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Breadtopia Sourdough Thanksgiving Feast
Breadtopia family Thanksgiving meals are usually pretty heavy on sourdough leavened… well, nearly everything but the turkey, and we thought it would be nice to formally assemble many of our favorite Thanksgiving meal accompaniments in one place. So here we are.
This is a BYOTR (bring your own turkey recipe) meta-recipe for a bunch of sourdough fixings with which you can surround your turkey to have a magnificent sourdough Thanksgiving feast (err… don’t forget the mashed potatoes!).
From all of us at Breadtopia, we wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Appetizers
Either or both will keep your family from gnawing on their hands while you perform the harried, last-minute kitchen symphony after the turkey comes out of the oven.
Sourdough Crackers with Rye Flour and Black Sesame Seeds
Sourdough crackers are perfect with cheese or dipped in hummus, and they’re tasty and interesting enough to have by themselves too. This recipe uses rye flour and black sesame seeds for an earthy and nutty cracker that pairs especially well with interesting cheeses.
Brie Flower Bread Rolls
This bread art recipe has a big wow factor in terms of flavor and presentation, and it’s easy to make. With oozy decadence from cheese and an optional sugar-nut glaze, it’s great for a holiday party or dinner with guests.
Meal
Stuffing is probably de rigueur, but you may want to consider the rolls and muffins as two options, though we usually do both.
The Best Sourdough Stuffing
This is the best Thanksgiving stuffing I’ve ever made or eaten. The cubed sourdough bread and bountiful herbs impart such delicious flavors that you’ll want to make it year-round.
Whole Grain Potato Dinner Rolls
Dinner rolls made with whole grain wheat and mashed potatoes are soft and flavorful. Incorporate them into your Thanksgiving prep or leftover use, or make them any time of year.
Sourdough Biscuits
Sourdough biscuits are buttery, tender, and crispy-flaky, using discard sourdough starter and taking only minutes to prepare.
Dessert
Definitely would not be Thanksgiving without a pie or three. The cookies are a nice addition too.
Pumpkin Pie with Sourdough Crust
This spice-filled pumpkin pie with a sourdough crust is mostly decadent and a little bit nutritious. It has a tasty sourdough crust made from high extraction hard red winter wheat which adds fiber and additional nutrients. More flavor too.
Whole Grain Ginger Snaps (Sourdough Option)
These whole grain ginger snaps have delicious rich flavors from fresh-milled red fife and rye flours. The increased fiber from the whole grain flours makes them more nutritious, while the textures of both the chewy and the crispy options are perfectly tender.
Leftovers
For some of us, ahem, making sandwiches from Thanksgiving leftovers for the next several days afterward is as big a deal as the meal itself. These two breads facilitate those sequel snacks and meals admirably.
Savory Stuffing Sourdough Bread
Life is too short to not enjoy your favorite dish more often so I created a sourdough bread that combines the essential flavors of my family’s Thanksgiving stuffing with the health benefits of sourdough and the convenience of a loaf of bread.
Whole Grain Cranberry Walnut Sourdough Bread
Three different, deliciously balanced whole grain wheat flours, filling and tasty walnuts, and bursts of sweet dried cranberries make this bread an awesome choice for breakfast or snack.
Scheduling Ideas
3+ days before Thanksgiving (140g sourdough starter for two loaves bread)
The Best Sourdough Stuffing | baking bread
Mix up and bake two loaves of our No Knead Sourdough Bread or one loaf of our extra large Whole Grain Sourdough Bread. If you already have a freezer stash of sliced bread, reserve about 1 1/2 loaves’ worth for the stuffing.
Whole Grain Potato Dinner Rolls | potato prep
Make ½ cup or 100g mashed potatoes. Or make your entire Thanksgiving mashed potato dish, and reserve ½ cup or 100g for the dinner roll recipe. Wrap and freeze the rest in your baking dish. Defrost for 24 hours in the refrigerator and then reheat in the oven on Thanksgiving. As long as your mashed potato dish has fat in it, the consistency will remain lovely through freezing and defrosting.
2 days before Thanksgiving (320g sourdough starter: 300g crackers, 20g cookies)
Ginger Snap Cookies (Sourdough Option) | dough prep
Mix up the cookie dough, wrap tightly, and refrigerate overnight.
