Sourdough Banana Nut Crunch Muffins

Delicious fresh Strawberry sourdough Bread . With sweet fresh strawberries and lemon zest every bite is full of fruity delight and you can have them with cream cheese or your favorite spread

If you like strawberries, then you should try this Strawberry Sourdough Bread. I have seen only a few recipes that uses fresh strawberries with sourdough that to in the form of a quick bread. Not as boule, since I love to experiment, I decide to try this Strawberry Sourdough bread made with fresh strawberries. This bread makes excellent toast, you can start your day with it.

How to make Strawberry Sourdough Bread

You can make this strawberry sourdough bread with following 7 ingredients

Strawberries: make sure to use fresh strawberries, as frozen ones tend to make the dough wet and not easy to incorporate into the dough.

Bread flour: Chewiness of the bread is given by bread flour, if you want you can use all-purpose flour, however chewiness will be lesser in that case.

Rye flour: Adds nuttiness to the sourdough bread.

Lemon zest: Brings out color and flavor of the strawberries

Brown sugar.  My strawberries are little tart so I have added into the recipe you can skip if your strawberries are sweet.

Salt: Not only brings out flavor of sourdough bread, but also control fermentation.

Water: I have used around 73% hydration; you can reduce it to 71 %.  When you add strawberries and sugar, water will ooze out of the strawberries increasing the hydration and making the dough stickier.

What other berries you can use to make a sourdough bread

I have tried fresh blueberries to make sourdough dough bread here is the recipe.

Also, fresh cranberries can be used to make the bread too. If you want to look at the recipe here.

Since strawberries are bigger than both berries, I decide to hull them and chopped into tiny cubes so that there will be uniform distribution in the dough. Because I have added brown sugar, strawberries started oozing out water. You can skip this without adding sugar or using sweet strawberries.

Points to remember while adding strawberries to sourdough?

You can add berries and fruits at the time of lamination like I did here, otherwise you can mix it in the dough after adding salt. I have tried that too, it worked well for blueberries and cranberries. I am not sure if it will work for raspberries and blackberries.

When you add fresh fruits to the dough the crust is going to be thinner and less crispy. If you want to make a crisper crust, try to bake it with steam only in the beginning for about 15 minutes. Rest without steam will be fine. During the last 10 minutes of baking, crack open the oven door (optional). This allows the moisture to escape, leaving your sourdough bread with a crisp crust. Alternatively, remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it bake directly on the rack. The latter produces a crisper crust

This is slightly sweet sourdough bread, tastes great as toast or you can slather with some cream cheese to make it a strawberry cheesecake toast. It is delicious.

Baking Schedule

Make Leaven/Leavain 8. 00 A.M

Autolyse the Flours with  water 12.30 A.M

Incorporate leaven/levain into the dough 1.00 P.M

Add salt into dough around 1.30 P.M

After 1 hour stretch and fold the dough around 2.30 P.M

Then around 3.30 P.M stretch and fold and dough for second time.

Around 4.30 P.M Laminate the dough. Incorporate strawberries and sugar, lemon zest

First coil fold 5.30 P.M Coil fold the dough.

second coil fold at 6.00 P.M

Pre-shape at 7.00 P.M.

Shape the dough 7.15 P.M

Cold Retard/ Refrigerator Overnight up to 14 hours

Bake at  7.00 A.M

If you try this bread, please tag me @nidhinikhil in Instagram and @zestysouthindiankitchen in Facebook.

Print Recipe

5 from 145 votes

Strawberry Sourdough Bread

Delicious fresh Strawberry sourdough Bread . With sweet fresh strawberries and lemon zest every bite is full of fruity delight and you can have them with cream cheese or your favorite spread

Prep Time5 hours hrs

Cook Time50 minutes mins

8 hours hrs

Total Time13 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #sourdoughbread, Strawberry Sourdough Bread

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 160kcal

Cost: $8

Ingredients

Levain

• 15 g sourdough starter I used 100% hydration, 50: 50 all-purpose flour : whole wheat flour
• 30 bread flour
• 30 g water

Dough

• 420 g bread flour
• 30 g rye flour
• 60 g leavain
• 320 g water
• 200 g strawberries chopped into cubes
• 9 g salt
• zest of 1 lemon
• 15 g sugar

Instructions

Make Levain /Leaven

• In the morning make your dough combine 2 tablespoons (15-20 grams) of unfed sourdough starter with 30g of water 30 g of bread flour. Mix until there are no dry bits of flour, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit out for 4-5 hours or until it doubles in volume.

Make Autolyse

• Around 4 hours of Levain making, Mix all the flours in 320 g water in a large bowl. And mix by hand until there are no dry bits. Knead for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Cover and let rest atleast 30 minutes or upto 5 hours

Make dough

• When levain is ready incorporate the levain into the autolyzed dough
• Then after 30 minutes add salt. Mix well and cover the dough again and set aside

Stretch and Fold

• Then stretch and fold the dough every 1 hour for until 2 hours. This means grabbing the underside of the dough and stretching it up and over the rest of the dough. Perform a few of these turns each time you handle the dough.

Laminate the dough

• One hour after last stretch and fold do a lamination of the dough. Means spread the dough into thin sheet and Then sprinkle strawberries , lemon zest and brown sugar on the top and fold them into a letter fold.

Coil fold

• If you are planning for 1 coil fold do that 2 hours of lamination. If you are doing 2 coil folds give 1 hour’s interval.

Shaping the Dough

• Then transfer the dough lightly floured workspace and shape them into round Boule. Fold the third of the dough closest to you inward, and then stretch the dough out to the sides. Fold the right, and then left sides in toward the center. Fold the top of the dough inward, and then wrap the bottom part of the dough over it all. If you want, you can make pre-shape and set aside for 15 minutes and then make a final shape.
• Work this into a round shape, and place seam side up in a proofing basket lined well with flour.

