19 Jan Cinnamon Nut Loaf (with sourdough starter)
Yield: 1 loaf
Dry ingredients
325 g (2 cups) Cloud 9 all purpose gluten free flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Wet ingredients
1/4 cup softened butter or margarine (57 g)
1 cup white sugar (200 g)
2 slightly beaten eggs(104g)
140 g active gluten free sourdough starter (brown rice + millet starter)** see recipe below
1/2 cup sour milk (1/2 cup milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice; rest 2 minutes)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon nut mixture
3 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (110 g)
1/2 cup finely chopped or ground walnuts or pecans
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a loaf pan well. In a large bowl, cream the softened butter or margarine with the white sugar, then add the eggs, vanilla, and sourdough starter and mix until fully blended. In another bowl whisk together the Cloud 9 flour, salt, and baking powder (leave the baking soda aside for now). Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour milk to the wet ingredients. Let this mixture rest for 10 minutes. After the rest, quickly stir in the baking soda until just combined to ensure maximum lift. In a separate bowl mix together the cinnamon, brown sugar, and nuts. Pour half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan, spread the cinnamon nut mixture evenly over it, then pour the remaining batter on top. Insert a knife into the batter and gently move it from one end of the loaf to the other in a slow side-to-side swirling motion. Bake for about 1 hour or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn the loaf onto a cooling rack to cool completely. If desired, 1/2 cup finely chopped apples may be added to the batter.
Sourdough Starter:
You need a clean jar, a tall one with a wide mouth, like a mason jar. A coffee filter, a loose elastic, a long plastic spoon and a digital kitchen scale.
You have to be patient because it takes two to three weeks before your starter is active and ready to use.
Weigh out 25 grams of organic brown rice flour and 25 grams organic millet flour into a bowl. In another bowl measure out 50 grams of room temperature, filtered water.
Place your clean jar on the scale and scale it to 0, add your flour mixture into the jar and then the water, remove from scale and carefully stir until all of the flour is blended in. The mixture should be like a thick pancake dough. Place it back on the scale and it should read 150 grams. Remove it from the scale and place the coffee filter over the top to prevent anything getting in and wrap a loose-fitting elastic around the filter to keep it in place. Using a marker, mark a line on the jar to show the height of your starter. Place the jar in a warm place. I have mine on top of the microwave. You can also place it on top of the fridge.
Keep daily notes on what you’re doing as you feed your starter each day.
Day one: weigh out 25 grams of organic brown rice flour and 25 grams of organic millet flour into a bowl. In another bowl measure out 50 grams of room temperature, filtered water.
Take your jar of starter and another clean jar. Place your clean jar on the scale and scale it to 0. Stir your starter and then remove 50 grams and place it into the clean jar. Try not to smear it all over the clean jar, but to do it as clean as you can. Next, pour your flour mixture and water into the clean jar with the 50 grams of starter, Place the jar back on the scale, it should read 150 grams. Stir it so it is well blended. Put a line on the jar for the height of the starter, place the filter and elastic over the mouth of the jar and place it back on the microwave or fridge.
The starter that’s left in the original jar is called sourdough discard. But, you’ll need to throw this away because your sourdough starter isn’t active and bubbly yet.
Each day you will do what you did on day one. Eventually (and as I said, this takes quite a while to happen) Your starter will begin to get small bubbles and may grow a little bit. You’ll be able to see how much it grows because of the line on the jar. After a few weeks, it will become really active, with lots of bubbles and will double in size. Once this happens, continue as you have been for another week. Then you can start saving the discard. Once it’s ready to use for baking, the discard will also be ready to use for baking. Feed your dough as usual but don’t throw away the discard. Place a clean container or another jar on the scale and scale it to 0. Carefully pour the discard left in the jar from your sourdough starter into the container and weight it. Mark the weight down. Cover the container or jar and place it in the fridge. Each day when you feed your starter, add the discard to your container or jar in the fridge. Just make sure stir the discard, then place your container with the discard in it on the scale and scale it to 0, then pour in your new discard. Mark the new weight down and then add the weights together and this is how many grams of discard you now have. Place the lid back on and place it back into the fridge. Keep collecting the discard until you have enough for what your recipe calls for. There are many things you can make and bake with both the sourdough starter and the sourdough discard.
I hope I’ve explained this so you understand what I’m saying. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Some Tips:
Measure your flour by gently spooning it into a cup and sweep off any excess.
Do not use the measuring cup to scoop from the bag as it may compact the flour resulting in more flour than required.