdough biscuits.  I literally hadn't made them for years.

These are the BEST biscuits-- golden and crispy on the outside and tender and layered on the inside.  Make sure that your starter in active and fresh.  It should be about the consistency of a pancake batter, but full of bubbles.

Fresh, bubbly sourdough starter

Printable Copy

BRYANNA'S SOURDOUGH ROLLED BISCUITS
Yield: 12

1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup very cold (or frozen) vegan butter (see my homemade palm oil-free vegan "Buttah" recipe)
1 cup fresh, bubbly sourdough starter (see my starter recipe and instructions for use)
NOTE: you may need a few sprinkles of non-dairy milk OR flour

Mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl.  Add the cold vegan butter and quickly rub in with a pastry cutter or your fingers until bits of vegan butter are like crumbs.

Pour in the starter and stir with a fork until it is a dough that holds together.  If the dough is too wet, add a bit more flour.  If it is too dry, add a few sprinkles of non-dairy milk until it hold together.

On a floured surface (best to use a piece of baking parchment or a silicone mat) pat or roll out the dough into a rectangle about 3/4" thick.  Fold in thirds.  Roll out again and fold into thirds.  Roll and pat into a rectangle about 1/2" thick.

Turn oven to 425 degrees F.  Cut the dough into 12 squares or, with a biscuit cutter, into 12 rounds or hexagons. (You can push the scraps together, fold once and roll out gently, then cut out as many as you can.)

Place the biscuits in a 9-10" round shallow layer cake pan, not quite touching.  Cover loosely with a clean tea towel and let rise for 15 minutes.  Brush the tops with soymilk or spray lightly with oil. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Serve hot or cool on rack and reheat in a 350 degree F oven for a few minutes

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per biscuit):  95 calories, 36 calories from fat, 4g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 175.5mg sodium, 51.5mg potassium, 12.4g carbohydrates, less than 1g fiber, less than 1g sugar, 1.9g protein.

Enjoy!

Since I read about the study that showed positive blood sugar responses to sourdough breads (good news for diabetics, folks with heart disease and those of us trying to lose weight-- read more about this here), I've been refreshing my starters and refining my old sourdough recipes (some of which need "veganizing).

I used to make sourdough pancakes regularly for my family. They were our favorite pancakes. Here is my newly-revised vegan version, using whole grain flours. It turned out beautifully! BTW, sourdough pancakes have a slightly different texture from regular pancakes-- fluffy, but a little more "bready". And, of course, with that sourdough tang that I love.

If you are unfamiliar with sourdough, see this post.  My San Francisco starter, how to make it vegan and how to use and care for it is at that link.  I actually have two vegan sourdough starters-- both are very reliable. I also use the "Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter", which I treat the same way. You can get a free (dried) starter (and it's a great story that goes with it) here. You just pay postage. (PS: I don't use the sugar and potato they call for in the instructions., and it works fine.)

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S WHOLE GRAIN VEGAN SOURDOUGH PANCAKES
Servings: 4 (multiply as needed)

These are so tasty! You can get a free starter (and it's a great story that goes with it!) here. (PS: I don't use the sugar and potato they call for in the starter.) I like this combination of flours, but feel free to experiment. See this post for sourdough vegan waffles and crepes.

Sourdough Sponge:
2 cups warm water
1 cup fresh, bubbly sourdough starter (I use a starter made with white unbleached flour)
1 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour (or you can grind small amounts of short grain brown rice to a powder in a dry coffee/spice mill)
1/2 cup corn flour (or you can grind small amounts of yellow cornmeal to a powder in a dry coffee/spice mill)

Add in morning:
1 Tbs oil
2 Tbs organic sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Last Addition:
2 Tbs Ener-G Egg Replacer or Orgran No-Egg powder beaten with
1/4 cup water (beat with an immersion [stick] blender until like softly-beaten egg whites)
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 T. warm water

THE NIGHT BEFORE: mix together in a large bowl: the water, and sourdough starter until dissolved. Then stir in all of the flours (and/or grains) you are using.