Cold Proof

• After transferring to Banneton, Let rise the dough overnight in the refrigerator. You can keep this cold retard up to 14 hours.

Score and Bake

• When you are ready to bake preheat oven to 475°F.
• Remove the dough from the proofing basket and score and transfer to Dutch oven and close the lid and immediately place the top back on and return to the oven.
• Turn the heat down to 475°F and cook for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 450 F for 15 minutes with lid.
• After 15 minutes remove the top of the Dutch oven and rotate the pan. Continue to bake the bread for another 15 minutes, until the crust is deeply caramelized. Give 10-15 minutes extra if you want more crusty bread.
• If you want crackling crust after switching off the oven keep oven door ajar and keep the bread inside.
• once bread comes out of oven cool completely in the wire rack and cut it into slice and enjoy with some butter

Video

Notes

Since this is fruity sourdough bread crust will be soft, Make sure to store it in paper bag.  You can slice and make a toast. 

Nutrition

Calories: 160kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 293mg | Potassium: 72mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 3IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Here is the delicous and easy, 22 sourdough bread variations you can make to boost up your sourdough boule to bump up the flavor.

Adding inclusions to sourdough Bread

If you have made basic sourdough bread then you can increase the flavor quotient of the sourdough bread by adding dried nuts, dried fruits, fresh fruits, fresh veggies, canned fruits, canned veggies. You can also make them delectable by adding purees of fruits, veggies etc.

Are you looking for a natural-colored sourdough bread, that is also possible by adding inclusions?

In this post I am discussing about the tried and tested ways of adding inclusions to sourdough bread.

How much inclusions can you add to a sourdough bread?

About 20% of inclusions, you can add to total weight of flour. For e.g. If your flour weight is about 1000g, you can add about 200g of inclusions such as, cheese, fruits, dried fruits, nuts etc.

Once you decide the inclusions to add sourdough bread then next is when to add it to dough.

You can either add that inclusions while mixing the dough or you can mix in the inclusions during the laminations. I found that lamination provide more uniform distributions of the inclusions.

Points to Remember while adding Inclusions to your sourdough bread.

1) If you are adding fresh fruit, try to add it during lamination or just before shaping them as they tend to release more water into the dough.

2) When you are using fruits that releases water out, then make dough with around 65-70% hydration. That way the amount of water will be adjusted when you add fresh fruits e.g., peach, mango.

3) When it comes to cheese, make sure to add it in small cubes around ¼ inch pieces, rather than grated. If you are going for the look, otherwise you can add grated cheese.

4) If you are planning to add dry nuts like walnut, or pecans, pistachio etc. try to chop them into small pieces and shape the dough gently as they can tear the dough. Adjust the water level to hydrate the dough a bit more, as once nuts are mixed into a dough as they tend to pull some moisture from the surrounding dough. This means the dough texture might feel drier and firmer as fermentation progresses begin, especially during the bulk fermentation.

5)  When you are using sundried tomatoes or olives from oil or brine, first you need to drain them of their oil or brine and chop to desired coarseness. Add to the dough, it is sufficiently strengthened during mixing or during lamination or just before shaping them.

6) While adding purees (pumpkin, butternut squash puree) adjust the hydration flour to around 65%, so that it will be adjusted when you are adding purees. The other way is to remove the water content from the puree is by warping them with kitchen towel or tissue.

7) If you are adding juice to the dough (like carrot, beet root juice) try to use in place of water.

8) When you add fresh fruits or cheese, the crust of the bread is going to be thin and soft. If you are looking for thick crust, try to bake for little more time without burning the bread. Still, it will not be crusty as just sourdough bread with flours alone.

Sourdough bread with seeds and nuts

1. Split chickpea sesame seed whole wheat-bread : Delicious Split chickpea sesame seed whole wheat bead full of nutty lentil rich split chickpeas, toasted black, sesame seeds and  Whole wheat.

• Seeded Whole Wheat bread : This Seeded Whole Wheat bread is 4 seed combo bread made with flax seeds, black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and pumpkin seeds and caraway seeds Wholesome sourdough bread goes well with spread of cream cheese

•    Dukkha Sourdough Bread :Delicious and simple Dukkha sourdough bread made with Egyptian spice blend Dukkah on the seasoning crust. Which is really flavorful with nuts and spices.
• Cranberry Walnut Orange Sourdough Bread :Delicious naturally leavened Cranberry walnut Orange Sourdough Bread made with craisins, orange juice, orange zest and nutty toasted walnuts. Excellent nuts and fruit studded bread.
• Cranberry Pecan Sourdough bread Delicious Cranberry and Pecan Sourdough Bread made with lightly sweetened cranberries and pecans. Great for holiday morning breakfast bread.

Sourdough bread with fruit, and vegetable puree

•   Pumpkin Sourdough Bread : Delicious savory pumpkin sourdough bread. Made with pumpkin puree and no sugar added. Great as breakfast toast.
•  Pumpkin Cranberry Sourdough Bread : Delicious Pumpkin cranberry sourdough bread made with pumpkin puree and cranberries, orange zest and spices. Great breakfast bread
•   Carrot Sourdough Bread : Delicious vitamin A loaded Carrot Sourdough bread made with fresh carrot juice,flour, active starter and salt. I didn’t add any sweetner if you want you can add maple syrup, honey or sweetner of your choice
• Prickly Pear Sourdough Bread : Delicious Prickly Pear Sourdough Bread made with fresh prickly pear fruit puree, flour, sourdough starter and salt. No added sugar, hint of sweetness in the bread is from the fruits itself.
• Marbled Purple Sweet Potato Sourdough Bread : Delicious Marbled Purple Sweet Potato Sourdough Bread made Purple Sweet potato puree,sourdough starter, mixed flour, salt and water.
• Butternut Squash Sourdough Bread : Delicious Marbled Purple Sweet Potato Sourdough Bread made Purple Sweet potato puree,sourdough starter, mixed flour, salt and water.

