Sourdough Brown Bread

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The benefits of sourdough with the rich taste of cocoa and molasses. Imagine this sourdough brown bread slathered with butter.

There are different sorts of brown bread, one is steamed rather than baked. Then others, like this one, are simply made with darker flours and sweetened with molasses. There are a lot of rich flavours in this loaf, making it perfect to serve simply buttered with a mug of hot tea.

If you love to play around in the kitchen and try new ingredients, you'll love Blueberry Spelt Muffins for a change! Another great grain to run through your mill is when you make Buckwheat Muffins (which are actually gluten-free).

Key Ingredients

Ingredients to make sourdough brown bread.

Flour - We're doing a blend of freshly ground hard red wheat with unbleached all-purpose flour.

Molasses - Make sure and just use regular molasses, not blackstrap.

Sourdough Starter - Use healthy starter that has been fed recently enough to still be quite active.

Milk - Rich in fat and sugar, your bread will have a nice tender crumb even with the whole grains.

Cocoa Powder - This will add in colour and just a hint of flavour. Not enough to call the bread chocolate, but it really plays nicely with the other ingredients.

How to Make Whole Grain Brown Bread

***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***

Incorporating wet ingredients to sourdough starter.

Step 1: Melt butter and add wet ingredients to a large bowl.

Step 2: Stir to combine well.

Step 3: Add all dry ingredients to the wet.

Step 4: Stir to make a shaggy dough.

Sourdough brown bread dough in a mixing bowl.

Step 5: Knead and allow to ferment.

Step 6: Cut the dough into two equal parts.

Rolling up a dough rectangle into a loaf.

Shaped brown bread dough in glass loaf pans.

Step 7: Shape your loaves.

Step 8: Bake until ready!

FAQs

What flour should I use in whole grain baking?

Grinding your own wheat is super beneficial. It's very cost-effective to buy large bags of grain, and you are retaining all parts of the grain when you grind your own. Most whole wheat flours at the store aren't really. They often have bran sifted out and vitamins added back in. The only way to ensure true whole grains in your bread is to grind the wheat berries yourself. We like hard red wheat and combine it with unbleached all-purpose flour.

Do I need to use a scale to bake bread?

Honestly, yes. There are lots of times where I will wing it, and I'm a big proponent of "use what ya got" when it comes to recipes that work with that. But at times, bread can be a true science! Especially with whole grains, we want to reach the delicate balance of the ingredients to make a healthy loaf that isn't dense and dry. Plus, you have fewer dishes to wash when you use a scale rather than a bunch of measuring cups!

Photos by Megan Hampton

More Sourdough Recipes

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