Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread #BreadBakers

This mixed grain sourdough soda bread is delicious when freshly baked but is also great toasted. Serve it with your favorite jam, cheese or salad. 

Last fall, when the weather was starting to turn just a little bit cooler, I got a text from a dear friend inviting me over for a casual lunch outside on her patio. The menu was chicken salad, cheese and fruit. She already had a dessert planned as well so I decided to bake some healthy bread to accompany our lovely lunch.

When our Bread Baker host chose "no knead bread" for this month's theme, I realized that I had never shared the recipe. It is adapted from one on the King Arthur Baking site and calls for their “King Arthur Harvest Grains Blend, or other seeds and grains of your choice.” 

I used a mix of quick cook grains from Central Market, a Texas grocery store, that includes farro, barley, brown rice, wheat and oat groats so I chose to soak them briefly first before baking. If you are using a mix like the one sold by King Arthur Flour, meant to be baked in bread, by all means, skip this step. 

Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread

This loaf is the perfect accompaniment to chicken or tuna salad but equally, we loved it with a swipe of butter and jam. Best of all, it’s full of flavor from the sourdough starter but is quick to make and bake. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 180g whole wheat flour

2/3 cups or 83g flour

1/4 cup or 45g mixed grains

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup or 150g sourdough starter, ripe (fed) or discard

1/2 cup or 120ml milk, plus extra as needed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons honey

Optional, but recommended, for after baking: melted butter for brushing on top

Method

Pour boiling water over your mixed grains in a small bowl. Soak for about 3 minutes then drain and pour them onto a clean kitchen towel to dry them out.  Separate out a teaspoon or two and reserve for topping. 

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Lightly grease a 9 in or 23cm round springform pan or line it with baking parchment. 

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, the larger pile of grains, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter, milk, butter and honey. 

Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. I use a Danish dough whisk for this step which makes mixing it much easier. 

The dough will be a bit crumbly. If it's too dry to hold together when you squeeze it, you can add a tablespoon or two more of milk. 

Press the dough into a nice round ball shape. Flatten the ball slightly, and press the reserved grains into the top. Put it in your prepared pan.

Use a sharp knife or lame to cut a cross in the top about 1/2 in or 1 cm deep. 

Bake the loaf for 30 to 40 minutes, until it’s golden brown and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Remove the loaf from the oven, and brush the top with melted butter, if using.

Pop it onto a cutting board. 

Cool completely before slicing. 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, our Bread Bakers theme this month is No Knead Breads. Many thanks to Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe for hosting. Check out what we've been baking below: 

• Chocolate Chestnut Bread From A Messy Kitchen
• Easy No Knead German Crusty Rolls From Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread From Food Lust People Love
• No Knead Knead Marbled Brioche From Passion Kneaded
• Pide Ekmek (Turkish Flatbread) From A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vegan No Knead Tomato Basil Bread Form Magical Ingredients
• Rustic Homemade No Knead Bread From Sneha’s Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread!

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Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread #BundtBakers

This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

We are super fans of garlic bread in our house so when our host for this Bundt Bakers event proposed the key ingredients “herbs” I decided to make a garlicky herby bread instead of a cake or quick bread. It was a good decision!

Once it came out of the oven, all golden, fragrant and delicious, I said to my husband, “You know what would be nice? Pizza sauce to dip the monkey bread in!” He heartily agreed. Fortunately, I almost always have homemade pizza sauce in the freezer. I warmed it up and we enjoyed this pretty little loaf as supper with a salad. I suggest you do the same!

Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread

We want lots of springy fluffiness for this soft monkey bread so while the sourdough starter is there for flavor, I use active dry yeast as well to make sure these puff right up. For the herbs, I used a mix of fresh oregano, rosemary and Italian parsley. Use your favorite fresh herbs!

Ingredients

For the bread dough:

3/4 cup or 155ml milk

3 tablespoons or 42g butter, plus extra for greasing the Bundt pan

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup or 57g sourdough fed starter 

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 1/2 cups or 312g flour, plus extra for kneading

Several sprigs assorted herbs, stems discarded, leaves chopped

For baking: 

1/4 cup or 57g butter 

1 clove garlic, smashed and minced

(1/2 the herbs from above)

Optional for serving:

1/8 cup or 28g butter, melted, for brushing on finished bread

Method

Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted. Let it cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast and sugar in your mixing bowl and pour in the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some new yeast and start over.

Now add the sourdough starter, the egg yolk and the salt along with about half of the flour to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonsful until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

Now add half of the herb mix and knead for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can partially fill the sink with hot tap water and put the bowl in it for warmth.