   Naturally colored Sourdough bread    

Curry Tomato Onion Sourdough Bread :Delicious Curry tomato onion sourdough bread made with homemade curry powder, onion, tomato and red bell pepper. Curry meets with Sourdough bread

 Turmeric Sourdough Bread : Delicious Turmeric Sourdough bread made with flour, multigrain flour with anti- inflammatory turmeric, goes well bowl of soup.

Butterfly Pea flower Multigrain Sourdough Bread : Delicious Turmeric Sourdough bread made with flour, multigrain flour with anti- inflammatory turmeric, goes well bowl of soup.

Sourdough bread with cheese

Olives Parmesan Sourdough Bread : Delicious Olives Parmesan Sourdough Bread looks perfect treat with mixed olives and nutty Parmesan cheese with crusty bread

  Pepper Jack and Apple Sourdough Bread : Delicious Pepper Jack and Apple Sourdough Bread made with pepper jack cheese, apple cubes. Make great tasting sourdough bread

  Jalapeno Cheddar Chive Sourdough Bread : Delicious Jalapeño Cheddar Chive Sourdough Bread made with pickled Jalapeno, sharp cheddar and garlic chives. Goes well with bowl of soup or as such .

Zucchini and White Cheddar Sourdough Bread : Delicious zucchini, white cheddar sourdough bread with moistness from zucchini and creamy white cheddar cheese along with touch of pepper to make great savory bread.

  Sun Dried Tomato and Parmesan Sourdough Bread Delicious tangy sun dried tomato and parmesan sourdough bread. You can eat this bread as is or you can make it as toast with butter which will enhance the flavor more.

Sourdough bread with fruits

Apple Pie Sourdough Bread : This Apple Pie Sourdough Bread is best of classic combo  with sourdough dough and apple pie filling. 

Blueberry Rye Sourdough Bread : Delicious fresh blueberry sourdough. A fruity delight and you can have them with cream cheese or your favorite spread

Peach Spelt Sourdough Bread : Delicious Peach Spelt Sourdough bread made with fresh peaches and touch of cinnamon. Great fruity bread with no added sugar.

Delicious and Easy sourdough Pizza made with flour, water, salt, oil, and active sourdough starter. Topped with cheese blend

If you are looking to make flavorful a pizza with very less effort, then try this Easy Sourdough pizza. You need to mix the dough proof a little and then keep it in refrigerator and forget a while and then next morning bake the pizza.

Sourdough pizza vs yeast pizza

1) Yeast pizza you can get it ready in the same day.  However, sourdough pizza takes at least a day or 2.

2)  Yeast pizza known to have a yeasty after taste, while in sourdough pizza as dough ferments for a long time the flavor improves.  If you use a biga or preferment in the case of yeast pizza you can improve the flavor a lot. However, sourdough will be first and yeast comes next. Pizza's made with the sourdough culture are crispier, lighter, and chewier.

3) Sourdough makes for a stickier dough than store-bought yeast pizza dough.

When it comes to making a successful pizza you need to take care of these three steps.

 High Heat: however, getting high in a home oven is not that easy so crank the oven at maximum of 550F if it can go. Then switch off the oven and heat to broil and then bake for few minutes again broil it for few seconds.  Usually, pizza oven are 700 to 800 °F.

Kneading the dough; you can either do a dry kneading or wet kneading. I used wet kneading, means starter is mixed with water first and then mixed with flour. You can add salt and oil if you want later but I like to add once and make the dough.

If you are using yeast, make a dough in the morning and you can bake the pizza by evening.

With sourdough you need a short bulk fermentation of 2 hours and then cold fermentation of   24 -36 hours.

Ingredients for pizza.

You need only a few ingredients  for the dough : flour, salt, water, and oil (olive oil or any neutral oil is best). Do not even need any sugar.

If you are using yeast go with either fresh, active, or instant.

If you are using sourdough starter use stiff starter you can use 100% hydration sourdough starter. However, I like the stiff starter (levito madre) as they are really making the dough not sour.

Regarding the flour you can use either caputo 00 flour or pizza flour or you can use bread flour or all-purpose flour. I like caputo 00 flour as you can get closer pizza taste.

Marinara you can use homemade one like this or store bought one.

Cheese: I used Italian blend cheese, which has mozzarella, asiago and parmesan. You can make your own favorite cheese choice as you are the master chef here.

My kids love simple cheese topping, so I used that. You can use your favorite cheese and topping as you like.

This is a delicious and simple pizza, that is easy to put together. Just mix in and keep for few hours and refrigerate and sour starter will do its magic. Just bake it an enjoy.

If you like this pizza recipe check these too

Pizza margherita

Pizza Sfincione

Thin Crust Vegetable Pizza

If you try this recipe please tag me @nidhinikhil on Instagram or @zestysouthindiankitchen in Facebook.

I made this Easy sourdough pizza as part of Bread baker’s this month event Pizza hosted by Karen.

