Hand-made Kefir Organic White Bread!

Recently, I started to make my own bread. This is the first bread I made. It is a lovely white bread with a chewy crust. It smells of kefir. It has organic white flour, 450 ml of kefir, 1 heaped teaspoon of grinded sea salt & dried yeast.
You know that kefir is good for you. So why not use it in the bread?

Recipe: For 1 large bread

Ingredients:

750 gr of organic white flour

450 ml of kefir with only 1,5 % fat

7 gr of dried yeast

1 heaped teaspoon of Maldon sea salt grinned in your pestle & mortar

Method:

1. Take a large bowl & sieve the flour. Add the dried yeast & mix well into the flour.

2. Now, add the grinned salt & mix it well through the flour & yeast mix.

3. Make a well in the middle of the flour mix & pour the kefir, all of it into it.

4. With your hands, bring the kefir gradually into the flour mix. Mix well & knead until you have a softer dough. If the mix is too wet, add one tablespoon of flour at the time. If the mix is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water, at the time.

5. Form a long shape. Place it into the large bowl & hang a warmed wrenched kitchen towel over the top. Place in a warm place, away from draught, for about 1 + 1/2 hours until the dough is doubled in size. This will be your 1st rise.

6. After that, flour your hands with the flour & take the dough out of the bowl & place on a Silpat, that you have floured. Push the dough back with your hands & quickly knead it. Make a larger shape of it. Place it onto a silpat bread sheet & flour the top a bit. Place the warmed towel on it. Place it again in a warmed place for the second rise. Let it rise for about 45 minutes till 1 hour until doubled in size.

7. When the 2de rise is nearly over, preheat the oven to 220°C ( 428 F ) if you use a normal oven. I bake with a fan oven so I put the temperature on 195°C. ( 383 F ) for 10 minutes.

8. After the 2nd rise, with a large knife, make large incisions crosswise into your bread. Do not slice all the way through your bread! Flour your bread a bit for a rustic look!

9. Place the Silpat baking sheet on an oven rack into the bottom of your oven & bake for about 35 to 40 minutes until your bread has been cooked through & brown on the outside. If you don’t have that, place onto a baking sheet on the wire rack.

10. Take your bread out of the oven with oven gloves & place on a wire rack to cool down completely. The bottom of your bread must sound hollow when tapped with your fingers.

You can also find this recipe here on my blog: http://sophiesfoodiefiles.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/sophies-hand-made-kefir-white-organic-bread/