Janice is not the only fermenter to use her over-ripe milk kefir to make bread, but she is the first one to send her recipe to WFD, so she makes it onto the map!
This is a great way to use up milk kefir which is a bit sour and the bread will contain inactivated microbes and metabolites that survive the cooking process in just the same way as Sourdough does. Kefir bread has to be the easiest fermented bread you can make! If you make kefir regularly, then you can make this bread. All you need is a cup of well fermented milk kefir.
I generally use a mix of organic wholemeal spelt and strong white bread flour, 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds and a handful of seeds, but you can use any strong bread flour. I just like to get my diversity points in! You can also use gluten free flour, making this an excellent gf choice. It makes great toast, freezes well and has a lovely texture.
I have made this with both dairy and soya homemade kefir and it always turns out really well, beautifully risen with a lovely soft crumb and a nice sour tang, almost like sourdough.
It does need a relatively long ferment time, around 24 hours at room temperature, followed by another couple of hours in the tin or an overnight chill in the fridge. It is not the kind of bread you can rustle up quickly! But, in my opinion, the best things are worth waiting for, and this bread really couldn’t be simpler to make, and the wait is totally worth it!
Shop bought kefir does not work! I bought a bottle of plain kefir to try, the dough was not active, resulting in a flat, dense bread with a horrible gummy crumb! Home made kefir can have upwards of 40 live probiotic strains of bacteria and yeast, compared to a maximum of 15 in a shop bought one. There are still benefits to drinking shop bought kefir but don’t waste your money trying to make bread with it!
Milk Kefir Bread by Janice Clyne
Ingredients
4 cups of bread flour
1 cup plain milk kefir
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp ground flax seeds (optional)
Handful of seeds for the top
Equipment
A large mixing bowl
A 2 lb loaf tin (could be your fist) for pressing the vegetables into the Kilner jar.
A set of cups
A rack for cooling
Method
Simply mix everything in a large mixing bowl, cover and leave at room temperature for 24 hours (around 19-21 °C).
Transfer to a well oiled 2lb loaf tin.
Sprinkle the top with mixed seeds.
Re-cover and leave either at room temperature for another couple of hours or transfer it to the fridge overnight. The dough should be almost at the top of the tin at the end of this time.
Remove covering and bake at 200 °C for 40 minutes.
Turn out to cool on a rack, it should sound hollow when you tap the bottom.
Try to allow the bread to cool before you slice it!