• Aglio e Olio Pizza from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Barley Flour Vegetarian Pizza from Cook with Renu
• Breakfast Biscuit Pizza from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Deep Dish Hawaiian Pizza from Making Miracles
• Dessert Apple Pizza from Magical Ingredients
• Grilled Fruit Pizza from A Messy Kitchen
• Individual Deep Dish Pizzas from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Jerk Chicken Sausage Pizza from Passion Kneaded
• Langallo (Hungarian Pizza) from Palatable Pastime
• No-Knead Thin Crust Margherita Pizza from Sneha's Recipe
• Pizza Empenadas from Ambrosia
• Quattro Stagioni Sourdough Pizza from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Pizza from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Valentine's Hearts from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Print Recipe

5 from 36 votes

Easy Sourdough Pizza

Delicious and Easy sourdough Pizza made with flour, water, salt, oil, and active sourdough starter. Topped with cheese blend

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

2 days d 2 hours hrs

Total Time2 days d 2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Easy Sourdough Pizza, Pizza

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 131kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

• izza dough
• 175 g water 90 to 95F /32 to 35C
• 16 g Olive oil
• 6 g sea salt
• 295 g Caputo flour
• 120 g Stiff Starter
• For pizza
• Entire dough
• 60 to 80 g ¼ to ⅓ cup basic tomato sauce/ Marinara
• 75 g ¾ cup Italian blend cheese

Instructions

• In a Kitchen Aid Bowl, add stiff starter and add water and mix well. Then add olive oil and salt.
• To this add flour and mix well until everything combined well and shaggy mass. Set aside for 20 minutes
• Then after 20 minutes gradually knead it into a fine soft ball then set aside in a lightly greased ball for set aside for 2 hours for first fermentation.
• . Then it is kneaded once again and shape them well
• And set aside in a lightly floured plate and sprinkle extra flour on the top to prevent them sticking and set aside for 36 hours in refrigerator.
• If you want to bake the pizza on next day, then after 36 hours of fermentation refrigerate the dough and bring back to room temperature 1 ½ hours before you decide to bake.
• When you are ready to make pizza
• Preheat the oven to 550F(290C) for 45 minutes.
• To shape pizza, place the dough ball in floured work area and coat well with flour
• and start to shape it into a 12-inch circle make sure to keep the center thin while the edges are slightly thick.
• Place it in the pizza peel dusted with flour to prevent sticking. For insurance you can place it in parchment paper.
• Spread the tomato sauce to the dough leaving ½ inch from the edge. Then add cheese.
• Then switch off baking option and turn on broiler for 10 minutes before loading the pizza.
• When you are ready to load pizza to oven turn off the broiler and set back the oven to 550F( 290C). Let bake the pizza for 3 to 4 minutes until the rim starts to golden in color.
• Then turn on broiler option again and cook for another 30 seconds to one minute.
• Enjoy warm pizza.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 131kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 233mg | Potassium: 41mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 22IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Try to make this delicious and beautiful Heart shaped Sourdough Challah made with stiff starter, olive oil, honey and bread flour. Decorations are similar to Ukraine wedding bread or Korovai.

This is month of heart aka love, yes, the month of Valentine. If you want to treat your love then try this Heart shaped Sourdough Challah, simple as well as fun recipe. This Sourdough challah is made with stiff starter. This is a straightforward bread, once you made the dough, put the decorations if you want and bake it.  This bread is also good to make French toast, sandwiches, and croutons.

Challah also belongs to enriched bread however it lacks milk and butter. But it has olive oil, yeast. Israeli challah contains eggs or olive oil in the dough as well as water, sugar, yeast, salt, honey, and raisins. It is topped with sesame.

I have tried earlier challah with rye. This time decide to use my sourdough starter.

How to make this Heart shaped Sourdough Challah?

You need only a few ingredients to make this recipe.

Stiff sourdough starter: you can create a stiff starter from your 100 % hydration starter. By just feeding double the amount of flour to starter. Refresh it few times and then give a sugar wash and finally make the dough and you can either put it in water or keep it in room temperature.

Flour:  You can use all-purpose flour to make challah, however bread flour gives the challah a nice chew without making it tough, helps the braided loaf maintain its shape after baking.

Olive Oil: It gives a rich, earthy flavor to the loaf, without making too much eggy as well as subtle sweetness that makes challah so delectable. Using olive oil also makes challah particularly appropriate for Hanukkah, which celebrates an oleaginous miracle.

Eggs: are the only rich ingredients in this sourdough challah recipe.

Honey: adds sweetness to the loaf, however this is not overall sweet bread.

Salt: Brings out flavor to bread loaf.

For decorations

I used all-purpose flour, corn starch, powdered sugar and vegetable shortening.  You can use cake flour instead of all purpose and corn starch as it comes with it.

Things you need to remember while making this Heart shaped sourdough challah.

You need an active starter in hand.  You can make one check here to make one. If you are in hurry to make this bread use   2 ¼  teaspoon or 7g of instant yeast.

First day you need to refresh the starter and make dough and give bulk around 4-5 hours and then refrigerate for proof overnight.

Next morning shape and set aside for rise for about 5 hours or until it looks fluffy and when you touch the dough it should bounce back.

Apply egg white to make the decorations stick. You can skip this step if you are not using the decorations. You can just simply do an egg wash before baking them. Sprinkle sesame seeds.

You can make regular braided sourdough challah with recipe too. The decorations on the bread are inspired from Ukraine wedding bread or Korovai. You can skip it if you are not into it. If you have little helper in your house include them in making this delicious bread, they will have fun.

If you try this recipe, please tag me @nidhinikhil in Instagram and @zestysouthindiankitchen in facebook.

Print Recipe

5 from 65 votes

Heart Shaped Sourdough Challah

Since it is month of love try to make this delicious and beautiful Heart shaped Soudough Challah made with stiff starter, olive oil, honey and bread flour. Decorations are simliar to Ukranine wedding bread or Korovai.

