Dairy-Free, Egg Free, Natural Yeast Dinner Rolls

I've been trying to figure out how to make soft, fluffy dinner rolls from natural yeast for over a year. All the recipes I've found call for milk, eggs and butter which are ingredients I try to avoid for those I know with food allergies. But it seems those were the only things that made the rolls truly light and delicious. Until Now! I experimented with coconut milk and a little extra sweetener. The flavor was perfect but the rolls turned out a little heavy. That's when I decided to try baking them on a cookie sheet instead of a muffin tin. Hallelujah! They turned out perfect! Here's the recipe.

Natural Yeast Dinner Rolls

1 1/2 C water
1 1/2 C coconut milk (I like So Delicious brand)
2 C natural yeast
2 C freshly ground hard white spring wheat
5 C plus 1 C unbleached unbromated white flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 C honey
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
optional 2 teaspoons baking soda to cut sourdough flavor

In a large mixing bowl or bosch combine the water and coconut milk. Add your natural yeast to the liquid. Then add the wheat flour and 5 cups of the white flour. Mix for a minute or two until ingredients are combined. Let sit for 5 min or so to autolyze.

Add the remaining ingredients including one additional cup of flour. Mix on a medium speed for 8 to 10 min. until the dough is sticky to the touch but not wet and has a good stretch to it. Place dough in a pre-greased large plastic bowl and cover with pre-greased wax paper and a towel. Leave on the counter for 6 to 12 hours depending on the temperature of your home. My home is about 67 degrees right now and the dough takes a full 12 hours to rise.

When the dough is ready divide into three separate sections weighing about 32 oz. each. Each of these sections should make 12 rolls weighing on average 2.5 oz. Knead each section of dough for a minute or two before cutting into smaller sizes for rolls. In the meantime keep the other sections covered.

There is a top and a bottom to your dough. the smooth side of each section is the top. This should be the top of your rolls also after they've been cut. Pull the top side down and tuck underneath forming a nice tight ball. Place each ball on a pre-greased cookie sheet and keep covered. Once all the balls have been formed let rise for one hour. I was able to fit 24 rolls onto a large cookie sheet. With my last section of dough I chose to roll it out and make one loaf of cinnamon raisin bread but you can also make 12 more rolls.

After the rolls have risen for an hour bake at 350 degrees for 20 min or until the reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees. As soon as they come out of the oven brush the tops with melted coconut oil or butter.

Let the rolls cool completely and then cover with a light towel until your ready to eat. Any leftover rolls should be placed in a plastic bag.

Natural Yeast Outback Steakhouse Bread

A friend mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she made her own Outback Steakhouse bread and I instantly thought, "I wonder if I can make that with Natural Yeast?" Well, the short answer is absolutely! And it tastes like Heaven!!!

Here's my recipe:

3 Cups water
1 jar (about 2 cups white flour natural yeast)
3 Cups whole wheat flour
4-5 Cups unbleached unbromated white flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons coconut oil (or softened butter)
1/2 Cup honey
4 Tablespoons molasses

Here's how I made it:

In my bosch I combined the water, yeast, 3 Cups wheat flour and 3 Cups white flour. I mixed it for about two minutes and let it sit to autolyse for about 10 minutes.

Then I added the rest of the ingredients (don't forget to add 1 more cup of white flour or more as needed) and mixed it on speed setting 2 for between 8-10 min. Stopping occasionally to check and see if it needed more white flour.

Next I get my fingers a little wet and pull the dough out of the bowl. I fold it into itself by pulling from the top and tucking under the bottom until it forms a nice ball then drop it into my pregreased large bowl. I cover with greased wax paper and a towel and let sit on the counter for at least 6 hours and no more than 12 hours. (It all depends on the temperature of your house how fast your yeast rises).

Divide the dough into 12 6"x2" loaves and roll in cornmeal. (Although I actually rolled these in almond meal because it's what I had on hand and it turned out great too). Cover the dough with greased wax paper and let rise for another hour. Bake at 350 degrees (I always convection bake at 375 degrees) for 20 min or until the center of the loaf reaches 180 degrees. Let cool before cutting so it can finish cooking.

Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts about this or any other recipe. I would love to share ideas!

