Sourdough Bread Pudding

Hey, I discovered something new.....it is possible to make bread pudding out of sourdough bread.
In one of my earliest blogs the one about the process of making soudough bread, I described how to knead 1 tsp. baking soda into the bread to take the "sourness" out of the bread if it is too strong. That information comes from Sally Fallon in "Nourishing Traditions" and is a very good trick. Most times when I make my bread I remember, but last weekend I forgot. I tasted that bread and it really was too sour. I didn't want to throw the 4 mini-loaves I made away but the problem was what to do with them. Afte a couple days pondering, I decided that if soda sweetens the bread before baking, maybe it will sweeten it after.

I cut this little loaf up into cubes and added about 1 1/2 cups water with 2 tsps baking soda to it and let the bread soak. I call this a "soda bath". It really reacted by bubbling up. The bread cubes floated on top of the water so I kept stirring and pushing them down. I was surprised the cubes didn't fall apart but for the most part kept their cube shapes. After about 2 hours I tasted the cubes and they were not sour! I drained the cubes and set about to make a sweet egg custard to bake them in. I didn't write this down at the time cause I was sure it wouldn't turn out so the amounts are approximate.....the idea is what's important.

My little loaf made about 2 cups of cubes
2 eggs beaten
2/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp Real Salt
1 1/2 cups milk ( I used old, raw milk that hubby wouldn't drink)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
handfull of raisins
coconut oil for greasing the baking dish

Combine all and bake uncovered at 325 for 45 minutes or more if needed. Nuts can be added.

I warmed some of this up this morning with some cream for breakfast and it was very good and gave me enough energy to last until my prep period. I keep it in the fridge with a lid. The "soda bath" did neutralize the sourness. Yea!

Seminars upcoming this Spring

Real Foods Market in Orem is gracious enought to have me again teach a couple seminars in their store on 800 North in Orem this spring. The first Fermenting seminar is Sat. Feb. 19 at 1:00pm. It will be like the ones I did in 2010. I will decant Komcucha and everyone will get a starter, I will bring 3 vegetable ferments and everyone will get tastes, I will bring my own sourdough spelt bread with ghee and everyone will get tastes, I will bring some sourdough starters for sale, I will bring my pumpkin seed ferment as a nut butter and of course everyone gets to taste that too and I will bring some either multigrain mini-muffins or fermented cake. I will teach how to separate whey from yogurt to get the living lacto-bacillus and have some 11x14" poyester strainer clothes for sale. I will also bring a few Precious Prill bags for sale; these magnesium crystals turn tap water into pure, high alkaline water good for lacto-bacillus. It's always hard to pack so much into an hour and half and still have time for comments and questions but we manage to do it and have fun in the process. The cost for these seminars is $10 per person and it is so worth it.

The second seminar will be in Heber at the Real Foods Market up there on Satuday, March 29. Seminar same as above.

The Third seminar is Sat. April 23. And this one will be a little different. I may be partnering up with Michelle and we will teach how and why to use alternative grains. We will discuss the importance of soaking grains and what that can do to boost nutrition. I will discuss the difference between hybridizing and GMO and what that difference means in terms of nutrition. Wheat sensitivies will be discussed with recipes shared using alternative grains. Food storage with alternative grains will also be discussed. Of course samples will be part of this seminar too. Sally Fallon's article "Be Kind to Your Grains" is the inspiration for this very practical seminar. This one will also have a $10 fee.