Prep Time12 hours hrs

Cook Time35 minutes mins

8 hours hrs

Total Time20 hours hrs 35 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #sourdoughbread, Challah, Heart Shaped Sourdough Challah

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 242kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

Dough

• 3 ½ cups 450g bread flour
• 200 g stiff starter
• ¼ cup 62 grams warm water
• 3 large eggs 149g, plus 1 for glazing
• 1 ½ teaspoon 8 grams salt
• ¼ cup 57 grams olive oil
• 3 tablespoon 67 grams honey OR ⅓ cup (60 grams) sugar

For the decorations

• ½ cup 65g all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon shortening Crisco
• 3 tablespoon water or more to form a dough

Instructions

Make stiff starter

• In a bowl add 30g (100%) starter, 30g water and 60g bread flour and mix until combined. This is a stiff starter, so it will take some work to get all the flour mixed in. Do not add extra water. You might need to do a little kneading to get it to all mix in. Set aside for 4-5 hours or until it doubles, continue to feed 2-3 times.
• After 3 rd. refreshing, mix in 50g stiff starter + 50 g water and 100g flour and cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and allow to sit on again 4-5 hours or until it doubles. You can leave it overnight in the counter if you want.

Mix the dough

• In the morning in a kitchen aid mixing bowl add stiff starter and water and with paddle attachment try to mix in very well.
• To this add, eggs, salt, olive oil and honey. Whisk until everything is combined.
• Then add bread flour and with dough attachment mix the bread flour in all at once.
• When the mixture is a shaggy ball, scrape it out onto your work surface.
• The dough will be firm and should be easy to work with even if a little bit sticky. If the dough is too firm to knead easily, add a tablespoon or two of water to it. If the dough is too wet, add a tablespoon or two of flour.
• Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Bulk Ferment

• Allow the dough to ferment at room temperature for 3 hours. It will probably not rise much, if at all.
• During which you can keep it refrigerator for overnight if you want. Otherwise continue the following

Shaping and Braiding Challah

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. You need three pieces for each braid.
• Roll each ball into a long thin strip the same length as your baking sheet, working from the middle, out. If the dough is too elastic and keeps shrinking on you, cover the strips with a cloth and walk away for 10 minutes while the dough rests.
• Place the strips on the baking sheet and bring the top points together. Pinch the three strands together.
• Starting with the strand on the right, pass it over the next strand, under the third strand, on the left.
• Repeat with the strand that is now on the right, passing it over, under, and over the other strands.
• Continue braiding until you reach the end the strips.
• Place it in the prepared baking sheet with parchment paper with two end joining other braids giving them the shape of heart. Set aside for proofing.

Decorations

• While the sourdough challah dough is proofing make the decorations.
• In a medium bowl, place the flour, corn starch, powdered sugar and shortening.
• Gradually add the water.
• Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, to make it nice and pliable.
• Place the dough in a plastic bag, to keep it from drying out.
• Divide the dough into thin circles and cut out various designs using cookie cutters. Check the video for how to make designs,
• Place it in a lightly greased plate so that it will not dry out.

Proofing

• Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and allow the loaf to proof until tripled in size, about 5 hours. Depending upon the humidity of your house, it is cooler it can take longer, and if it is warmer it could take less time. So, check the dough when it fully proofed if you make dent gently with your knuckle and the dough springs back.
• Brush them with egg white and arrange the decorations depending upon your choice.

Baking the Challah

• Preheat your oven to 350 F for at least 15-20 minutes before baking.
• Brush the egg glaze over the loaf.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until well browned. After the first 20 minutes of baking, rotate the baking sheet in the oven to promote even browning. If the bread is browning too fast, tent it with foil.
• Remove the bread from the baking sheet and cool completely on a wire rack. You can slice the bread only after complete cooling.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 242kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 308mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 60IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Delicious vitamin A loaded Carrot Sourdough bread made with fresh carrot juice,flour, active starter and salt. I didn't add any sweetner if you want you can add maple syrup, honey or sweetner of your choice

This is a vitamin A rich sourdough bread, i.e., it is a carrot sourdough bread made with fresh carrot juice.  Natural sweetness from the carrot as well as it hints of sweetness with colorful orange hue. I did not add any sweetener to this recipe as I want full carrot flavor.

Health Benefits of Carrots?

Carrots are rich in vitamin A and is needed for eye health. Also, carrots are rich in potassium and helps to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular issues. Another antioxidant that carrots provide is vitamin C. They are also rich in Vitamin K.

How to make this Carrot Sourdough Bread

You need 4 ingredients to make carrot sourdough bread.

Leaven: I used bread flour and whole wheat flour leaven made from 100% sourdough starter.

Carrots: I used fresh carrot juice and used that instead of water.

Flour: Bread flour, rye flour and whole wheat flour.

Salt: I have used sea salt; you can use Himalayan salt if you want.

Variations

I did not add any sweetener or herbs to this carrot sourdough bread. if you want you can add maple syrup, honey, or sugar.

I you want you can make a carrot bread with either ginger or garlic or lemon zest or orange zest,

Spices like cinnamon, coriander also goes well with carrot.

Herbs like dill or spearmint or tarragon, and thyme makes great combo with carrot.

You can add nuts and seeds to this sourdough bread, Cashew nuts and walnuts will go with this.

You can also add seeds  such as sesame seeds, poppy seeds.

Is grated carrot or carrot puree or carrot juice to get good color to the sourdough bread?

I find that using carrot juice gives the good orange hue that you are looking for. If you add grated carrots it gives only speckles of orange. If you want to add carrot puree, it makes the bread denser so use in less quantity.

I have used orange carrots, so the color of the bread turned out to be orange. If you can find purple carrot sure bread will have a beautiful purple hue.

