Over the last year, the St Andrews Bakery was blessed with a gifted baker. His Finnish flaxseed rye sourdough loaf was ‘to die for’. I would buy a few loaves to freeze each week and was surprised how moist they remained once sliced open. He had studied bread making at the San Francisco Baking Institute and worked in that fine town for 12 years, before returning to Melbourne, and then to the famous authentic wood fired bakery of St Andrews. He left around last March, to pursue other fields or bakeries, and now I am left with a gaping need for his flaxseed sourdough bread. Come back here young man!
Enter Celia to the rescue with her excellent tutorials on sourdough bread making. After reading various articles about flaxseed ( linseed) I decided to incorporate it into a basic sourdough loaf with 30% wholemeal and 70% baker’s white flours.
Flaxseed and Oat Sourdough Bread
- Prepare the starter one day before baking in the usual way as described by Celia.
Before retiring to bed, soak
- 2 tablespoons of whole flax seed ( linseed ) and
- 1/4 cup of rolled oats in a small bowl
with just enough water to cover.
On the morning of baking, add the following to a large bowl:
- 150g ripe starter
- 250g water
- 25 g olive oil
- 170 g wholemeal flour
- 330 g baker’s white flour
- 10 g salt
Mix roughly to combine, then add the soaked ingredients and mix again with your hands.
Proceed with Celia’s instructions re short kneading, proving, shaping, second proving and baking.
Notes. If the dough is a little moist at the first kneading stage, add a bit more flour to the mix. Only your hands can tell.
Verdict. Very tasty, my favourite to date. Still eating well two days after. Next time, the same recipe but with rye flour and more flax seeds. Or maybe I’ll try ground flax seed as well.
A little quote regarding the soaking of flaxseeds – “By soaking, enzyme inhibitors are neutralized, the beneficial enzymes are activated and the vitamin content increases. Soaking makes seeds, nuts and legumes easier to digest and the nutrients more easily absorbed.”
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