New member first post - a bread recipe

[Guest guest]

Hi, All, my name is and this is my first post to this group. I live in

the mountains of Central California and I have been brewing Kombucha for about

10 years, largely problem free and with some excellent results. I keep at least

one Continuous Brew " draft " pot of 3-4 gallons going most of the time, and I

have quite a few bottles aging in my garage refrigerator for backup. I have

developed a few brewing tricks of my own over the years and I look forward to

sharing as time goes by. I have also learned a few new tricks from lurking on

the site for the last little while, regardless of what they say about old dogs.

Today I would like to share a recipe for a Kombucha bread. I will tell you in

advance that this is not a hard core KT recipe where I mine all the yeasts from

my pot, etc... It's just a nice healthy bread and the Kombucha substituted for

water gives it a nice taste and texture, and it also seems to contribute to

longevity - the bread seems to stay fresh longer. Also, this is a very rich

bread, so if self-denial is your thing, this may not be for you. Almost a

cake-like texture and superb with honey.

One two pound loaf (Sorry, metric guys)

1.5 level cups whole wheat flour

1.5 level cups white bread flour

4 tbs ground flax meal (tbs = tablespoon)

2 tbs sugar

2 tbs granulated bread yeast

2 tbs vital gluten flour additive (Bob's Red Mill is my brand)

2 tbs soy flour (also Bob's)

dash salt

one really healthy slug of olive oil

1.5 cups + 3 tbs extra of youngish Kombucha (not too vinegary)

Now, I'm what I call creatively lazy, which some people call bone idle, but I

use a bread maker to mix it all together. I tried the " proper " hand/bowl way -

once - and my kitchen looked like a flour grenade had exploded in it. If you're

an experienced traditional bread maker, then you know what to do from here.

For the rest of us, drag your bread machine out from the garage or the attic,

set it on the dough/pasta cycle and it will mix it all up and beep at you after

the second rise, about 90 minutes, during which time you can relax and drink

some Kombucha.

You may have to help it along with the mix at first, I use a flexible spatula

and nudge it along into a ball during the initial mixing cycle. Here's where

you use or don't use the extra 3 tbs of KT or maybe a little extra flour, it

depends. You want to see a smooth ball, fully consolidated and happily bouncing

around in there. Adjust for wet or dry 1 tbs at a time and give it a minute or

so to catch up with each adjustment. If it is fragmenting it's probably a

little dry, and if it's smearing around the paddle at the bottom it's probably a

little wet. You'll know.

After the dough cycle is complete, plop it all out on to a floured bread board.

Don't agonize too much about kneading. The lazy man just slaps it down a few

times until some of the gas is out of the dough, and the flattened dough has

sort of an oval or sideways " D " shape to it, about 13 or 14 inches side to side.

Starting at the edge nearest you, just roll it up until it looks like a loaf -

trust me, if it looks like a loaf of bread, it's a loaf of bread. For the

artistes, you can get fancy and score the top at an angle five or six times by

just dragging a serrated knife across, cutting not more than 1/8 " deep in one

stroke.

Allow the bread to rise in a warm spot for about 1 - 1.5 hours or until doubled

in size. Bake in a pre-heated 400F oven for 20 minutes. I prefer my bread a

little underdone, so you can go an extra five minutes or so if you like with no

harm.

So, that's it. This is my regular daily bread and I really enjoy it. You're

not gong to bite into it and instantly say, aha, Kombucha bread !!!, but it has

a nice unique flavor and presumably some of the Kombucha goodness infused into

it. Enjoy.