Meanwhile, grease your 6-cup Bundt pan liberally with butter.

Add the other half of the chopped herbs and the minced garlic to a microwave safe bowl with the butter. Microwave on high until the butter is melted, stirring once or twice. This takes just a minute or so. 

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough (620g) 17 balls about 26g each down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into small pieces about the size of golf balls. Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. 

Roll them in the herby butter then put the balls, side by side, then on top in another layer, pinched side down, filling your prepared Bundt pan as you go. 

Spoon any leftover herb garlic butter over the dough balls. 

Put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the dough. Allow the monkey bread to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the monkey bread in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until it is golden brown all over. I like to put the Bundt pan on another larger pan to make it easy to 

Allow to cool for a few minutes then invert the pan and decant the monkey bread. Brush with more butter, if desired. (Do it!)

Serve warm, if possible.

Enjoy! 

It’s the third Thursday of the month so that means it’s time to bake something in a Bundt pan! Our original host for this event is Lara of Tartacadabra. We send her our best wishes for good healthy and well-being and thank Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for stepping in to take over the hosting duties! Check out all the Bundt bakes with herbs below!

• Blueberry Citrus Thyme Bundt Cake from All That’s Left Are The Crumbs 
• Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread from Food Lust People Love
• French Kissed Mini Bundts from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bundt from Magical Ingredients 
• Lime and Thyme Mini Bundts from Passion Kneaded
• No Knead Pizza Bundt Bread from Sneha’s Recipe  
• Sweet Peppermint Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread!

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Crunchy Everything Bagel Breadsticks #BreadBakers

These Crunchy Everything Bagel Breadsticks are made with everything bagel spice mix inside and out. Baked until golden and crispy, they are the perfect accompaniment to your favorite cocktail or glass of wine. 

Anyone who has ever tried to top a bagel, bun or even cupcake with seedy things or decorative sprinkles knows that a quite a few are going to bounce off and onto your countertop or tray. And, ugh, floor. That’s just the way it works no matter how much egg wash or icing you slather on first.

I know I have often regretted the waste when my sprinkle colors or seeds got mixed up and I had to sweep them up and discard. It made me really happy to learn recently that avoiding that waste is how young bakery worker David Gussin and his boss Charlie started to make everything bagels, by using up the leftover mixed toppings from each day’s baking. Brilliant, right? And, oh so popular!

According to an article in USA Today on January 15, 2022 - which happened to be National Bagel Day - everything bagels are the third most popular, right after blueberry and cinnamon raisin. 

My favorite bagel is cheddar and jalapeño, but I do like using everything bagel spice mix for other things, especially crispy baked goods. It adds some extra crunch and flavor that is most welcome. 

Crunchy Everything Bagel Breadsticks

My particular bag of everything bagel spice mix came from The Spice House in Chicago and was a gift to my daughter from a close friend. I highly recommend it because it’s not too salty, which some mixes can be. Of course, you can use your favorite brand. 

Ingredients

For the dough:

3/4 cup or 180ml lukewarm water (about 125-130°F or 51-54°C)

1 teaspoon active-dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 cups or 250g strong bread flour, plus more if needed

1 tablespoon everything bagel seasoning

Drizzle olive oil for the dough bowl

For baking:

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon everything bagel seasoning

Method

Put the yeast and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Pour in the warm water and give it a stir. Set aside for a few minutes. It should start to get foamy on top. If it does not, your yeast is dead and you will have to buy more and start over.

Add the flour and spice mix to the yeast mixture and mix well to form a soft dough.

Using the dough hook on the stand mixer, or kneading by hand against the counter, knead the dough until it forms a smooth, slightly tacky ball that springs back when you poke it, 5 to 8 minutes. If the dough sticks to the bowl or your hands, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it’s easier to work with.

Avoid adding too much flour if possible. This is the sort of thing that can change with your flour and the humidity in the air. 

If you're planning to make the breadsticks today, then give the dough a rise. Clean out the mixing bowl, coat it with a little oil, and transfer the dough back inside. 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let the dough rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, in a warm place. When my kitchen is cold, I fill my sink partially with hot water and stand the bowl in it. 

Alternatively, you can store the dough in the fridge and make the breadsticks the next day. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. When you are ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator about half an hour before you start rolling and shaping the breadsticks.

Line a large baking pan with baking parchment and preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the breadstick dough into a 16x8 in or 41x20cm rectangle. 

Cut it into twelve strips lengthwise and twist into breadsticks. They are going to look pretty rustic but that's part of their charm so don't stress about it. Transfer them to your prepared pan as you make them.

Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with everything bagel spice mix. 

Bake in the preheated oven until golden and crunchy, about 21-24 minutes. Keep a close eye on them and turn your pan around occasionally so they cook evenly. 

Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

The second Tuesday has come early this month but as usual it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes with you. Our theme, as you might guess from the titles below, is breadsticks. Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories. 

• Blueberry Crumble Sticks (Twists) from A Messy Kitchen
• Cinnamon Breadsticks from Passion Kneaded
• Crispy Rye and Caraway Breadsticks from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Crunchy Everything Bagel Breadsticks from Food Lust People Love
• Easy Biscuit Breadsticks from Palatable Pastime
• Heart "Beet" Sticks from Magical Ingredients
• Seeded Breadsticks from Sneha's Recipe
• Sourdough Grissini with Parmesan and Black Pepper from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Sourdough Soft Breadsticks from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Crunchy Everything Bagel Breadsticks!

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Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls #BreadBakers

Soft, fluffy and tender, these buttery sourdough dinner rolls are perfect to accompany your holiday meal and for making leftover turkey or ham sandwiches. 

The holidays are approaching quickly and my Bread Baker friends and I know that for many, a festive table is not complete without some dinner rolls. So we are here to help, sharing several wonderful recipes we hope you’ll love. Make sure to scroll down to find the links. 

My buttery sourdough dinner rolls remind me of the brown-n-serve rolls my grandmother used to buy and finish baking at home, but with a little more flavor. They are a little bit bigger than your average dinner roll which makes them great for turkey or ham sandwiches as well. 

 

Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls

We want lots of springy fluffiness for these soft dinner rolls so while the sourdough starter is there for flavor, I use active dry yeast as well to make sure these puff right up.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 360ml milk

1/3 cup or 80g butter

1/4 oz or 7g (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast

1/2 cup or 113g sourdough fed starter 

1 egg, at room temperature

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

5 cups or 625g flour, plus extra for kneading and sprinkling on before baking

1/8 cup or 30g melted butter for brushing on after the rolls are baked

Method

Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted, about 3-4 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast in your mixing bowl and pour in about a cup or 240ml (no need to measure exactly) of the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some new yeast and start over.

Now add the rest of the milk/butter, the sourdough starter, the egg and the salt along with 3 cups or 375g of flour to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonfuls until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

Now mix for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can partially fill the sink with hot tap water and put the bowl in it for warmth.

Meanwhile, line your baking pan with parchment paper, a silicone mat or grease it liberally with oil or butter.

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into halves, then cut the halves into half again. Cut each piece into four to make large bread rolls or six to make more reasonably sized ones. Hint: the bigger ones are better for sandwiches.

Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. 

Put the balls, side by side, pinched side down, in your prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the tops of the rolls with flour.

Put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the bread rolls. Allow the rolls to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the dinner rolls in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown all over.

Brush with the melted butter and serve warm, if possible. 

They are still great cooled but I think we can all agree that warm rolls are the best!

Enjoy!

Check out all the delicious roll recipes my Bread Baker friends are sharing today! Many thanks to our host, Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Butternut Corn Dinner Rolls from A Messy Kitchen
• Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Garlic and Herbs Dinner Rolls from Ambrosia
• Garlicky Dinner Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• No Knead Dinner Rolls from Sneha’s Recipe
• Savory Monkey Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Soft Homemade Dinner Rolls from Palatable Pastime
• Soft Potato Rolls with Rosemary from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Sourdough Crescent Rolls from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Pumpkin Shaped Pumpkin Rolls from The Magical Ingredients

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Buttery Sourdough Dinner Rolls!

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Sourdough Tangzhong Bread #BreadBakers

This Sourdough Tangzhong Bread is flavorful with a wonderful texture, perfect for eating on its own or toasted with butter and jam. Start a day or two ahead of when you want to bake for the best flavor.

Like many of us, I took the lockdown days of this pandemic as an opportunity to create a sourdough starter. I did have one before we left Dubai but I am not a dedicated enough owner to try to transport it in an airplane. The more devoted among you will probably be horrified to hear that I tipped my unnamed starter out, washed the jar and didn’t even feel guilty. 

That said, I’ve been enjoying this one in a variety of recipes. You might want to try my sourdough pancakes or sourdough chocolate Bundt cake. Both delicious. Still haven’t named my starter yet though, just in case it needs to go at some point. Or I kill it. 

