Recipes

Zojirushi Bread Machine Light Sourdough Bread

Having a bread machine is a luxury, I won’t argue that. While I am proficient in making bread by hand, in the colder months I use our bread machine because I know it will turn out every time. Cold houses (we don’t heat above 66°) can lead to yeast failure – this past week I wasted 7 cups of flour on a recipe. I was very upset over that waste, that was almost 2 recipe worth of flour for our everyday bread! So for now, it is understandable I want to cheat a bit.

For the past number of years I have been baking with a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme machine. Currently the machines are sold out, but if you see one it is more than worth the cost (they are not cheap, and retail for just under $300). I had considered doing a sourdough starter but backed off due to how cold the house is. In a couple of weeks it will be the time, and I have yeast on hand, so I decided to try Zojirushi’s recipe and see how it turned out. If you have one of Zojirushi’s other machines, see the original recipe for directions.

It was a fun experiment, and my hands on time was minimal. The bread has a tangy flavor, yet is sandwich bread. Yet, it is chewy in texture. Definitely let this loaf cool before slicing. It’s a lot harder to slice than the traditional sandwich bread, so use a firm hand when cutting.

Light Sourdough Bread

Ingredients – 

Sourdough starter:

  • 1½ cups water
  • 2 cusp (256 grams) bread flour
  • 2 tsp active dry yeast

Bread ingredients:

  • 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 cups (384 grams) bread flour
  • 1½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 2 tsp active dry yeast

Directions:

Put the kneading blades in the bread pan of a Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme bread machine. Place bread pan into machine.

Add in the water, bread flour and yeast.

Set course for “sourdough starter” and press start. This will take a bit over 2 hours.

_ The starter all bubbly –

For the bread:

Once the sourdough starter ends and beeps, hit cancel to clear.

Add in the ingrdients in order listed, with yeast set on top of the flour.

Close the lid and set course for “basic”.

When the bread is done baking (just shy of 4 hours), pop out and knock out onto a cooling rack.

Bread can be sliced and frozen once cooled, for long-term storage.

~Sarah