More and more housewives prefer to bake their homemade bread. And this is understandable. Firstly, it is much tastier and more aromatic than bought in a store. Secondly, there are no preservatives, flour improvers and other "harmful" additives in it. And one of the most popular among home bakers is kefir bread. It turns out with a white fluffy crumb and a crispy crust. This is almost perfect home-made bread.
Oven bread recipe
Of course, homemade bread on kefir, in the oven to cook, will take a lot of time from the hostess to prepare, require some skills in working with yeast dough and, most importantly, good mood. Only in this case it will certainly be delicious, with a fluffy crumb and a thin crust. According to this recipe, the bread is universal. You can eat it just like that with tea, spread it with jam or make a sausage sandwich. Great for a large family with different tastes.
So, you need:
- 4-6 glasses of wheat baking flour;
- 15 grams of dry yeast or 50 grams of fresh;
- a tablespoon of warm water;
- 1 3/4 or 2 cups kefir;
- a tablespoon of honey;
- a teaspoon of salt;
- beaten egg with a teaspoon of water for coating;
- sesame seeds, poppy seeds or oatmeal for decoration.
Cooking process
Mix 4 cups flour (the rest can be added later, if necessary) with salt. Set aside. In a small cup, mix the yeast with water and leave until a characteristic hat appears. This may take 10 to 15 minutes. This is necessary to activate the yeast. This is one of the reasons why bread on kefir turns out magnificent.
Add kefir to the dough, and then honey. It can be replaced with a tablespoon of brown sugar. Mix everything well. Then add flour to them, but not all at once. Add one glass each until the desired consistency of the dough is obtained. It should keep its shape, not stick to your hands and be soft and pliable. If it turns out too dry, you can add a little kefir. When mixing, it is convenient to use the combine, this will greatly simplify the whole procedure.
Cover the bowl with a plastic bag and tie. This is another secret why kefir bread is made with fluffy crumb. Leave in a warm place until the mass doubles. On average, it takes 1.5-2 hours. Then divide the dough into small balls with a diameter of 5-7 cm. Put in a mold oiled and covered with parchment. Cover again with a bag and leave for 45-60 minutes to lift.
Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Grease the bread with an egg mixed with water. Sprinkle with seeds or cereal on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is browned. Cool a little - and you can try. This bread on kefir can be eaten, breaking off the buns, and can be cut into pieces. In general, as your heart desires.
Yeast-Free Recipe
However, not everyone gets yeast baked goods, and bothers with it for a very long time. But you still want a homemade bread. Kefir is convenient in unsweetened pastries because it rises perfectly. And therefore, you can cook bread on kefir without yeast, adding soda or baking powder.
For him you need to take:
- 2 cups of wheat flour;
- 1 cup oatmeal;
- 1/3 cup brown sugar;
- a teaspoon of soda;
- half a teaspoon of baking powder;
- a teaspoon of salt;
- 50 grams of butter from the refrigerator;
- one and a quarter cups of kefir;
- nuts and dried fruits to taste.
It is worth paying attention that in this recipe a 235 ml cup is used as a measure. This is slightly larger than a regular faceted glass.
Cooking order
Take a deep bowl, pour out all the dry ingredients, excluding nuts and dried fruits. Mix everything well and add cold butter. With a knife, chop everything into crumbs (you can use a food processor, but you need to mix quickly). Then add chopped nuts and dried fruits to taste. It can be walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, raisins, dried apricots and so on. Pour kefir to this mass and mix well with a fork. Put the dough on a table sprinkled with flour.
Next, the bread on kefir without yeast needs to be kneaded until the lumps disappear and the mass turns out to be homogeneous. Shaped a round loaf, put on a baking sheet and sprinkle on top 1 teaspoon of flour through a sieve. Make a cross-shaped incision and bake at 180 degrees until a dense crust appears on top. Cool on a wire rack so that the crumb is not damp. It turns out that delicious crisp bread can be prepared without adding yeast.
Recipe for bread machine
With the advent of such an assistant in the kitchen as a bread machine, baking homemade bread and rolls becomes commonplace. After all, she herself will knead, make proofing and bake. It is important that the kefir bread recipe was adapted specifically for her. Violating the proportions even a little, you can get at all what was expected.
So, you need to take:
- 260 ml of kefir;
- 50 grams of flavourless olive or sunflower oil;
- 1.5 tablespoons of honey;
- 2 teaspoons of salt;
- 450 grams of wheat flour;
- 1.5 teaspoons of yeast.
How to cook?
According to the instructions for the bread maker, the ingredients are laid as follows: first all the liquids, then dry, and you need to finish with flour. The last thing they put is yeast. They should not come into contact with salt and liquid before kneading. This is necessary so that future bread in a kefir bread machine rises well and does not fall. Some models are supposed to backfill products, that is, first yeast, then flour and everything else.
Now you need to select a mode. Any suitable for baking white bread. Most often, it is called that, less often "Main", "Wheat Bread". Total cooking will take from 2.5 to 3.5 hours. (depending on brand). However, in any case, bread in a kefir bread machine will be prepared by itself, without the participation of the hostess.