Sourdough Crackers with Rye and Black Sesame Seeds | make and bake
Let the crackers cool completely before stacking them, then store in a closed container. To retain crispiness, don’t pack them in tightly.
1 day before Thanksgiving (240g sourdough starter: 80g pie, 80g potato rolls, 80g brie rolls)
Whole Grain Potato Dinner Rolls | mix dough
Mix up the dough in the evening and let it ferment overnight at cool room temperatures (mid- to high- 60s). If you’re concerned about time or space for baking the rolls and the turkey at the same time, you can push these rolls back one day; they will still be super soft.
Brie Flower Bread Rolls | mix dough
Mix up the dough in the evening and let it ferment overnight at cool room temperatures (mid- to high- 60s). These rolls bake at 425F. If you have one oven, this bake can be done as soon as your turkey is out of the oven and resting; or you can push these rolls back one day, bake them without the cheese, and reheat them with the cheese just before serving.
Pumpkin Pie with Sourdough Crust | make and bake
Let the pie cool completely for at least 4 hours, then cover and refrigerate it (food safety best practice). Warm it up in a low-heat oven just before serving.
Ginger Snap Cookies (Sourdough Option) | bake
After the cookies cool, store them in a closed container for the chewy variation.
The Best Sourdough Stuffing | bread prep
Cube and dry out the sourdough bread for your stuffing. This can be done in the oven on low heat e.g. the residual heat from your pie and cookie baking.
Thanksgiving Day! (200g sourdough starter for biscuits)
Whole Grain Potato Dinner Rolls | shape, proof, bake
In the early a.m. shape the rolls and let them proof until doubled, then bake.
Sourdough Biscuits | prep, refrigerate, bake
In the early a.m. mix dough, cut biscuits and lay out on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until turkey comes out of the oven, then brush with milk and bake.
Brie Flower Bread Rolls | shape, proof, bake
In the early a.m. shape the rolls and let them proof until doubled, then bake. Keep the dough on the cool side so they can be ready to bake at 425F when the turkey is cooked and resting. If your rolls were baked the day prior, now place the cheese in the center of the rolls and warm in the oven at the turkey baking temperature.
The Best Sourdough Stuffing | make and bake
Prep the ingredients for sauteing and the liquids, and mix with the sourdough bread cubes. Bake and keep warm until serving.
Black Friday (80g sourdough starter for cranberry walnut bread or for savory stuffing bread)*
Whole Grain Cranberry Walnut Sourdough Bread | mix dough
Mix up the dough in the morning and let it ferment during the day. Shape and refrigerate it overnight.
Savory Stuffing Sourdough Bread | mix dough
Mix up the dough in the morning and let it ferment during the day. Shape and refrigerate it overnight.
* If you’re not in a food coma, you can mix these doughs Thanksgiving evening, and shape and bake Friday morning. For this overnight ferment, make sure the dough is somewhere with ambient temps in the low-to-mid 60s.
Saturday
Bake your sourdough bread(s) and dive into Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches.
Ingredients
Here are links to most of the ingredients for the recipes above. In many cases, you could do simple grain / flour substitutions with either tiny or no modifications to the recipes in order to make purchasing more efficient. As one small example, if you are making two recipes and one calls for red fife and the other for turkey red, those would be a 100% no-modification swap and you could easily make both recipes with one or the other flour. For a lot more on flour substitution in general check out our guide.
Heirloom Red Fife Wheat Berries
Red Fife Whole Grain Flour
Rye Berries
Rye Whole Grain Flour
Spelt Berries
Spelt Whole Grain Flour
White Sonora Wheat Berries
White Sonora Whole Grain Flour
$11.75 – $102.70High Protein Bread Flour
All Purpose High Extraction Flour
$9.60 – $68.35Sprouted Spelt Berries
$16.65 – $126.50Sprouted Spelt Whole Grain Flour
Sourdough Starter (Live)
Turkey Red Whole Grain Flour
Heirloom Turkey Red Wheat Berries
Kamut® Whole Grain Flour
Kamut® Wheat Berries
Red Star® Organic Instant Dry Yeast — 5 Packets
$7.50Breadtopia Sourdough Thanksgiving Feast