Points to remember while making this Carrot Sourdough bread?

1. You need to use active young leaven.

 2) Try to use a mix of bread flour and whole wheat or rye flour.

3)  Make fresh carrot juice and use instead of water

4) Since carrots has natural sugars in it, Autolyse flour only for 30 minutes.

If you are into natural colored sourdough bread like me then sure to check out these.

For blue color: Butterfly pea flour Multigrain sourdough

Light pink: Prickly pear sourdough bread

Yellow: Turmeric Sourdough bread

If you do not have any sourdough starter check here to make one

Make sure to check these if you want to make perfect sourdough bread.

How to serve this carrot sourdough bread?

They make excellent sandwich.

You can also enjoy this sourdough bread with sweetened cream cheese to get a taste of carrot cake.

Just simply toast them with butter and sprinkle some cinnamon to make an excellent cinnamon carrot toast.

If you try this recipe, make sure to tag me @ nidhinikhil in Instagram or zestysouthindiankitchen in Facebook

Baking Schedule

Make Leaven/Leavain 8. 00 A.M

Autolyse the Flours with carrot juice 12.30 A.M

Incorporate leaven/levain into the dough 1.00 P.M

Add salt into dough around 1.30 P.M

After 1 hour stretch and fold the dough around 2.30 P.M

Then around 3.30 P.M stretch and fold and dough for second time.

Around 4.30 P.M Laminate the dough.

First coil fold 5.30 P.M Coil fold the dough.

second coil fold at 6.00 P.M

Pre-shape at 7.00 P.M.

Shape the dough 7.15 P.M

Cold Retard/ Refrigerator Overnight up to 14 hours

Bake at  7.00 P.M

Print Recipe

4.92 from 37 votes

Carrot Sourdough Bread

Delicious vitamin A loaded Carrot Sourdough bread made with fresh carrot juice,flour, active starter and salt. I didn't add any sweetner if you want you can add maple syrup, honey or sweetner of your choice.

Prep Time1 day d

Cook Time50 minutes mins

Total Time1 day d 50 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #sourdoughbread, Carrot Sourdough bread

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 168kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

• Leaven/Levain
• 20 g Starter 100% hydration 50: 50 All-purpose flour and Whole Wheat flour
• 80 g Bread flour
• 15 g Whole wheat Flour
• 5 g Rye flour
• 100 g Water
• Dough
• 320 g Bread flour
• 60 g Whole wheat flour
• 20 g Rye flour
• 310 g Carrot Juice
• 9 g Salt
• 100 g Leaven

Instructions

Make Leaven

• In the morning make your dough combine 2 tablespoons (15-20 grams) of unfed sourdough starter with 100g of water 80 g of bread flour, 15g of whole wheat flour and 5 g rye flour. Mix until there are no dry bits of flour, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit out for 4-5 hours or until it doubles in volume.

Carrot Juice

• Make carrot juice with 476 g peeled and chopped carrots + 300g juice process very well in a blender strain the juice

Autolyse the dough

• Around 4 hours of Leaven making, Mix all the flours in 310 g of carrot juice in a large bowl. And mix by hand until there are no dry bits. Knead for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes
• Add leaven into the dough
• After autolyse with flour incorporate the leaven into the dough
• Then after 30 minutes add salt. Mix well and cover the dough again and set aside

Stretch and Fold

• Then stretch and fold the dough every 1 hour for until 2 hours. This means grabbing the underside of the dough and stretching it up and over the rest of the dough. Perform a few of these turns each time you handle the dough.

Laminate the dough

• One hour after last stretch and fold do a lamination of the dough. Means spread the dough into thin sheet and fold them into a letter fold.

Coil fold

• If you are planning for 1 coil fold do that 2 hours of lamination. If you are doing 2 coil folds give 1 hour’s interval.

Shaping the Dough

• Then transfer the dough lightly floured workspace and shape them into round Boule. Fold the third of the dough closest to you inward, and then stretch the dough out to the sides. Fold the right, and then left sides in toward the center. Fold the top of the dough inward, and then wrap the bottom part of the dough over it all. If you want, you can make pre-shape and set aside for 15 minutes and then make a final shape.
• Work this into a round shape, and place seam side up in a proofing basket lined well with flour.

Cold Proof

• After transferring to Banneton, Let rise the dough overnight in the refrigerator. You can keep this cold retard up to 14 hours.

Score and Bake

• When you are ready to bake preheat oven to 475°F.
• Remove the dough from the proofing basket and score and transfer to Dutch oven and close the lid and immediately place the top back on and return to the oven.
• Turn the heat down to 450°F and cook for 25 minutes.
• After 25 minutes remove the top of the Dutch oven and rotate the pan. Continue to bake the bread for another 35 minutes, until the crust is deeply caramelized. Give 10-15 minutes extra if you want more crusty bread.
• If you want crackling crust after switching off the oven keep oven door ajar and keep the bread inside.
• once bread comes out of oven cool completely in the wire rack and cut it into slice and enjoy with some butter

Video

Notes

If you are not immediately using the bread you can slice and freeze them for future use

Nutrition

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 309mg | Potassium: 139mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 4942IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Really cute, fun and delicious Sourdough Animal-Shaped Breads made with sourdough starter, touch of vanilla extract.Excellent fun baking with your kids.

Do you want to engage your little helpers with sourdough bread baking? If so, try this Sourdough Animal-Shaped Bread recipe. Basically, you need a vanilla brioche type dough then create different animals according to your creativity. I am not that great artist. Still able to create these sourdough Animal-shaped breads. I made Koala bear, birdie, and dog. These are simple but kids will love it.

