If you are an enthusiastic home baker, making and maintaining a sourdough starter and making bread with it is probably on your wish list. It was on ours.
But it remained on the wish list since our starters either turned really nasty, were inconsistent or just plain died. But the appeal of a great sourdough loaf is undeniable. All those complex flavors and the tangy sour taste in the bread!
We made a faux-sourdough loaf using some plain logic.
It is such a super hit that we liked it so much and you might like it too -- it was very flavorful.
In our recipe book, we have section for flavorful breads. And, yogurt bread fitted so well in this section! Wait till you receive your copy of the book -- but here it is already for you, to the LoafNest community!
Our logic was this -- you know it already, through cucumber and tomato flavored breads -- replacing the water content by ingredients that have lots of water in them with a pinch of flavor.
Yogurt is a dairy product that we all like so much. Yogurt is produced by the fermentation of milk. Good yogurt contains live lactic acid bacteria and some amount of lactic acid produced by the fermentation of milk. Add to that Yogurt has 85% of water in it!
When it comes to yogurt , unlike cucumber and tomato, yogurt is already fermented!
Could we get somewhat a sourdough bread with yogurt? The sourdough gets its flavor and taste from the presence of lactic acid bacteria in addition to yeast, doesn't it?
So, what if we put some lactic acid bacteria in there next to yeast? Alright! That is quite some plain logic and when you are a sourdough expert, you might have a good laugh at us!
But then you have to taste this!
It smelled excellent.
It raised excellent.
It tasted excellent.
Here is how you could try this too.
INGREDIENTS
- White Wheat Flour: 500 g
- Live yogurt (full fat or skimmed) : approx 150g
- Water : 300 ml (you might adjust the amount of water depending on the consistency of the yogurt you are using. If you have baked with other LoafNest recipes, aim for a similar consistency).
- Salt : 8-10 g
- Instant dry yeast: 0.5 g
- Sunflower seeds : 15 g (optional)
METHOD
As ever, we will use our no-knead, no-mess, no-shaping LoafNest flow for this bread too.
- Mix water, yogurt, salt and yeast in a large bowl.
- Add flour and mix well with a fork. There is no need to knead.
- Cover the bowl with a plate or cling film and set it at room temperature (~20 C) for ~12-18 hours.
- After the flour has doubled in size, smells very sour and is full of bubbles, it is ready to be baked.
- For baking, pre-heat the LoafNest casserole at 230C (450F) for 45 minutes.
- Carefully remove the hot casserole from oven, place the LoafNest liner into the casserole and pour the dough into LoafNest. You can top the dough with sunflower seeds.
- Cover the LoafNest and return it to the oven and continue to bake at 230C (450F) for 50 minutes.
- Remove the loaf and peel the liner.
- The loaf is ready to cut when it has completely cooled down and does not feel warm to touch.
NOTES
- You will benefit most with flavors when you choose a live yogurt. Pasteurized yogurt will work but probably will be less flavorful.
- Do not use yogurt with added starches. No addition of the unnecessary things please! No added starches, thickening agents or sweeteners -- add it if you like it, but why otherwise?
- We used full fat yogurt that gave us a nice soft crumb. You could also use lower fat (2% or 0%) yogurt as well.
Results
It is a very good sour tasting bread. Soft and smooth and crunchy and tasty, doesn't matter whether it is a sourdough or not!
The loaf had a distinct sourdough sort of flavor and taste to it, and as usual an excellent oven spring and ultra soft crumb with a crunchy crust. So next time you crave for a good sourdough, why not experiment with the dairy shelf of your fridge?
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