The batter will be quite thick. Cover well and let sit in a warm place overnight. It should be thinner and bubbly in the morning. Make sure your bowl is big enough for the batter to rise.

The sponge in the morning

IN THE MORNING: stir in the oil, sugar, salt and baking powder into the batter.

Gently fold in the beaten egg replacer and the dissolved baking soda.

Let the batter rise up while you heat a large, heavy cast iron skillet or griddle, or nonstick skillet or griddle. (Lightly oil, if necessary.)

The batter, ready to cook

Cook as for ordinary pancakes but make small pancakes, at medium-high heat, using about 3 tablespoons of batter per pancake (I have a small gravy ladle that holds just the right amount). There will be bubbles in the top of the pancakes when they are ready to turn.


The bubbles start to form almost immediately

Ready to flip over

Eat immediately with vegan butter and maple syrup, OR, for a lower fat and lower calorie treat, use tofu sour creme (homemade recipe here) or cashew sour creme, or  non-dairy yogurt with applesauce or another homemade fruit sauce, or a low-sugar jam, warmed up.

Yield: makes 30-36 small pancakes or about 24 larger ones

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per serving): 398.4 calories; 11% calories from fat; 5.4g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 791.9mg sodium; 311.2mg potassium; 80.3g carbohydrates; 9.2g fiber; 6.8g sugar; 71.1g net carbs; 10.6g protein; 7.6 points.

VARIATIONS: (total flour for this recipe: 2 1/2 cups)

1.) Use 2 c. buckwheat flour and 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
2.) Use 1 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour and 3/4 c. fine bulgur wheat.
3.) For liquid, use 1 c. pureed winter squash or pumpkin, mixed with 1 and 1/2 c. water
4.) Use 1 c. quick oats and 1 and 1/2 c. unbleached white flour or whole wheat pastry flour.
5.) Use 1 c. cornmeal and 1 and 1/2 c.unbleached white flour or whole wheat pastry flour
6.) Sprinkle pancakes before turning over with well-drained blueberries or other fruit.

Enjoy!!

What is Vegan MoFo? Click here to find out!



Some of you may be familiar with the no-knead bread revolution, and my own small experiments. I've been wanting to try making it with only sourdough starter-- no yeast-- but haven't had time lately. However, a few days ago, I planned ahead and gave it a shot. The results were not bad, but it still needs work.

Why sourdough? Well, I've known for a long time that sourdough breads have a better glycemic index rating than yeasted breads-- good news for diabetics and people who need to lose weight. Recently there was a small study that showed positive blood sugar responses to sourdough bread-- even white bread! And, these responses stayed with the body for quite some time.

Even though it's nice to know that a white sourdough bread can be a good thing, I still like the idea of adding some wholewheat flour for fiber and other nutrients.

I got out my two sourdough starters-- my San-Francisco-style soy yogurt starter and my Carl Griffith's Oregon Trail starter-- and refreshed them, and then made two batters with them.


Bubbly sourdough batter

I didn't figure the percentage of water to flour-- I just adapted my no-knead recipe according to my experience. But, next time I'll be more scientific. My starters were less liquidy than I thought they were, so I had to do some fast-footwork, and, in the end, I wound up with doughs that were a bit too stiff.

With Carl's starter, I used a large amount of white starter and added wholewheat flour. But it ended up being mostly white. With the San Francisco starter, I added more wholewheat.

I mixed the doughs and shaped the loaves and set them to rise as in this recipe, swathed in clean large white plastic bags.


I made 2 loaves out of the more wholegrain dough, and one larger one for the mostly white one.

I rose them at room temperature for 5 hours, and then refrigerated them for 12 hours-- timing them so that they would bake first thing the next morning. I really don't think that sourdough will react well to many days in the refrigerator, as the yeast dough does. Correct me if I'm wrong! That's why I only refrigerated the loaves for 12 hours and why I formed them before the refrigerator rise.

I took the risen loaves out of the refrigerator and let them sit at room temperature while I heated the covered, heavy pans I was using in the oven at 457 degrees F for 30 minutes. I used two different sizes of enamelled cast iron pots, and one large clay baker-- the clay baker soaked in hot water for 15 minutes before placing in a cold oven. Then I baked them as per my yeast recipe, but they didn't need the extra 15 minutes with the lids off.