If you are looking for a cute and cuddly carbs then this sourdough animal-shaped bread is your answer.

How to make Sourdough Animal-shaped Bread?

You need to make slightly rich dough with following ingredients.

Levain: I used young leavain of 100% starter (50: 50 All-purpose flour: whole wheat flour)

Flour: Try to use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour as latter tend to make bread chewier.

Egg: Egg makes fine-crumbed and light bread.

Sugar:  Sweetener in this recipe is sugar you can add maple syrup or honey

Milk: I have used   milk for hydration of the dough instead of water

Salt: Not only brings the flavor of the bread but also control fermentation

Butter: Adds to the richness of the bread dough

Vanilla extract: I have use vanilla extract to flavor the bread.

Raisins for eyes

Almonds for nose

Red chili for tongue.

Points to remember

You can do either overnight bulk fermentation like in the recipe or you can do a same day bulk fermentation

If you are using same day fermentation you need to shape and bake on the same day.

Use young levain/Leaven means around 4-5 hours of feeding with starter.

This recipe yields 5 koala bear, 2 birdie and one dog. If you are planning to make dog, you can get around 2-3 sourdough animal shaped dog with this recipe.

For Eyes I used raisins, if you want you can use black olives or chocolate chips. If you are planning to use chocolate chips then press them into once the bread comes out of the oven and still warm.

If you are little more artistic than me, you can create better ones. My kids were happy to see them. It is hard for them to eat those cute Sourdough Animal-Shaped Breads.

Here are few other animal- shaped bread I have tried earlier.

Turkey shaped dinner rolls

I made this Sourdough Animal Shaped Breads as part of Bread baker’s this month

• Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia
• Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu
• Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Hedgehog Bread from Making Miracles
• Honey Bear Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Animal-shaped Breads from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Matcha Milk Bread Turtles from A Messy Kitchen
• Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Peacock Shaped Pizza Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Piglet Bread Rolls from Sneha's Recipe
• Turtle Bread from Passion Kneaded

Print Recipe

5 from 62 votes

Sourdough Animal-Shaped Breads

Really cute , fun and delicious Sourdough Animal-Shaped Breads made with sourdough starter, touch of vanilla extract.Excellent fun baking with your kids.

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time30 minutes mins

15 hours hrs

Total Time16 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #sourdoughbread, Sourdough Animal-shaped Breads

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 168kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

Leavain

• 20 g starter
• 30 g All-purpose flour
• 20 g Whole Wheat flour
• 50 g Water

For The Dough

• 340 g All purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 40 g Sugar
• 100 g Leavain/Leaven
• 99 g milk
• 5 g salt
• 40 g Butter
• 5 g Vanilla extract

For Decorations

• For eyes tongue and nose
• Raisins for eyes
• Almonds for nose
• Red chili for tongue

Egg wash

• Egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

Leavain/ Leaven

• Mix bread flour, whole wheat flour, active starter and water and mix well. Set aside at room temperature for 5 hours.

Dough

• In a kitchen aid stand mixer add all the ingredients except the butter knead with dough hook to form a cohesive, sticky mass, 2 to 3 minutes on low speed of a stand mixer.
• Gradually add butter and incorporate about 1 minute on low speed. Once all the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer up one speed and knead the dough.
• Until it is smooth and supple though still somewhat soft and tacky, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Cover the dough and let it rest in a warm (75°F) place for 8 to 12 hours. To develop strength in the dough, stretch and fold it in the bowl three to four times during the rest. This will increase the elasticity of the dough.
• Next morning divide the dough and shape it into various animal-shaped dough.
• Divide the dough into two pieces one is ¾ while rest is ¼ pieces.
• Then divide ¾ piece into seven 52 g each piece. This is for the bear, and bird shaped bread.

Bear shape

• For Bear shape make the dough into round ball and place almond for nose and raisins for eyes. And small dough pieces attached as ears.

Bird shape

• For bird shape Make the dough into a rope and make a knot and place small round ball for the head. Tuck raisins for eyes and small dough pieces as beak.

For Dog

• For the dog shape divide the rest of the dough into two pieces on is slightly larger than other. First roll it into cylinder. Cut it in the middle from both sides leaving some space in the middle. Fold back portion to make back two legs. And front portion to make front legs.
• Rest of piece spread it into a small oval shape and make slit from the middle to side in top portion. Then roll the dough through the slit like a croissant. This will make both ear and face of the doge. Then place raisins for eyes and red chili for the tongue.
• Set aside for 1 hour.

Bake

• While the dough is resting pre-heat the oven to 375F. When you ready to bake brush with egg wash and bake them for about 30-35 minutes or until it is slightly golden brown in color.
• Enjoy

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 196mg | Potassium: 52mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 116IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 2mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Delicious naturally leavened Cranberry walnut Orange Sourdough Bread made with craisins, orange juice, orange zest and nutty toasted walnuts. Excellent nuts and fruit studded bread.

Cranberry and orange are ultimate combination when it comes to both if it joins with Walnut then it will be going to extra delight. I made with Cranberry Walnut Orange Sourdough Bread.  Sweetness and tartness of dried cranberries perfectly mingled with fresh orange juice. Adding to orange zest adds extra layer of flavor. The nutty walnuts make it more decadent sourdough bread.

How to make this Cranberry Walnut Orange Sourdough Bread?

To make this recipe you need following ingredients

Leaven: I used young leaven made with my 100% active starter (50: 50 all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour)

Bread flour:  This adds chewiness to the bread I think better to use bread flour rather all-purpose flour as it less protein compared to bread flour.

Whole wheat flour and rye flour:  Whole wheat flour and rye flour adds nuttiness to dough.

