Category: Recipes

Many years ago now I made a sourdough starter and used it for making bread. Though I still make my own bread, I now use bought dry baker’s yeast to leaven my bread. When my daughter mentioned making a sourdough starter I found my old recipes and decided to share them here. I have no idea now where I got the recipes from. Thank you to the person who shared them with me.

Sourdough starter

• 4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 14 dl cold water – add to the potatoes. Bring to the boil and cook the potatoes until tender.
• Mash the potatoes in the water, and make a smooth mixture.
• Add 1 dl sugar and let stand until lukewarm.
• Stir one package of active dry yeast into 2 dl of lukewarm water. Add 1 tsp sugar. Let foam for 10 minutes.
• Add to the potato mixture. Cover with a cloth. Let stand overnight in warm room temperature until slightly sour or for two days for a tangy flavor.
• Refrigerate in a sterilized jar.

To use sourdough starter

• Take out 2.5 dl of starter and let it warm up to room temperature, about 1 hour
• To the remainder, add 0.5 dl sugar dissolved in 2.5 dl lukewarm water. Stir well.
• Any time you use some of the starter, you must replace it with sugar and water to keep it going.
• If the starter is not used at least once a week, feed it with one teaspoon of sugar.

Sourdough bread – 4 loaves

• 2.5 dl sourdough starter
• 1 liter lukewarm potato water
• 0.5 dl sugar
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 kg whole wheat flour
• appr. 1.5 kg white flour

Use a bread mixer if you have one as it will save you a lot of hard work. Mix the sugar and salt into the warm water, then add the starter. Add the oil, and the whole wheat flour. Mix quickly by hand then do the rest by machine. Add as much white flour as is needed to make a dough that stays together, is smooth, and comes away from the edges of the bowl. Place in a large bowl and let rise until double in size, usually about one hour.

Turn out the dough onto a floured baking board. Divide the dough into four equal parts. You can make four loaves, or perhaps you would like some buns out of one of the parts. You can shape the loaves as round bread and place on a baking sheet, or you can use loaf pans. Let rise until double in size.

Bake at 190 degrees C, 45 minutes for bread, about 25 minutes for buns. Cool thoroughly on a rack.

Norwegians use a lot of crispbread, many made by the Swedish company, Barilla, with the brand name, Wasa. Because processed foods often contain many ingredients to make the products have a long shelf-life, I prefer to make my own. Of course, the finished crispbread turns out very different, but I think it is a healthier product. As the life of the finished crispbread is short, maximum a couple of weeks, I do not need a lot of additives. Here is the recipe that I used today, though I can vary what goes into it.

• 5 dl rye flour, 4 dl coarse flour and 1 dl fine flour
• 4 dl rolled oats
• 1 dl chopped almonds
• 1 dl linseeds
• 1 dl sesame seeds
• 2 dl sunflower seeds
• 2 dl pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 7.5 dl water

Mix all the dry ingredients first in a very large bowl. Add the water and continue to mix. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes so that the flour and rolled oats soak up the water. This is what holds all the seeds together.

I use baking paper on two cookie sheets and spread the mixture as evenly as possible. Use a bit of time to spread it out smoothly and right to the edges. Before putting it in the oven use a knife to cut through the top surface where you eventually want to break the crispbread into smaller pieces.

Bake the crispbread, both sheets at the same time, using a hot air oven at 160 degrees C. It will take over an hour, perhaps an hour and a quarter. Every 15 minutes, I change which sheet is on top. Opening the oven door will also let the steam out. This is important as you are trying to dry out the mixture. It’s not like a cake that has to bake. You will know that it is finished as it will start to arch and become very crisp. It should also turn a slightly darker color. Do not bake too long, or you will burn it.

When you take it out of the oven, remove it from the cookie sheet and break along the knife lines. Pile on a rack and let cool completely. The crispbread is best stored in an open container as it is meant to be dried out.

Enjoy your treat. Try it with sliced cheese or humus. Or it can be enjoyed just as it is.