As for the tangzhong, I learned all about it when I made my first loaf with the method, a rye bread where it came in very handy to add structure and substance. When the flour you are using is low in gluten, like rye, knowing how to make a tangzhong is a very good thing! Making it in the microwave was such a breeze that I’ll never do it any other way now. 

N.B. An accurate thermometer is essential for this recipe. 

Sourdough Tangzhong Bread

This recipe is adapted from one on Food Geek. The author says his is not a recipe for beginners so I simplified it. While I didn’t get as airy a loaf as he did, we were super pleased with the flavor and texture. 

Ingredients for two round loaves

For the tangzhong:

1/2 cup or 64g bread flour

1 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons or 275ml water

For the dough:

4 1/4 cups or 540g bread flour

1 1/3 cups or 170g whole-grain wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 2/3 cups or 380ml water

Tangzhong 

3/4 cup or 170g sourdough starter

Method

Make tangzhong by mixing the flour and water with a whisk in a microwaveable bowl. 

Microwave on high until the mixture is above 149°F or 65°C. It took about 1 minute and 40 seconds in my 1000W microwave. Whisk halfway through then whisk again at the end. Your tangzhong will be thick and glossy. 

Set the tangzhong aside to cool to at least 86°F or 30°C.

To make the dough, add 4 1/4 cups or 531g bread flour, 172g whole-grain wheat flour, and 16g salt to the bowl of your stand mixer. 

Add 1 2/3 cups or 380ml of water to the bowl along with the cooled tangzhong.

Incorporate all the water into the flour mixture using your paddle beater or bread hook. Just keep mixing until there's no dry flour left. Cover the bowl with a little cling film or a damp towel and set it aside for 30 minutes. 

Add 170g of the sourdough starter on top of the dough and use the bread hook to incorporate it. 

Cover the bowl again with cling film or a damp towel and let it rest again for another 30 minutes. 

Rather than traditional kneading, the gluten strands are formed and stretched in this dough by performing three sets of coil folds spaced out by 30 minutes. I’m going to save us all a long explanation by including this YouTube video that shows you exactly what to do. Here's the link in case the video isn't working. https://youtu.be/6JQm2n4aVZc

You want to do this once, wait 30 minutes, do it again, wait 30 minutes, then do the final coil fold for a total of three times in all.

Cover the bowl again with cling film or a damp towel and set it somewhere warm for about an hour or until it has doubled in size. 

Put the bowl in a refrigerator for 24-48 hours. 

On the day you are ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide and shape the dough by cutting it in half with a bench scraper.

Shape each half into a ball. Stretch each side out and fold it up and over the ball until you’ve done that from all four sides. Pinch the ends together. 

Use the scraper to flip the ball over onto a square of baking parchment. Sprinkle on flour liberally and use the scraper to tuck the edges of the dough into a snug circle. Repeat for the other dough ball.

Transfer the dough balls on the baking parchment to your baking pan. 

Sprinkle the dough balls with extra flour and put the whole pan inside a plastic bag. To make sure it doesn’t stick to the dough balls, I like to blow it full of air and secure the opening with a clip. Set aside in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour.

About half way through the rising time, put an empty baking pan or iron skillet on the bottom rack and preheat your oven to 450°F or 232°C.

Carefully remove the baking pan from the plastic bag. Put the kettle on now because you are going to need one cup or 240ml boiling water when you put the loaves in the oven. 

Use a sharp knife or lame to score the dough. This will allow the loaves to rise and expand as they bake. 

When your oven is sufficiently preheated, put the bread pan on the middle rack of your oven and carefully pour about 1 cup or 240ml boiling water into the empty pan or skillet on the bottom rack. Quickly close the oven door. 

Bake the loaves for about 35-40 minutes or until they are golden and sound hollow when thumped.

Take the bread out and put it on a wire rack. Let the loaves cool completely before slicing. 

Enjoy!

This month my Bread Bakers are all sharing bread recipes using a tangzhong. Check out the links below! Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories!

• Easy Cinnamon Rolls from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Eggless Nasturtium Greens Sandwich Bread (Tangzhong Method) from Cook with Renu
• Japanese Chocolate Milk Bread from Passion Kneaded
• Japanese Milk Bread Buns from Ambrosia
• Japanese Milk Bread Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pineapple Buns (Bolo Bao) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sourdough Pumpkin Babka from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Tangzhong Kolaches from A Messy Kitchen
• Tangzhong Loaf With Cinnamon Sugar Topping from Sneha's Recipe
• Tangzhong Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns from Magical Ingredients
• Tangzhong Sourdough Bread from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Sourdough Tangzhong Bread!

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