Dill Batter Sourdough Bread

Serving Size1 loaf

Ingredients

Basic Sourdough Batter (instructions below)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup chopped onions
2 teaspoons dill seed

Basic Sourdough Batter Bread

2 cups culture
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups white bread flour

Proof and Baking

Complete steps 1 and 2 to prepare sourdough batter. Add cheese, onions, and dill seed to the batter and mix well.

Spoon the batter into a 4 ½ x 8 ½ inch loaf pan.

Proof, covered, at 85° for 1 to 2 hours, or until dough rises ½ inch above the edge of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove loaf from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Basic Sourdough Batter Bread

Measure the culture into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter over moderate heat, add the milk to the butter and warm (to 75° to 85°). Add the salt and sugar and stir until dissolved. Add this mixture to the culture and mix well.

Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing vigorously for 1 minute or so between cups. The yield is approximately 3 ½ cups of basic sourdough batter.

Grease a 4 ½ x 8 ½ inch loaf pan if not nonstick. Spoon batter into the prepared pan.

Proof, covered, at 85° for 1 to 2 hours, or until dough rises ½ inch above the edge of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove loaf from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Next, prepare your juices: for raspberry juice, place 1 cup of raspberries in a blender, food processor, or mortar. Puree the berries and pour into a cheesecloth, then let the berry juice drip out until you’ve got 1/2 cup juice. For the rhubarb juice, either follow the same method as the raspberries, allowing much more time for the juice to drip to obtain sufficient juice, or run the rhubarb stalks through a juicer. For beet juice, coarsely dice 1 small beet, then run it through a juicer. Set juices aside.

Bring 1 inch of water to a steady simmer (not boiling) in a wide, shallow saucepan, then place the sugar and egg whites into the bowl and place over the simmering water. Whisk gently until temperature reaches 140° F, or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the liquid is hot and you can’t feel any granules when you rub a drop between your fingers.
Remove the bowl from the water and place the bowl back on the electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on medium-high speed until the mixture is white, glossy, and about doubled in volume. The temperature of the outside of the bowl at this point should be neither warm nor cool.

Add the butter one cube at a time until incorporated, and whip until it has reached a thick, silky smooth texture. (This is the point of panic, so don’t be alarmed. If the mixture deflates or curdles, just keep whipping and whipping and whipping-it will become thick and smooth again, even though it might take several minutes.)

Toss in the salt, then drizzle in the juices.

Enjoy and happy baking!