They came out nice and crusty, and very tasty, but didn't have big holes in the crumb. I think that's because the dough was not wet enough.


One of the more whole grain loaves


The whiter loaf




Enjoy!

The two recipes below; sourdough loaf on the left, yeast sponge loaf on the right.



If you're in the Portland area this weekend, come to Veg Fest and introduce yourself! I'll be doing a demo with author Julie Hasson at 10:30 AM on Saturday. Julie Hasson

Now, onto bread!

When I did my post on grinding my own wholewheat flour with the Wondermill and making a light loaf of 100% wholewheat bread with it, a reader asked me if that recipe would work in a bread machine.


The Wondermill

My oven-baked 100% wholewheat bread

Well, I finally tried it and it was a disaster-- well, it actually tasted pretty good and I used it for toast, but it fell in the middle and it was kind of coarse and very dark in color. Obviously, that recipe is best made the old-fashioned way!

I decided to stick with a tried-and-true wholewheat loaf with more potato in it than in my oven recipe. Potato is a great lightener-upper of wholegrain breads! I also used the sponge method-- which is basically leaving the liquid, yeast and half the flour (a batter) to rise for several hours before adding the remaining ingredients and turning on the machine cycle. One recipe uses a yeast sponge and the other a sourdough sponge. Otherwise they are pretty much the same.

Why bother with this extra step?

It's all about umami, the "fifth flavor", the "essence of deliciousness". It turns out that bland old wheat gluten contains umami compounds.

Mushrooms and fungi are a great source of synergizing umami. Yeasts (both active, and non-active nutritional yeast and yeast extract, such as Marmite), which is also a fungi (and this includes sourdough, a natural yeast) , have umami compounds. They also act as synergizers. For instance, in a live yeast or sourdough starter, the enzymic action develops the umami in wheat flour to "ripen" the dough and develop its flavor.

Now this brings me to a favorite hobbyhorse-- I've been writing for years that fast-risen breads seem tasteless, and most bread machine breads have a "homogenized" flavor no matter what you put into them. I knew that this was due to the lack of rising time, which develops enzymes and "ripens" the dough and improves the crust. I've been telling people for a long time to try making their bread machine breads with an overnight sponge, or the addition of sourdough starter. But I had no idea that it was umami at work!

So, I give you here two versions of a bread that I have been making for years and which I re-vamped for the bread machine. They both come out nicely-shaped, light and tender, AND with excellent crumb, crust and flavor!

NOTE ABOUT FLOUR: Canadian flour is higher in gluten (protein) than US flour, so Canadians can use ordinary wholewheat flour.  Americans might want to use wholewheat bread flour.



Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S VERY LIGHT, MOIST BASIC 100% WHOLEWHEAT ABM BREAD (SPONGE METHOD)

This is an adaptation of a recipe I have made in the oven for years. This recipe makes a tender, light wholewheat bread. You can use this as a base for all sorts of variations. NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS done using water, 2 T. sugar, no soymilk or soy protein.

I make the sponge just before I go to bed at night, and add the other ingredients first thing in the morning and start the machine.

Sponge:
1 cup warm water
1 cup wholewheat flour (can be white wholewheat flour)
1/2 tsp dry active baking yeast (or 1/3 tsp instant yeast)

Finishing Bread:
3/4 cup mashed russet potato (plain, no milk or salt)
Time-saver: use 3/4 c. instant mashed potato flakes mixed with 1/2 c. boiling water instead of cooked potato.
1-2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs oil
OPTIONAL: 1 T. soy flour or soymilk powder
1/2 Tbs salt
2 cup whole wheat flour (can be white wholewheat flour)
1/2 tsp dry active baking yeast (or 1/3 tsp instant yeast)

Sponge: (Mix this 4-8 hours before you start the bread machine cycle-- you can do it before you go to bed at night.)

