Kefir and breadmaking

kittykat500

I have just become the proud owner of some Kefir grains and have successfully made yogurt from it. However, the real reason I wanted the grains was to make bread as I am slightly intolerant of yeast products.

Does anyone know how much Kefir to add to bread mixture? I currently use a Morphy Richards 48261 Fastbake machine with 3 cups of strong flour to 11/4 tsp of dried yeast.

Can I omit the yeast altogether? How much Kefir yogurt mix (minus the grains, I suppose) should I add to make a 11/2lb loaf using the amounts stated above?

If anyone knows I would be eternally grateful.

nikibella

Hi
I have experimented in making bread with kefir some time ago and it came out beautiful.
I just used a cup of kefir instead of the water I put in the dough and it rose a lot and became very soft without using any yeast. (I made a small quantity of bread rolls as a test)
But I didn't use the breadmaker, so I can't give you precise instructions.
When the dough doubled (and more) in bulk I kneaded it again by hand, let rise another time and then baked. The rolls were very nice.

kittykat500

Nikabella

Thank you very much. I'm off to experiment later on today (sorry my thanks button doesn't work for some reason).

kittykat500

My breadmaking attempt with kefir and no yeast was a disaster in the breadmaker. I've since read up a little about breadmaking with it and it appears that you must leave it around 24 hrs in a warm place before it doubles in size! Silly me - have to have another go!

nikibella

Hi kittykat
sorry for that. Probably I forgot to tell you that I left the dough more than one night in a warm place (actually the yogurt maker) and it increased a lot, it was more than double the size. Probably you should do the same using your breadmaker if there is a function for keeping warm to let the dough rise and check from time to time. Unfortunately I have no breadmaker, so i don't know how it works.

kittykat500

Thats OK Nikibella I will use your idea of a yoghurt maker to help it rise though. Thanks for that!

nikibella

Try also to use first a small quantity of flour and make it rather moist, when you see the bubbles you can add more flour, it's a time consuming procedure (the principle is that of sour dough, first you shall have the bacteria in the water, then add slowly flour to increase in size) but it's how bread was made in the old times.

malamala

That sounds interesting!

What is the difference in taste and texture in breads that made with kefir and not yeast?

kittykat500

Hi MalamalaI'm not able to answer you because I was never successful in making bread with kefir. I just use some of the kefir whey instead of water in my bread which seems to give a bit more flavour.