This recipe comes from Cynthia, a baker in my neighborhood here near the Riverside Lodge. I had just discovered her interest in sourdough when I asked if she could share a few favorite recipes.
She loves to make crusty artisan sourdough bread, but, she writes, “soft sourdough sandwich bread is also a favorite.” Last spring she developed this recipe over “several weeks, making multiple loaves each weekend to get it just right. I absolutely love the slightly nutty taste of oats in the bread.”
Like me, she is a practical home baker that uses a Kitchenaid mixer to get the job done easily. While her recipe makes just one loaf, she has doubled it and says that her, “Kitchen Aid actually kneads it even better with two loaves.” She also says that you will need a scale; it “is a must for this recipe,” she writes.
Nonetheless, I will convert it for you both ways.
Ingredients
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Instructions
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1 scant cup (193 g) warm water
- ½ cup (132 g) active sourdough starter(100%hydration*)
- ¾ cup (55 g) honey
(or as little as 20 g if desired)
- ¾ scant cup (55 g) old-fashioned oats
(plus extra for coating the dough)
- 1 scant cup (110 g) wheat flour
(I use freshly ground hard spring wheat)
- 1¼–1⅓ cup (160-180 g) bread flour
(start with lesser amount)
- 1½ Tbl (22 g) vegetable oil
- 1½ tsp (11 g) salt
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- Put all the ingredients in your mixer and run on speed 2 or 3 about 6 minutes.
“You want the dough to be tacky, not too wet, not too dry,” she advises. “Add an extra tablespoon or two of bread flour if needed. The way I gauge this is it should stick to the bottom of the bowl but not the sides. Or, by touch it should feel pretty sticky but not stick too much to your hands when you pull your fingers away from, the dough. Better to be too sticky than too dry as it will absorb more of the flour during the first rise.”
- After kneading, place the dough into an oiled bowl.
- Let it rise until nearly double in size, about 2 hours depending on your kitchen’s temperature.
“I have also mixed the dough at night and immediately placed in my refrigerator overnight.”
- Press the dough into a rectangle the width of the bread pan
- Roll the dough up, coating the outsides with few more tablespoons of oats
- Place in greased 8″x4″ loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap.
- Let rise another 1-2 hours
(or place in refrigerator overnight).
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
*“I use equal parts water and flour, by weight, to feed my sourdough starter.”
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Author: Cynthia—I sure love cooking, sewing, my kids, modern machine embroidery, and decorating. I started meringuedesigns.net in 2007, a great place for modern embroidery designs. I live in Utah but I’ll always be a California girl. Visit her blog Deep Thoughts by Cynthia for more baking ideas.
