Whole Wheat and Quinoa Sourdough Bread

Every weekend it is time for me to feed my 'sourdough starter'. My daughter calls the starter jar 'my pet'. It is the same time when I have to think what to do with the starter that needs to be used up. If you search for 'sourdough' on this blog, you'll kind of see a pattern of baked goods recipes using sourdough starter posted on the weekends or right after. This week, I decided to make some bread. My goal was to come up with something that is completely whole wheat and uses Quinoa. Why? because I bought a bag of Quinoa recently and have started using it. Problem is it has a nutty taste which needs some getting used to. I tried boiling Quinoa and eating just like rice. I was alright with the taste but neither my husband nor the kids wanted to have anything to do with Quinoa. So, here I am trying to kind of hide this grain/seed so that my kids will eat it without knowing and then when they develop the taste, I hope they'll start liking it.

Ingredients:

• Sourdough starter - 1 cup (I didn't use the fed starter. Just room temperature starter before feeding)
• Whole wheat flour - 2 - 2 1/4 cups
• Vital wheat gluten - 2 TBSP
• Sugar - 2 TBSP
• Warm water - 1 cup
• Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
• Sunflower seeds - 1/4 cup
• Quinoa - 1/4 cup 
• Water for cooking Quinoa - 1/4 cup

Method:
In a microwave safe bowl, take quinoa and add 1/4 cup of water. Microwave for 3 minutes. Let it come to room temperature. You could soak quinoa in water over night and skip this microwaving if you prefer. In a bowl, take starter, warm water, sugar, salt and slowly start adding flour and vital wheat gluten. Don't be tempted to add too much flour since this dough is sticky. Add the microwaved Quinoa with its water if any is left in the bowl and incorporate it. Knead with lightly floured hands for about 5 - 8 minutes. Add sunflower seeds and incorporate it to the dough. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise. After an hour, lift the dough from the sides and just fold on top. Let it rise for half an hour more. After half an hour, try to shape the dough into a loaf. This is very difficult without adding more flour, so I just dumped it to greased 9 X 5 pan and smoothed the top. Cover with a greased aluminum foil and place it in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours.

Towards the end the 2 hours, preheat the oven to 400 F. (I was using dark pan. If you are using aluminum pan, use 425 F). Place a shallow dish in the bottom most rack in the oven. When the oven is ready, pour hot water into the shallow pan and place the bread loaf pan in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the loaf pan and the shallow dish. Return the loaf pan covered loosely with an aluminum foil to the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 F ( 400 in case of aluminum pan) and bake for another 5 - 10 minutes or till the bread looks brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on the wire rack and slice when completely cool.
The bread was awesome and guess what? there isn't a drop of oil in this.

This loaf of bread is on its way to Madhuram's 'Whole Grain Baking - Quinoa' and to susan's 'Yeastspotting'.
Some of the terms look confusing? Don't worry, my next post is about all you need to know about 'Bread Baking'. Stay tuned for that post soon.

Happy Baking!!