Craisins/ dry cranberries:   This adds classic tart and sweetness to the sourdough

Walnuts: Always use toasted walnuts as toasting can bring out more flavor.

Orange juice: I used fresh orange juice to soak the craisins

Orange zest: This is to add extra layer of flavor to the sourdough

Salt:  Salt is not only helping in controlling fermentation but also helps to add the taste of the bread.

Water: This recipe used about 81.25% of hydration from both water and orange juice.

Points to remember while making the Cranberry walnut Orange Sourdough bread

Use young leaven mainly about 4 - 5 hours after mixing the starter.

2) Always chop the cranberries and walnuts otherwise you end up with big pieces which makes difficult for uniform spreading.

3) If you adjust the water content you can add cranberries + soaked orange juice into the recipe, otherwise stick to the recipe in which I drain the juice and added only soaked cranberries.

4) Orange zest - you can increase the amount if you want.

5) You need to autolyse the flours at least 1 hour maximum up to 5 hours. This will be easy if you mix both leaven and autolyse the flour

4) You can either mix in cranberries, orange zest and walnut along with flour or you can incorporate it into sourdough during coil fold like I did. If you are making in bulk quantities it will not be possible, so incorporate them directly into the dough.

5) Always add salt after 30 minutes of incorporating the starter into the sourdough. 

6) Bulk fermentation about 5 hours and retard (overnight proof in refrigerator is about 14 hours).

7) Bake in pre-heated Dutch oven to higher oven spring.

8) Make sure to cut the bread after complete cooling.

Baking schedule

If you like this bread recipe please check these too

Cranberry Pecan Sourdough Bread

Pumpkin Cranberry Sourdough Bread

Light Rye Sourdough with Cranberry and Nuts

When it comes out of the oven it is darker color loaf just like chocolate chip bread with cranberries and walnuts peaking in between.

This is excellent delicious bread, each slice has the aroma of orange zest, tart, and sweet fruit along with earthy walnuts.   You can eat as such or even toast with little butter.

If you try this bread, please tag me @nidhinikhil in Instagram or @zestysouthindian in Facebook   I would love to see your creations.

Print Recipe

5 from 262 votes

Cranberry Walnut Orange Sourdough Bread

Delicious naturally leavened Cranberry walnut Orange Sourdough Bread made with craisins, orange juice with aromatic orange zest andnutty toasted walnuts. Excellent toast nuts and fruit studded bread.

Prep Time1 day d

Cook Time50 minutes mins

Total Time1 day d 50 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: #cranberry walnut Orange sourdough bread, #sourdoughbread

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 217kcal

Author: Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

• Leaven
• 20 g Starter 100% hydration 50: 50 All-purpose flour and Whole Wheat flour
• 30 g Bread flour
• 20 g Whole wheat Flour
• 50 g Water
• Dough
• 330 g Bread flour
• 70 g Whole wheat flour
• 30 g Rye flour
• 90 g Walnuts
• 60 g Craisins
• 310 g Water
• 30 g Orange juice
• Zest of one orange
• 9 g Salt
• 94 g Leaven

Instructions

Make Leaven

• In the morning make your dough combine 2 tablespoons (15-20 grams) of unfed sourdough starter with 50g of water 30 g of bread flour, and 20 g of whole wheat flour. Mix until there are no dry bits of flour, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit out for 4-5 hours or until it doubles in volume.

Autolyse the dough

• Around 4 hours of Leaven making, Mix all the flours in 300 g of water in a large bowl. And mix by hand until there are no dry bits. Knead for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Cover and let rest for one hour.

Add leaven into the dough

• After autolyse with flour incorporate the leaven into the dough
• Then after 30 minutes add salt. Mix well and cover the dough again and set aside

Stretch and fold

• Then stretch and fold the dough every 1 hour for until 2 hours. This means grabbing the underside of the dough and stretching it up and over the rest of the dough. Perform a few of these turns each time you handle the dough.

Soak the craisins in orange juice

• About 1 hour remaining to laminate the dough, soak craisins in orange juice and set aside. When you are ready to use you need to strain the orange juice.

Laminate the dough

• One hour after last stretch and fold do a lamination of the dough. Means spread the dough into thin sheet and fold them into a letter fold. To this incorporate, Orange Zest, Walnuts and Craisins.

Coil fold

• If you are planning for 1 coil fold do that 2 hours of lamination. If you are doing 2 coil folds give 1 hour’s interval.

Shaping the dough

• Then transfer the dough lightly floured workspace and shape them into round Boule. Fold the third of the dough closest to you inward, and then stretch the dough out to the sides. Fold the right, and then left sides in toward the center. Fold the top of the dough inward, and then wrap the bottom part of the dough over it all. If you want, you can make pre-shape and set aside for 15 minutes and then make a final shape.
• Work this into a round shape, and place seam side up in a proofing basket lined well with flour.

Cold proof

• After transferring to Banneton, Let rise the dough overnight in the refrigerator. You can keep this cold retard up to 14 hours.

Score and Bake

• When you are ready to bake preheat oven to 475°F.
• Remove the dough from the proofing basket and score and transfer to Dutch oven and close the lid and immediately place the top back on and return to the oven.
• Turn the heat down to 450°F and cook for 25 minutes.
• After 25 minutes remove the top of the Dutch oven and rotate the pan. Continue to bake the bread for another 35 minutes, until the crust is deeply caramelized.
• If you want crackling crust after switching off the oven keep oven door ajar and keep the bread inside.
• once bread comes out of oven cool completely in the wire rack and cut it into slice and enjoy with some butter

Video

Notes

If you are not immediately using the bread you can slice and freeze them for future use. 

Nutrition

Calories: 217kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 293mg | Potassium: 102mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!