Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Raw Garlic Rosemary Sourdough Bread


We have a running joke in our family now. My husband says "what's for dinner?" and I respond, "I don't know but I can tell you what's for dinner in three days."

Between soaking, prep and dehydrating a meal can easily be 24 hours away. This is new for me. And it is definitely the case with the Garlic Rosemary Sourdough Bread I had planned to have with tonight's dinner. Except that I forgot to read the recipe thoroughly (don't skip this step with raw foods) and only at 7:30 in the morning did I see that the dough, made from nuts and berries soaked the night before, has to sit for 7-10 hours before going into the dehydrator for another 11 hours. Looks like another middle of the night trip to the dehydrator and oh joy - sourdough bread for breakfast!

I did wonder why it was called sourdough bread since a sourdough always has to sit and ferment but I figured this was another one of those, "let's call it sourdough so that raw food folks can feel like they are eating something they used to eat only really it tastes nothing like sourdough" recipes.

(Before I go any further I recognize that I had promised you a sauerkraut recipe and pics for that but it will have to wait just a little longer. We have guests sleeping in our basement - it's a beautiful basement actually - and I don't feel comfortable disrupting their sleep to snap photos of the sauerkraut. Fortunately they like sauerkraut and so don't seem to mind the smell - amazing!)

Here's another piece of advice about making raw foods. I don't recommend heading into the kitchen when you are still barely awake to put together ingredients for a recipe you have never made before and have no context for. Too sleepy to read carefully, I mixed the dough for quite a bit longer than directed so ...

And here's the thing, I have spent years baking homemade bread. I have always loved to make bread - from kneading to the smell of it rising to forming it into loaves and watching it cook to that wonderful taste when the steam is still coming off the loaf and the bread is warm as you slather butter all over it. But I'm raw now - so, as with everything raw, a whole new experience (i.e. I have no idea what I am doing).

How is the dough supposed to look? What is the texture supposed to be like? Is it 2 cups of oat groats after soaking or before soaking (by the way, if I ever write a cookbook - which I have no intention of doing - I will make that last point very clear in my directions)? So many questions. I write them here so that when I find the answers you won't have to ask the questions.

Since the dough has to sit all day I have just two pictures for now. The one above of the various seeds and nuts soaking (oat, almonds and kamut) and the one below of the dough sitting. If the bread actually becomes an edible bread I will even offer the recipe.



Stay tuned.

1 comment:

  1. Oh I really hope it works and I'd love to hear how it goes - well done regardless!

    ReplyDelete