An Important Discovery

I am constantly trying to improve my bread and one of the most common criticisms I received (not that there have been very many) has been from people not liking the sour flavor. They say my husband likes it a lot but I just don't like the sour taste or my kids don't like it, etc. The sour flavor of the bread is of course a result of the yeast. It can be affected by the type of flour you feed your yeast, your home environment, and how long you let it sit out on the counter. Sourdough from San Francisco tastes different than sourdough from Utah because the environment is different.

I made a discovery a few months ago that I've been meaning to share. I apologize it has taken so long. It's very simple. To counteract the sour flavor in your dough add baking soda. That's it. Easy peasy. So I now add 2 teaspoons of baking soda to my Honey Whole Wheat bread dough and voila! It's not sour. I add it to my pizza dough recipe along with a little coconut oil and maple syrup and voila! I have a wonderful donut dough perfect for frying or baking. But I never add it to pizza dough or my baguettes because I like them sour.

I hope this helps any of you that may have some picky eaters in your family. ;)

What's In The Water?

Water is a key factor in creating and maintaining a healthy starter. It may seem like no big deal but the kind of water you use in feeding your starter and baking your bread can have a great effect on your success. I learned early on that tap water prohibited my yeast from rising but I also discovered that I had little success using my filtered water from the fridge. I began buying bottled water from the store and have been using that ever since. I leave it on my counter because it seems my yeast performs the best when the water is at room temperature.

For Christmas my husband purchased a great book for me, Bread, A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman (you can purchase it here from Amazon). This book has been an excellent resource for me as a novice baker. I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of information and even recipes using a levain or sourdough starter. I'm still experimenting with some of his methods and techniques and will share what I learn later on but he had an interesting section on water that answered some of the mystery for me about water:

1. It is in the presence of water that gluten forms

2. Water serves as a solvent and dispersing agent (for salt, sugar, and yeast)

3. Water is necessary for yeast fermentation and reproduction (and softer doughs will ferment more quickly than dry doughs).

4. Water is responsible for the consistency of bread dough.

5. The temperature of water can be varied in order to obtain dough at the correct temperature.

The degree of hardness in water is an indication of the amount of calcium and magnesium ions present, expressed in parts per million (ppm). Soft water has less than 50 ppm, while hard water has more than 200 ppm. Generally, water of medium hardness, with about 100 to 150 ppm, is best suited to bread baking.

These minerals provide food for the yeast, and therefore can benefit fermentation. If water is excessively hard, however, there is a tightening effect on the gluten, as well as a decrease in the fermentation rate (the minerals make water absorbtion more difficult for the proteins in the flour). On the other hand, if water is excessively soft, the lack of minerals results in sticky, slack dough. Generally speaking, most water is not extreme in either direction, and if water is potable, it is suitable for bread baking.

In the creation of a sourdough  or levain culture, there is another consideration (for water). If the water is too highly chlorinated, the chlorine can have a negative impact on the culture by inhibiting the metabolism of the developing microorganisms. In this case, simply leave a bucket or jar of water out overnight, uncovered. By the next day, most all the chlorine will have dissipated. Alternatively, filtered water can be used.

The amount of acidity in water, expressed as pH (potential hydrogen), also has an effect on fermentation, Hard water is generally more alkaline than soft water, and can decrease the the activity of yeast. Water that is slightly acid (pH a little below 7) is preferred for bread making.

So it seems that my tap water didn't work because it was too highly chlorinated and my filtered fridge water didn't work because it contained too much soft water. It makes me feel a little like Goldilocks but I'm happy I found a bottled water that seems to fit just right.

One more note:

My sister made a discovery of her own, not in regards to water but in regards to chlorine and harsh cleaning chemicals. Over the past year I have given her several sourdough starts which she had trouble keeping alive. She learned that distilled water didn't work nor did her tap water but even after she bought bottled water she was still having trouble. Then in a moment of inspiration she purchased new jars for her starter and voila, that did the trick. She suspects that the cleaning agent she uses in her dishwasher remained on the inside of her jars even after being rinsed and dried and that it was prohibiting her starter from rising. She now washes her jars by hand. I haven't experienced this problem myself but it was interesting and may be helpful to someone else so I thought I would share.

A Little Support Goes A Long Way

My Dad sent me this cute email yesterday,

Hey Daughter,

Hope you're having a good day.  I had a head cold in January and had been better for about two weeks and now I have it again, only this time it's worse.  Poor me.

