Help me pimp my sourdough....

[NotdeadyetBOING]

I am a recent convert to baking. Have a gloriously active starter and have been making a loaf each morning sadly showing up in a rather unfortunate bread belly, but let's gloss over that.

I would like to find ways of making it healthier. Have done 2/3 white flour and 1/3 wholemeal or spelt which works well. Wondering about chucking in chia, pumpkin or sesame seeds. Do the latter need toasting first? And do they go in at last minute or before kneading? Would be grateful for any tips and ideas....

Get the Modern Baker book - it's a gloriously health food style sourdough bakery in Oxford and they have a billion healthy recipes for sourdough varieties. When I get home I'll post a few for you. So far I've made the walnut sourdough and the multigrain seeded sourdough but there are loads of interesting ones.

And most recipes I've seen you don't toast the seeds first, you soak them!

I toast pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds I just plonk in. I do that in the beginning. Sometimes I coat the loaf in sesame seeds/poppy seeds before baking.

You can also add oats - soaked a bit.

Raisins? Some of us like it.

Chia seeds are the invention of the devil, though I've heard claims that they are some sort of superfood. They become slimy if wet. Yuck!

Thank you both. That book sounds interesting - will get hold of it. I love chia seeds! Horses for courses and all that. Right - next loaf I think I'll bung in some seeds. Curious about the oats too. Keen to see if I can tweak the carb/protein mix a touch. This baking is pretty addictive, I've discovered!

When I used to make rye sourdough I chucked in pumpkin seeds sunflower seeds and linseeds (no toasting first - too lazy). Sometimes poppy or nigella seeds. Occasionally chopped olives and herbs instead of seeds (took slightly longer to rise). Sunflower seeds on top before baking. If I wanted sweet bread I put in a bit less salt, then dark brown sugar and whatever raisin like things I had around (took longer to rise).

Oat + grated apple.

Raisin + rosemary - had that combination at Carluccio's once but I can do better.

Just ordered the Modern Baker book. I have been adding a bit of sugar each time as thought that was necessary to make it rise, but now wondering if that's nonsense... Would far rather make it sugar free if poss. Oat and grated apple sounds lovely - how much of each approximately?

You definitely don't need any sugar - It'll help you get a toastier crust, but not necessary for the loaf.

I do t know if you do a two part mixing - I start a sponge with some of the starter, flour and water in the evening, then add the rest of the flour and the salt the following day. If you do, then add any seeds etc on the first mixing. Otherwise they tend to soak up liquid from your dough and dry it out.

Enjoy - it's one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Ooh, granary loaf - my absolute favourite. And you can buy extra malted grains to go in - love that flavour...

Purely from an aesthetic point of view, there are numerous 'slashing videos' of people slashing the tops of their bread before they go in the oven. Worth a quick look if that's your sort of thing.

Scuse the rambling post - wandering around trying to get DS to go to sleep in a sling... zzz

Handful of oats and a small apple. I find too much oats make the texture a bit different - not sure how to describe it but I didn't like it as much.