Sourdough Bread

This is one of the breads in my list which i wanted to try. Before going to the recipe, i would like to give a brief introduction about sourdough, if you are new to sourdough, keep reading or just skip this part and go directly to the recipe.

Sourdough Introduction:

Sourdough breads can be made from either a natural leaven or a yeasted starter. Most natural sourdough cultures can be turned into a starter within about 5 days. Flour and water are the basic ingredients, but other ingredients may be added to encourage the fermentation like honey, malt extract, soured milk, ground cumin or even a little baker's yeast.

The French term of this flour and water mixture is a chef. The chef is left to ferment for 2 to 3 days, which brings about a lactic acid action, giving rise to the basic sour flavour. Once this dough is slightly sour and aerated, it is mixed with more flour and water to feed the fermentation process. After another 24 hours it is refreshed again and becomes a natural leavener or levain. This is left to ferment for about 8 hours or more to use in the final bread dough.

Bread made by this method will taste  slightly sour and will have a dense moist crumb. It also keeps for a long time.

Coming to the recipe now, although sourdough bread keeps for a long time, the one i made is stuffed with meat, so it can be kept only for a day. For vegetarian option you can avoid meat and make only bread or stuff some sweet or vegetarian stuffing.

Ingredients:

Dough:

For The Starter:

White Bread Flour- 175 g/ 1 1/2 cups

Water- 200 ml

Dried yeast- 1/4 tsp

For The Dough:

White bread flour- 280 g/ 21/2 cups

Dried yeast-1 tsp

Olive oil- 3 tbsp or 45 ml

Water- 100 ml

Salt-1 tsp

For The Topping:

Few sweet corn

Nigella seeds( optional)

For The Filling:

Minced meat -250 g

Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp

Chilli powder-1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 3 tsp

Sweet corn- 1 can

Onion-1 small sized finely chopped

Tomato paste- 1/2 tbsp

Salt as required

Oil- 1/2 tbsp

Method:

Start preparing the starter the previous day since it has to ferment for one whole day. Mix the starter ingredients together in a large bowl, cover it and leave it in a room temperature. Leave the starter to rest for minimum 24 hours. 

The next day take your starter sprinkle with flour, salt, oil and water. Knead it together to make it into a dough. Cover and leave it in a warm place to rise until it's doubled in bulk.

Meanwhile prepare the stuffing. Heat the oil in a pan, add onion and ginger garlic,saute until onion becomes translucent. Now add the meat and stir well. Add the spices and tomato paste, mix well, cover the pan and  cook until the meat is cooked and water is dried completely.

Finally add the sweetcorn, reserving a few for the topping. Mix the sweet corn well with the meat. Add salt to taste. Switch off the flame and let it cool down.

Preheat the oven to 190 degree celsius. Take the risen dough, punch the air back. Divide the dough into two rounds. Roll out one dough into a circle of 15 cm diameter. Place the filliing the middle. Roll the other dough to the same diameter. Place it on top of the filling. Seal the edges. Sprinkle the sweetcorn and nigella seeds alternatively. Bake it in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or golden brown on top.

Serve the bread warm with salad and garlic sauce.