Our little librarian, Bre, suggested that my wife might like to read, "Cinnamon and Gunpowder", by Eli Brown.  So, I picked it up at the library and read it myself (she was finishing something else).  The story is:  (read the red line)
A gripping adventure, a seaborne romance, and a twist on the tale of Scheherazade—with the best food ever served aboard a pirate’s ship

The year is 1819, and the renowned chef Owen Wedgwood has been kidnapped by the ruthless pirate Mad Hannah Mabbot. He will be spared, she tells him, as long as he puts exquisite food in front of her every Sunday without fail.

To appease the red-haired captain, Wedgwood gets cracking with the meager supplies on board. His first triumph at sea is actual bread, made from a sourdough starter that he leavens in a tin under his shirt throughout a roaring battle, as men are cutlassed all around him. Soon he’s making tea-smoked eel and brewing pineapple-banana cider.

But Mabbot—who exerts a curious draw on the chef—is under siege. Hunted by a deadly privateer and plagued by a saboteur hidden on her ship, she pushes her crew past exhaustion in her search for the notorious Brass Fox. As Wedgwood begins to sense a method to Mabbot’s madness, he must rely on the bizarre crewmembers he once feared: Mr. Apples, the fearsome giant who loves to knit; Feng and Bai, martial arts masters sworn to defend their captain; and Joshua, the deaf cabin boy who becomes the son Wedgwood never had.

     Cinnamon and Gunpowder is a swashbuckling epicure’s adventure simmered over a surprisingly touching love story—with a dash of the strangest, most delightful cookbook never written. Eli Brown has crafted a uniquely entertaining novel full of adventure: the Scheherazade story turned on its head, at sea, with food.

I thought the story started slow and was a little weird, but finally it took off and I enjoyed it.  But I thought of you as I read the part about cook having to get his own yeast started - just like you did it.

Later,  Dad

Next to my husband, my Dad has been my greatest support as I have learned and experimented with Natural Yeast. He would call and ask how it was coming, if the yeast was rising, how the bread was turning out. He cheers me on when I'm successful and encourages me when I've failed. When I had my first successful loaf of bread last year I called him way past his bed time to tell him how wonderful it was and how delicious it tasted. I heard him groan and made note of his quiet comment that if he didn't live so far away he would have come right over to try some. A few weeks later I FedEx'd a fresh loaf to my Dad. It was so fun to call him and tell him there was a package on his front door.

Every adventurer has to have someone behind them cheering them on. I have family members and dear friends who are encouraging and supportive. Just this morning my sister reminded me that I still have so much to share and encouraged me to keep adding things to this blog. So with some fresh encouragement behind me I will continue to post my adventures and discoveries.

Natural Yeast Sourdough Baguettes

I've been experimenting with different ways to make a super soft baguette that has a crispy crust and big holes inside using natural yeast. I thought the trick was in using instant yeast because it rose quickly but I have since learned that the trick is actually in how you knead the dough. As nice as it is to use a mixer, the trick here is to knead it by hand! Here is a simple recipe and a great tutorial on kneading by Chef Tess.

The Recipe:

6 C unbleached unbromated flour, or artisan flour
1 T salt
1 T sugar, optional (Chef Tess uses the sugar to help the instant yeast. I used it just as an experiment. All I can say is the bread turned out great. But it might be just as good without the sugar.)
2 - 2 1/4 C water

Combine the water and your natural yeast (2-3 C depending on how much is in your jar. I always just use the whole jar, leaving only about 1/4 C to feed and grow). I used a danish dough whisk to mix my ingredients.

Next add the sugar and salt and then 6 Cups sifted flour.

Mix as well as you can with the whisk. Then dump it all onto a lightly floured surface and knead it by hand for just a few minutes, only until the ingredients are well combined. Leave it on the counter to autolyze for 10 min. This is where the video comes in handy. Watch Chef Tess here. You will notice that Chef Tess mixes her ingredients in a different order than I recommend. That is because we are using natural yeast. I appreciate her recipe but I was mostly interested in her demonstration of the autolyze method and how she kneads her dough.

After the dough has sat for 10 minutes knead it by hand for another 8 minutes. Then put it in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and let it sit for at least 6 hours. The goal is for it to more than double in size.

I apologize but I didn't get a picture of the dough after it had risen because I was in a hurry. I rolled out my dough following Chef Tess's method, dividing it into thirds and forming baguette loaves then placed each loaf on a baguette pan that I purchased here. I covered my dough with lightly greased wax paper and let it sit for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Just before baking score the top of your loaves with a lame. I purchased mine from weekendbakery.com. They also have great tutorials on how to score your bread. (And they sell the extra large plastic bowl that you see pictured above).

