Sunflower Seed and Honey Sourdough and Featured Baker

Please welcome Victoria from My Bread and Brot as this week’s featured bread baker.

There are so many talented bread bakers out there and each one brings a special uniqueness to the loaves they make.  I decided to start showcasing these bakers so you can learn their stories and experience their breads.

Happy Baking!

Cathy

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Try Victoria’s recipe for a delicious, seeded sourdough bread with honey.

Sunflower seed and honey sourdough bread

This sunflower seed and honey bread is a hearty, healthy whole grain bread dotted with vitamin E-rich sunflower seeds and enhanced with the subtle sweetness of honey.

This recipe is easy but it’s not quick.  You just need to plan to start it a couple of days ahead of time. There is very little hands-on time required.

While you get on with the rest of your life the sourdough is working away for you, fermenting and multiplying in the medium of the dough.   All the time, intensifying its flavor.  Such sourdough breads are easier to digest and also have better keeping properties, meaning you can enjoy this bread for 3 or more days without the aid of any artificial preservatives.

Your army of sourdough microbes does more for you than just leaven and flavor your bread.  They can neutralize the difficult-to-digest gluten components of wheat, and during the several hours of fermentation with sourdough microbes the minerals, such as iron, calcium, and magnesium which are rich in whole grains, become more bio-available.  Your body absorbs more of these minerals from a slice of wholegrain sourdough than from a slice of fast-fermented wholegrain yeast bread.

Baked dark for a tasty crust

Sunflower Seed and Honey Sourdough Recipe

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• Author: Victoria McParland
• Yield: 1 Large Loaf 1x

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Description

This sunflower seed and honey bread is a hearty, healthy whole grain bread dotted with vitamin E rich sunflower seeds and enhanced with the subtle sweetness of honey.

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

Sourdough sponge

• 250g whole rye flour
• 250g water
• 40g starter culture

Main Dough

• the fermented sourdough sponge from above (minus the approx 40g you keep back and store in the fridge)
• 260g wholewheat flour
• 250g strong bread flour
• 50g honey
• 260g water
• 3g dried yeast
• 20g salt
• 150g sunflower seeds

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Instructions

1. To make the sourdough sponge combine the whole rye flour, water and sourdough starter in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 12 hours (overnight) or until you see a lot of bubbly activity. This may take longer if your starter culture is a bit sluggish.
2. Then combine all the ingredients for the main dough, apart from the sunflower seeds in a mixing bowl. Knead for 10 minutes either using the dough hook of an electric mixer or by hand. Finish of the kneading by hand with 3-4 cycles of stretching and folding.
3. Form the dough into a tight ball and place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and either bulk ferment in the fridge for 8-10 hours or at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
4. After the bulk ferment the dough should have at least doubled in size, even tripled. Turn out the dough into a work surface, deflate and flatten into a rough rectangle. Sprinkle the sunflower seeds all over the dough and work them in by squidging up the dough with your hands and then a short gentle knead to properly distribute the seeds throughout.
5. Form the dough into a ball and place into a lined and floured proving basket. Cover loosely with a tea towel and leave to re-rise for 45-60 minutes at room temperature. Pre-heat your oven, and dutch oven if using one, to 250 degrees C.
6. When your loaf is proved and ready to bake it should have almost doubled in size and slowly spring back when you gently press into the dough. Using a serrated knife, cut into the surface of the dough and bake either in a dutch oven or simply on a baking stone or sheet. If you are baking on a stone or sheet place a roasting tray of water on the oven floor to provide steam. After 10 minutes reduce the oven temperature to 200 and bake for a further 45 minutes or upto 60 minutes if you like a nice dark crust.
7. Allow to cool before slicing.

Notes

Total time required; 26 hours (0r 18-19 hours*)
Hands on time; 45-60 min.

Sample schedule for a work day: 18.00 mix sourdough; next day 7.00 mix main dough and knead; 7.30 bulk ferment in fridge; 17.00 deflate and shape; 18.00 bake.

*(NB. for a non-work day you could allow the dough to bulk ferment at room temperature for 2-3 hours)

• Category: Sourdough Loaf

Even textured whole grain crumb dotted with sunflower seeds

Enjoy this delicious and healthy sunflower seed and honey sourdough any way you like. It’s beautiful simply buttered, toasted, with cheese, meat or sweetly topped with jam or honey.

Crunchy crust and an even crumb, make this a nice and versatile sourdough loaf