Calling All Kitchen Scientists...

[chia]

I've grown tired of the breads I've been making for the last year and want to try something new. I had a wonderful bread in Montreal that I would love to be able to come close to. The ingredients are:

Soya flour, millet, sesame seeds, water, salt, sour dough, honey.

Now here comes the hard part. I want to make a quick bread type loaf, substituting baking powder as a leavening agent since I don't eat dairy. I could use soured soymilk instead of sour dough, but then I'm not sure if I would still need any water. Could anyone suggest measurements to start with?

[GFBetsy]

Sorry I can't help, but I've never done sourdough because I dislike it so much. Just bumping this in case anyone else has some helpful ideas.

[tarnalberry]

I've grown tired of the breads I've been making for the last year and want to try something new. I had a wonderful bread in Montreal that I would love to be able to come close to. The ingredients are:

Soya flour, millet, sesame seeds, water, salt, sour dough, honey.

Now here comes the hard part. I want to make a quick bread type loaf, substituting baking powder as a leavening agent since I don't eat dairy. I could use soured soymilk instead of sour dough, but then I'm not sure if I would still need any water. Could anyone suggest measurements to start with?

I don't see where the dairy is. The "sour dough" ingredient left me perplexed... Did you mean sour dough starter? If so, there's no dairy in it - it's yeast and flour left out for two weeks or so to ferment.

[Jestgar]

I don't see where the dairy is. The "sour dough" ingredient left me perplexed... Did you mean sour dough starter? If so, there's no dairy in it - it's yeast and flour left out for two weeks or so to ferment.

I didn't get this part either. You can make sourdough starter with potato flakes, water and yeast - but I didn't have any luck getting anything else to ferment and make sourdough bread.

[chia]

"You can make sourdough starter with potato flakes, water and yeast - but I didn't have any luck getting anything else to ferment and make sourdough bread."

I didn't know this, for some reason I thought there had to be dairy in the starter, I guess I thought it was like yogurt or something.

"it's yeast and flour left out for two weeks or so to ferment."

Does that mean I can start the sourdough with a gluten free flour instead of using potato flakes (they're not that great for me either)? If anyone can steer me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

I made millet and soya bread tonight with soy yogurt, yeast and eggs. It's okay as far as the texture goes but the taste is a little bitter, not sure why that is. I'd like to keep playing with the recipe to get it lighter and less bitter. Thanks for helping me out so far, I appreciate it.

[tarnalberry]

"You can make sourdough starter with potato flakes, water and yeast - but I didn't have any luck getting anything else to ferment and make sourdough bread."

I didn't know this, for some reason I thought there had to be dairy in the starter, I guess I thought it was like yogurt or something.

"it's yeast and flour left out for two weeks or so to ferment."

Does that mean I can start the sourdough with a gluten free flour instead of using potato flakes (they're not that great for me either)? If anyone can steer me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

I made millet and soya bread tonight with soy yogurt, yeast and eggs. It's okay as far as the texture goes but the taste is a little bitter, not sure why that is. I'd like to keep playing with the recipe to get it lighter and less bitter. Thanks for helping me out so far, I appreciate it.

yep - google gluten free sourdough starter and you'll probably find a few hits.

the millet/soy bread was probably bitter from the quantity of soy and then the millet, if that's all it had in it. soy, particularly soy flour and yogurt, can have a little bit of a bitter taste, depending on your tastebuds. millet doesn't help. unless there's a lot of sugar to overpower the bitter flavor, you'll notice it. this is why most recipes have a fair amount of rice/potato/tapioca flours - they're pretty bland.

[chia]

yep - google gluten free sourdough starter and you'll probably find a few hits.

the millet/soy bread was probably bitter from the quantity of soy and then the millet, if that's all it had in it. soy, particularly soy flour and yogurt, can have a little bit of a bitter taste, depending on your tastebuds. millet doesn't help. unless there's a lot of sugar to overpower the bitter flavor, you'll notice it. this is why most recipes have a fair amount of rice/potato/tapioca flours - they're pretty bland.

Thanks Tiffany - I was using google but forgot to put in 'gluten free' so of course none of the links were helpful. Interesting, but not really helpful. But now I found one page using rice flour that looks easy so I'm going to give it a try.

I didn't know that soy gives a bitter taste, so that will help a lot. I really appreciate the help!

[Mom to Many]

Soya flour, millet, sesame seeds, water, salt, sour dough, honey.

Have you looked at Bette Haagman's bread book? My mom has our copy or I'd look. ANYTHING Bette does is good.

As for sourdough, I was watching good eats on the food network and he mentioned that bakeries use sour dough start in freeze dried form. (If it is gluten-free) He mentioned that you could approach bakers and request purchasing a small amount.

[tarnalberry]

Have you looked at Bette Haagman's bread book? My mom has our copy or I'd look. ANYTHING Bette does is good.

As for sourdough, I was watching good eats on the food network and he mentioned that bakeries use sour dough start in freeze dried form. (If it is gluten-free) He mentioned that you could approach bakers and request purchasing a small amount.

A baker would have gluten in his/her starter. Sourdough starter is the sort of thing that you can keep around for ages, as long as you keep feeding it. (Yep, it is alive! *cue Frankenstein music*) I've heard of it being handed down in families! But if you can find a gluten-free baker....