Bake the loaves in an oven that has been preheated to 450 degrees. Don't decrease the temperature after putting the loaves in. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a loaf reads 180 degrees.

The result was a beautiful baguette that was crispy on the outside but divinely soft and light on the inside. I wasn't too thrilled with the baguette pan though because the loaves rose into each other. I think next time I will try a cookie sheet like Chef Tess uses. I will keep experimenting but in the meantime please feel free to share any hints or tips you might have for making a great baguette!

Easy Honey Whole Wheat Bread with Steel Cut Oats

I've been making this recipe for a few months now and really love it so I thought I would share. It's very similar to the Honey Whole Wheat recipe except I've omitted the eggs and added steel cut oats. I've also added a new step, autolysis, which I'll explain in a moment.

Here's the recipe:

3 C water
2 C or all of your natural yeast
2 t salt
2/3 C or less local honey
8 T or less coconut oil
1 C steel cut oats
about 9 C total flour (I use 2 C sifted unbleached unbromated flour and about 7 C freshly ground hard white wheat)

In my bosch I combine the water and yeast. Then I add about 5 C of the flour. I cover and mix it on the second speed setting for just a few min then leave it covered and let it sit for about 30 min. This is the autolyse stage.

Here are a few good explanations I found online for Autolyse.

1. Web Definition: In biology, autolysis, more commonly known as self-digestion, refers to the destruction of a cell through the action of its own enzymes. It may also refer to the digestion of an enzyme by another molecule of the same enzyme.

2. This comment was posted in response to a question about autolysis on seriouseats.com:

"It's more than just gluten development. Flour does not immediately absorb water and the waiting period is necessary to allow for full saturation. It's a lot like pouring milk into a bowl of cereal. At first the outside of the cereal may be wet, but it is still crunchy inside. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for the cereal to become soggy. Now imagine the individual grains of flour as tiny little balls. When you mix them with water they will be coated at first, but it takes time for them to soak through."

3. From a site called abreadaday.com I found another great explanation for the whole process:

"Let me explain what exactly “autolyse” means.  Etymologically speaking, it’s the French word for the biological term “autolysis”, which is from the Greek words meaning “self” and “splitting”.  Huh?  What’s that got to do with bread?

Well, autolysis refers to the destruction of a cell by its own enzymes, or “self-splitting”.  In baking, this means that enzymes in flour (amylase and protease, if you really want to know) begin to break down the starch and protein in the flour.  The starch gets converted to sugar, and the protein gets reformed as gluten.

Why would you want to do this?  When you knead the dough, aren’t you just trying to do the same thing – form gluten?  Well, yes, ultimately; but when you knead dough, you also oxidize it (expose it to oxygen).  Over-oxidized (or, over-kneaded) dough results in color and flavor loss in a finished bread, which means it’s pale and tasteless.  By giving the mixed flour and water time to go through autolysis on their own, you achieve the same result, but without any of the unpleasant effects of oxidation.  Additionally, an autolyse period gives the flour time to soak up all the moisture, resulting in more orderly gluten formation (um, long story short).

What this all means for your bread is that your dough will be easier to handle before it’s baked, and the end product will taste better, have better texture, look better, and have better keeping qualities.  What’s not to love?"

In most explanations for Autolyse the method is to combine the flour and water, let it rest for 20 - 30 min and then add the rest of your ingredients, including instant yeast. For this recipe, though, I added the natural yeast to my water like I always do and then added about 5 Cups of the flour. I mixed it as I mentioned and then let it sit covered in the bosch for 30 min. (I think I will try just mixing the flour and water sometime in the near future and then adding the yeast after autolyse. I'll let you know how that turns out.)

Then I added the rest of the ingredients and mixed it in my bosch for about 8 min. The dough should not be too dry and it's ok if it's a little more on the sticky side. I put it in a large greased bowl, covered it and let it sit for 12 hours.

The next morning I divided my dough into 3 32 ounce loaves (it helps to have a food scale to measure the dough in order to get even sized loaves) and put them into greased baking pans. I covered these and let them sit for 1 1/2 hours. In the meantime I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. After putting the loaves into the oven I turned the heat down to 350 degrees and baked them for about 30 min. I do have a convection oven and I always use that setting when baking my bread. I also put a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack in the oven as it's preheating.

The result was a light, airy loaf with incredible flavor and a slightly crunchy crust. It's heavenly.