Pureed carrots lend this bread a beautiful yellow hue and a moist and tender bite.
Last week I rescued my sourdough starter from the refrigerator where it has been hibernating for a while. My grand-daughter wanted to learn how to make real bread, “not the stuff from the grocery store.” Really, you’ve got to love a thirteen year old foodie!
Now some of you might start a young person’s bread-making education with a tried and true recipe. But I like variety, so we experimented and came up with a new recipe. It was a great food science lesson – why wild yeast takes so much longer to rise than instant yeast – and an enjoyable day spent cooking with my grand-daughter (we also made almond butter bites and mango frozen yogurt). There really isn’t a better way to spend the day than cooking with someone you love, and handing down traditions to your grandchildren.
A Note About The Ingrediants
Carrots: My grand-daughter wondered if the bread would taste like carrots. It doesn’t. Carrots add color and moisture to the bread, but their flavor is overpowered by the other ingredients. This means you could use something other than carrots, pureed zucchini for example, although you would lose the attractive hue. Pureed squash or pumpkin or sweet potatoes would work too, as well as pureed apples or even pears. We used baby food, but you don’t have to. Basically we used baby food because by the time we made the bread I was feeling a bit lazy.
10 Grain Flour: I found this blend of wheat, rye, triticale, oats, corn, barley, soy, brown rice, millet, and flaxseed and just knew I had to make bread! I only used one cup in the bread because I used it to make my starter. If you use a traditional wheat flour starter, you can increase the amount of 10 grain flour in the recipe, and decrease the all-purpose flour. If you want to make a 100%whole grain loaf, use white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose. The 10 grain flour does not have enough gluten to support the bread all on its own, unless you are satisfied with a flatter loaf. Will still taste great, but will lack the traditional bread shape.
Kamut: I’ve written about Kamut® flour before and will write about it again very soon. Basically, Kamut® is a whole grain ancient wheat. It is softer than our traditional whole wheat flours, and doesn’t have as much gluten. What it does have though is a lovely yellow color and a much better flavor than other whole wheat flours.
A Note About Sourdough Starters
I have been writing about sourdough for quite a while now, so you can probably find what you are looking for in one of these old posts. But I am also happy to answer any sourdough questions you may have! Sourdough really is worth the little amount of time it takes to nurture the starter along.
How to Make Your Own Sourdough Starter
How to Make A Specialty Sourdough Starter
Keep Your Sourdough Starter Alive
What to do When Your Starter Turns Into A Monster
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Sourdough Saturday - Sourdough Carrot Bread
Pureed carrots lend this bread a beautiful yellow hue and a moist and tender bite.
Author: Renee Pottle
Cuisine:American
Recipe type:Breads
Serves:16 slices
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 2 cups ripe sourdough starter
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup Kamut flour
- 1 cup 10 grain flour
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 cup carrot puree (I used 2 small jars of baby food carrots)
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Stir to combine well.
- Knead for about 5 minutes if using stand mixer, or 8-10 minutes by hand.
- Form the dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise 2-4 hours.
- Gently deflate the dough. Form dough into a tight ball and place in a floured brotform.
- Cover and let rise another 1 – 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees, slash the top of the loaf, and bake for 40 – 60 minutes or until bread reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees.
- Remove from oven and let sit at least 15 minutes before slicing.
Do you ever cook with your children or grandchildren? What is your favorite thing to make with them?
