Hi there to anyone reading :), it’s been a while hasn’t it? Today is another rainy day in dear ol’ Michigan. Regardless, I’m sitting here super exited about this recipe, haha, I know I’m a true bread addict. So now that I have a sourdough starter, I’ve bern trying to create as many things as I can with it LOL. The starter grows and gets stronger as you feed it (flour + water). It’s totally my little monster hehe.
my little big monster sourdough starter hehe, look at those bubbles.
So let me tell you how this bread became my quest. One day while on my Instagram page thisafricancooks, I was looking through a search on “sourdough” because you can find all kinds of pages t0 follow if it’s interesting to you. Well nowadays I like looking at people creating sourdough bread (I know, don’t ask haha), since it’s an addiction to get a perfect loaf. I happen to stumble upon Natasa of mydailysourdoughbread on IG and found a pic of this bread that made me literally salivate. I went on her blog to find her recipe so I could make the bread the same day, but at the time after searching and searching I could not find the recipe for the life of me (grrrr). So being the instant gratification person I am, I went back on to Natasa’s IG to directly request the recipe only to find out she had yet to post it. I believe she was still testing it, much like I tend do with some of my favorite recipes that I create from scratch. I do remember her talking about using milk, starter, sugar, and flour. So there I was on a quest to make something similar.
That said, I made this recipe a few times over the last three weeks and it was an epic fail. When I started I didn’t make a leaven, I would add my sourdough starter to the flour and just mix, fold in 30 minutes times three, and place it in the fridge overnight to rise. In the morning when it came time to bake, I would pull it out of the fridge and be disappointed because it would be flat and heavy. It would never double in size like it was suppose to do. I would still bake it and the end result would taste good but would be a little too dense for my liking. After a good four attempts and making tweaks each time, it occurred to me that maybe my starter was not active enough. Back to the drawing board I referred to this sourdough recipe from www.thekitchn.com that I love. What I realized that transformed everything for me, was figuring out a way to “spark” my starter by way of a leaven (explained next), in order to get the dough to rise under room temp overnight. The whole purpose of the leaven is used to produce carbon dioxide to lift/rise dough or batter. The best way to describe the leaven I created to get the wild yeast to rise to the level I needed was simply adding flour and milk to my starter the night before.
My first recipe included adding melted butter to the dough, but I think it was better to cut out the butter as it possibly contributing to making it more dense. I read on www.reluctantgourmet.com that, “fat incorporated in bread dough will inhibit gluten formation and the resulting loaf will not rise as high as one made without fat.” Reluctant Gourmet also stated that replacing water with milk will produce a softer and sweeter end product, in case you are interested in the science behind milk over water. Another change I did was slightly sweeten the dough with honey instead of the brown sugar that I originally used. Being the I need to go to “Bread Anonymous” person I am (I admit I have a problem), I made two loafs in the last two days and both times it turned out delicious. As a trio we have been devouring it and I think I’m breaded out LOL. Needless to say, I’m so super excited to share this recipe and I hope you all enjoy it! Though there’s a some down time to let the yeast work it’s magic the end result is totally worth it. To cut out down on the downtime I have yet to make this bread without a starter. I will work it out where you can use an active dry yeast, but know that natural recipe here with natural yeast is much healthier for you than the dry yeast that’s store bought. As a quick anecdote, Michael is typically really sensitive to bread, which will cause his knees to ache really bad. However, after a eating a whole loaf to himself (he needs “Bread Anonymous” too haha) in the past 24 hours of this natural yeast versus the common fast-rising he’s had no discomfort surprisingly. So get a starter going and give it a try! 
-This African
P.S. My sourdough starter I created two months ago in March ’17, can be found at Breadtopia.com. Best of all and most rewarding, since creating the starter, I’ve shared it with five of my friends/co-workers who have been maintaining their own.
| Prep Time | 1 hour or less |
| Cook Time | 30 min |
| Passive Time | 24-28 hours |
| Servings |
loaf
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- 1/4 cup previously fed sourdough starter If you don't have a starter go to Breadtopia.com that how I made my starter, it does take about five days though sorry
- 1/4 cup 2% milk Cold; I used Fairlife milk because its lactose free
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour Bread flour should be ok, as I am partial to using King Arthur Flour it my go to it yield good breadbe
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup +2tbsp cup 2% milk Again I use Fairlife, their chocolate milk is super delish lol
- 1/4 cup honey Add more honey if you want a more sweet bread
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp melted unsalted butter To brush top of loaf pre-bake
- 1 tbsp honey To brush top of loaf post-bake
Ingredients
To make leaven or levain
To make bread
|
|
- In a small mixing bowl, mix milk, starter and flour together.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 12-14 hrs. This will make your natural yeast very active.
- When the leaven is ready to use it will be puffy and have bubbles.
- 12 -14 hrs later, you are ready to make delicious bread. Hand mix remaining milk with the leaven. Next add honey and salt and mix. Transfer into a larger mixing bowl.
- Add the rest of the flour, and use a silicon spatula to incorporate into milk mixture. Make sure it is mixed well where there is barely any dry flour left.
- Next fold you will be hand kneading (folding) flour inward.
- Begin folding all sides inward, you will create a seem. Fold for about 3 min. Cover with plastic and let rest for 30 min.
- After 30 min. Repeat the folding in until dough ball is smoother, about 2-3 min.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface, seem side up. Slightly fold inward. Grease your medium sized loaf pan. Cut dough evenly into 3 pieces.
- Fold each piece of dough like an envelope, long side inward first, short side inward next, and repeat with opposite sides to create mini loaf shapes or rectangles.
- Place them in loaf pan. Cover with plastic and leave in a warm place for 12-16 hrs or overnight.
- In the morning it should have doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush the top with melted butter and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from heat and immediately brush top with honey. Thank you, don't forget to comment This African
- Let cool and enjoy. Best to eat within 3 days, if you don't devour it the same day like we do (haha). Give it a try toasted as well.
- Tip: If you know me personally you can have some of my sourdough starter...just ask because I don't mind sharing!
Thankyou for this lovely recipe, my sourdough is 12 days in the making. I will soon be ready to make some sourdough bread and yours will be one of the first.
Hi,
So sorry for the late response, I appreciate you checking my site out. I love sourdough so much, Ive had mine a year now, I almost lost it, I recently realized that in the winter its better to refridgerate the starter. I love this recipe for milk and honey bread and I hope you will too. Let me know how it turns out.
Erica