Sourdough Starter:
289 g water
211 g whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons whole wheat sourdough culture
Final Dough:
470 g whole wheat sourdough starter
900 g very thick kefir
1000 g whole wheat flour
In a large mixing bowl combine the starter, kefir, salt and flour. Kneadthe dough, cover and set aside for about half an hour. In the meantime, soak:
300 g prunes in 300 g hot water. Blend soaked prunes and add them to final dough with
110 g stone ground rye flour.
Knead the dough and let ferment at room temperature for 2 hours. Then refrigerate the dough for 8 hours. Shape 2 (or better 3* ) loaves, put then into proofing baskets and refrigerate for 4 hours. Do not remove the loaves from the refrigerator until your oven is preheated to 500F.
Bake for 1 hour at 470 F.
* I found out that the oval loaf had an undercooked center
Nice crumb and crust for your loaf. The kefir looks very thick. Did you filter the kefir through a fine filter to achieve such a thick consistency? Do you favor a stiff WW starter for this loaf, or work with a starter at 100% hydration? Beautiful loaf with a great recipe, I will attempt to make it.
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I have bought LATTA Russian Kefir (2% fat)for the first time; even though a label says it is “drinkable” kefir , it was that thick I had to squeeze it from the bottle (http://www.lattausa.com/).
My whole wheat sourdough culture is close to 100% hydration (I only keep 1-2 tablespoons in the fridge and refresh it when I want to use it).
As you see in the recipe I used 289 g of water and only 211 g to build the starter (hydration 137%).
But I believe that stiff starter could be better for that recipe; the hydration of the dough was pretty high and using stiff starter could add some strength to the dough which was sticky and not easy to shape.
I would be great if you could give this recipe a try. My recipes are improvisations and I do not repeat them.