Mix in the bread machine container (this is the one I have) the water 1 cup flour, and 1/2 tsp. yeast on the dough cycle for 5-10 minutes, then unplug. Cover the container with plastic wrap and let it rise.

After the sponge has risen (4-8 hours), add the mashed potato, sugar, oil, salt, flour and the remaining yeast, in that order.

Set on the Basic Cycle. Check the dough during the first knead to make sure that it is neither too dry, not too wet. If it's too dry, add water by the tablespoonful, letting it knead in, until it looks right. (I often have to add 1 T. or so-it kind of depends on how dry the potatoes are.) If it's too wet, do the same with flour. This is a wet dough but still rises well. It's fine as long as it kneads well, even if it looks a little sticky.

If you want a more attractive top crust to the bread, 5 minutes before the bread is due to bake (I set my kitchen timer to remind me of this), you can make a decorative slash in the top of the bread with a razor blade, and you can also glaze the bread with some soymilk, using a pastry brush, or sprinkle the top with some flour.



Cover the "window" in the top of your machine with foil, so that the top of the bread will brown properly. Remove the bread immediately from the machine when done, placing on a rack to cool thoroughly. This will insure a crisp crust.





Yield: 1 3/4 lb. loaf (10 large slices)

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 1/2 slice): 103.9 calories; 14% calories from fat; 1.7g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 175.5mg sodium; 129.7mg potassium; 20.2g carbohydrates; 2.8g fiber; 1.0g sugar; 17.4g net carbs; 3.2g protein; 1.7 points.





Printable Recipe
BRYANNA'S VERY LIGHT, MOIST BASIC 100% WHOLEWHEAT ABM BREAD (with sourdough starter and yeast)

This is almost the same as the wholewheat sponge bread above, but with a wholewheat sourdough starter used as well as the yeast. I think it is a bit superior, but they are both good! NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS done using water, 2 T. sugar, no soymilk or soy protein.

1/2 cup plus 1 T. water, potato water or nondairy milk (make it hot if the sourdough starter is cold out of the fridge)
1 cup bubbly, fresh wholewheat sourdough starter (see Notes below)
3/4 cup mashed russet potato (plain, no milk or salt)
Time-saver:use 3/4 c. instant mashed potato flakes (you can buy organic ones) mixed with 1/2 c. boiling water instead of cooked potato.
1-2 Tbs sugar or other sweetener
2 Tbs oil
OPTIONAL: 1 T. soy flour or soymilk powder
1/2 Tbs salt
2 2/3 cups wholewheat flour (can be white wholewheat flour)
1 tsp dry active baking yeast (or 3/4 tsp instant yeast)

Set your machine (this is the one I have) on the Basic Cycle. Check the dough during the first knead to make sure that it is neither too dry, not too wet. If it's too dry, add water by the tablespoonful, letting it knead in, until it looks right. If it's too wet, do the same with flour. This is a wet dough but still rises well. It's fine as long as it kneads well, even if it looks a little sticky.

If you want a more attractive top crust to the bread, 5 minutes before the bread is due to bake (I set my kitchen timer to remind me of this), you can make a decorative slash in the top of the bread with a razor blade, and you can also glaze the bread with some soymilk, using a pastry brush, or sprinkle the top with some flour.



Cover the "window" in the top of your machine with foil, so that the top of the bread will brown properly. Remove the bread immediately from the machine when done, placing on a rack to cool thoroughly. This will insure a crisp crust.

Yield: 1 and 3/4 lb. loaf; 10 large slices

Nutrition Facts
Nutrition (per 1/2 slice): 107.1 calories; 14% calories from fat; 1.7g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 175.3mg sodium; 123.9mg potassium; 20.9g carbohydrates; 2.6g fiber; 1.6g sugar; 18.4g net carbs; 3.1g protein; 1.8 points.

SOURDOUGH STARTER: If you already have a white sourdough starter, use 1/4 cup of it to make a wholewheat starter. You can get a very good free starter online here: Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter. I have been using this one for several years. You can also email me for my vegan yogurt-based sourdough starter instructions. Refresh the starter before using it in this bread-- it has to be fresh and bubbly!

Enjoy!