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.

Lets Start With Some Homemade Bread

Its 6:30 Sunday morning and I just got off work. My wife is coming home after a weekend with her parents and bringing the mother in-law with her. I figure, lets make some bread. So I start with my basic bread recipe.  You can pretty much make any bread you want with this as the base.  It won't be artisan bread to the snooty but it works for me and it tastes good.

Get some:
• Water
• Flour
• Yeast
• Something to spice up your bread
• A big metal bowl, a sifter, a whisk and 3 hours on a Sunday morning with nothing better to do since there is crap on TV.

In your bowl:
• Add water. I'd guess 3 cups. I just fill a plastic liquid measuring cup with warm water. The markings came off in the dishwasher so it's anyones guess.
• Add yeast. I just shake some out of the jar, I'd imagine its a teaspoon or two.
• Stir, or don't.
• Go watch some TV till there’s some commercials.
• Add some flour. I just fill my sifter, I'd guess its about 4 cups. This morning I'm going with bleached white flour. Sift it all in to the bowl while whisking it. Now I usually plop in a cup or so of something else to make it less boring. Today, some 7 whole grain mix from the bulk barn.
• Turn your oven on for a minute or so, turn it off, then put your bowl in there.
• Go watch some TV. An hour or so of the cooking network will do you.
• Kneed the dough into something that resembles bread dough. I use my hands because I hate cleaning bread machines.
• I add flour as I go while I kneed it because I don’t really like to measure and I generally don’t care that much. You want to end up with something that’s just a little bit too sticky for your liking.
• Rip it in half

To one half I added: 1 Tsp of Montreal steak spice 1Tsp of Tandoori spice 1 Tsp of paprika 1 Tsp of garlic powder 1 Tsp of onion powder 1 Tsp of salt

The other half got: 1 pinch of salt

• Flatten your half ball of dough out and add the spices on top. Roll it up and kneed it some more. I read somewhere that you want to let the dough ferment then add the spices after. I’ve never noticed a difference but this morning I’m feeling fancy and I want 2 different loaves of bread. Add seasoning to the flour at the start if you want.
• Kneed the bread for 10 to 15 minutes then put it in your oven. I have a ceramic pizza stone in my oven full time that I plop it on.
• Go watch another slap chop infomercial. This morning it was Magic Bullet. I suppose the type of infomercial isn't that important.
• Take your dough out and punch it around some. It was saying bad things about your mom after all.
• Punch the halves into a flat sheet then roll them up into a tube shape. Tuck your ends under and pinch them in. Put them into 2 oiled and floured bread molds.
• Put the dough back into your oven. Turn it on for another minute if its cooled down because you are an idiot and left it open while you were working.
• By this time you may get some sub par cooking show like 10 dollar meals. Yes! An episode or 2 and you are good to go.
• You can paint a coating on to your bread at this point if you like. Egg white will make it nice and brown. Oil is a good choice. If you want a nice hard French crust paint on some ice water. Whatever turns your crank, I've even gone with vodka. Today I went with olive oil. I also cut some nice fancy slits into the top of my bread so that it was nice and photogenic for its cameo.
• Turn the oven on at 350. Let the oven heat first if you want crunchier bread otherwise be lazy and just leave the bread in there while it heats for a softer crust. I preheat my oven because all the snooty folk seem to go that way.
• Another 40 minutes of cooking network and I had myself some nice looking bread shaped things.
• Pop the loaves out of their mould and on to a cooling rack.
• Go to sleep and let the wife and her mom figure out if it’s edible in a few hours when they get home.
• When I woke up they were still alive so I had some.

Mmmmmmmmm