Apple Mead Sourdough

Tomorrow me and the wife are taking my mom out for breakfast for her birthday.  It was last week so I need to suck up.  I figured I would bring over some bread to go with breakfast.  Since I still have lots of mead and the last one turned out OK but needed some tweaking I decided to have another go at the mead sourdough bread.  This time I added some apples to it so that it would be nicer for breakfast.

Get some:
• 1 Cup of Sourdough Starter.  Since my goop is still not bubbling I added a cup of goop and a tsp of yeast.
• 4 Cups Flour.  I used white flour mixed with some whole wheat.
• 2 Cups Mead
• 1 Tsp of Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt

Also get:
• 1/2 Cup of Sugar
• 2 Cups Mead
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Paprika
• Some Lemon Juice
• 2 Apples skinned and chopped into cubes. I used red ones.

Now:
• In a large bowl mix the flour, mead, starter, baking powder and salt.
• In a different bowl (I used a big beer stein myself) add the sugar, mead, cinnamon and paprika.
• Give the mix a good stir.
• Coat the apples in lemon juice.
• Add them to the stein.
• Put something on the apples so they stay covered in liquid and put them in the fridge.
• Cover the bread dough and put it into a warm oven.
• Walk away for 10 hours. I went to sleep.  I'm lazy.
• Knead the dough.  I added some more mead and flour since mine had dried out.
• Flatten the dough out into a long rectangle.
• Add the apples to the top of the dough. (strain them, keep the marinade)
• Roll the dough up around the apples.  Tuck the ends under and put it into an oiled and floured bread pan.
• Walk away for an hour and let it rise.
• Paint some of the apple marinade on top of the loaf.
• Slash the top a few times.  I forgot to do this and I got big tears along the sides.  Oops.
• Cook in a 350 oven for 45 minutes.
• Take out and let cool.
• Give to your mom because you are a suck up.

I haven't actually tried this yet since I'm giving it as a gift in the morning but it looks like it will be good and it smells delicious so give it a try.  I'd imagine you don't need mead.  Maybe a nice apple cider, or apple juice, or water.  Whatever.  I just have a metric ton of mead to get rid of.

Sourdough Mead Bread

So this morning I decided I would try that sourdough mead bread idea I had the other day while writing up the recipe for mead.  In the end I got a rather mild tasting sourdough with just a hint of mead flavor.  It didn't puff up like you would expect sourdoughs to do but that's probably because I cheated.  I ended up with a crumb that was basically the same consistency as white bread from the store.

Making Mead Sourdough Bread:
• I added about a cup of my Goop to a metal bowl.  Should you be lacking in goop feel free to use the sourdough starter sitting in the back of your fridge.
• I added about 3 cups of a brown/white flour mix.
• I added about a cup and a half of warm mead.  I didn't actually boil the alcohol off, I just warmed it up.
• I added about a tsp of yeast.
• I stirred the bajezus out of it.
• I put it into a warm oven for about 6 hours to hang out.
• I took it out of its nice warm oven.
• I kneaded it for about 10 minutes. It was the nicest feeling dough I've ever made.
• I put my blob of dough back into the oven.
• I waited about 2 hours.
• I beat it up some and put it into a bread pan.
• I waited about an hour.
• I took it out of the oven.
• I preheated my oven to 350.
• I painted on some mead to make my crust crispy.
• I sprinkled some 7 grain mix onto the crust.
• I put the bread into the now hot oven.
• I walked away for 45 minutes.
• I took it out and took a fancy picture.
• I put a quarter of my mead sourdough bread directly into my belly.
• I put a quarter of my mead sourdough bread directly into my wives belly. OK she did this part on her own.
• I gave half of my mead sourdough to my mom because mothers day is coming up.