The Sourdough School

BALM – Proven as one of the healthiest approaches to bread in the world.

Based in the walled gardens of Dr. Vanessa Kimbell's beautiful Victorian home in rural Northamptonshire, UK, we tutor individuals and train bakers and healthcare professionals in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine (BALM). Personalising bread to your lifestyle, gut microbiome, and unique genetics for optimal health—tailoring fermentation, fibre, and diversity so that your daily bread becomes the foundation of your health.

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Schwarzwälder Kirsch Sauerteig Torte

Recipe By:Claudia Beil
Recipe Status:Untested
Kind of Bake:Ambient day – French style – mixed in the morning and baked in the evening
Makes:1 cake for a torte with 12 pieces
Created Over:2 days
Recommended For:
  • anyone can eat this
  • mental health issues
Diversity Score:12
Increase Fibre:Whole grain rye cake flour blend in the levain and in the dough.
Probiotic Serving Suggestion:Home made probiotic quark or labneh mixed with whipped cream for the cream layer.
Antioxidants:In the rye cake flour blend for the cake: Rye, buckwheat, cocoa, olive leaves, nettle leaves and seeds, green tea. In the cherry compote: cherries. In the decoration: cherries, dark chocolate
Suggested Botanical Blend:I created my own Botanical Blend

Ingredients

IngredientsQuantity
Stone Ground Rye Cake Flour Blend125g
Wheat Flour Type 550125g
Cocoa Powder45g
Salt1/4 teaspoon
Raw Cane Sugar200g
Eggs2
Chocolate Levain200g
Walnut Oil170g
Warm Water125g

Botanical Blend by Claudia Beil

IngredientsQuantity
Rye650g
Einkorn90g
Buckwheat70g
Barley70g
Haselnuts65g
Walnuts50g
Olive Leaves, Nettles, Chili, Green Tea5g

Recipe Introduction

This is my version of the typical German Black Forest Torte.
I am giving the recipe for the cake base here. The layers of the cake consist of the cake base, a cream layer of quark and whipped cream and a cherry layer of thickened cherry compote. The torte is decorated with the cream and with grated dark chocolate.
I have adjusted the cake recipe according to the BALM principles so that it is more digestible and nourishing than the original recipe.
My aim was to develop a recipe for a torte for a typical sunday Kaffeetafel (coffee and cake) that all my friends and family could share. Including those who have to be careful what/how they eat for health or digestive reasons.
I have reduced the sugar content to such an extent that the torte is described by all test eaters as "pleasantly not very sweet". This was particularly important to me, as I really wanted to develop a torte recipe that could be enjoyed without remorse by people who have to watch their blood sugar levels. For people who like it sweeter and can tolerate it, you can serve cherry jam to sweeten it up.
The cake base can be adapted to the needs of people with IBS by extending the fermentation time. I have given 4.5 hours as the fermentation time in the recipe. This can easily be extended to 6.5, but I have also fermented the cake for 10 hours.
With this recipe I also wanted to develop a way to escape the vicious circle of bad mood / anxiety / depression - frustration eating - bad mood / anxiety / depression - frustration eating.
Instead of eating lonesome a bar of chocolate, as often happens in such situations and which only leads further into the vicious circle, you can bake a cake that satisfies the need for chocolate and at the same time can be an occasion to invite friends and neighbors and thus help yourself out of the lonely mood hole.
The fermentation and the composition of the ingredients help to avoid blood sugar spikes, nourish the gut microbiome and make you feel nourished and, in the best case, satisfied.

Studies

StudyHow this study has been applied
Bake 2 loaves and give 1 awayThis recipe makes it possible to eat cake together with up to 11 friends and neighbours and enjoy the positive effects on the microbiome and thus health.
582 - Does Glycemic Variability Impact Mood and Quality of Life?The ingredients and the fermentation of the cake base on the one hand, and the composition of the different layers of the torte on the other hand, should result in a pastry that avoids blood sugar spikes when eaten.
616 -Probiotic supplementation can positively affect anxiety and depressive symptomsThe cream layer is prepared with probiotic ingredients such as labneh or quark. If the labneh or quark is homemade, specific strains can be used depending on the goal in order to achieve the effects evaluated in the studies.
534 - The effects of probiotics on depressive symptoms in humans: a systematic reviewUse quark or labneh in the cream layer.
594 - Perturbations in Gut Microbiota Composition in Psychiatric DisordersThe flour blend can positively influence the intestinal microbiome on the one hand due to the diversity of the ingredients, and on the other hand due to the specific ingredients of the flour blend ingredients.
341 - Dark Polyphenols Rich Chocolate and Gut MicrobiotaDark chocolate is used both in the cake base and on top of the torte when decorating.
CherriesCherries have a high content of polyphenols.

Equipment

  • Baking Bowl
  • Springform Pan

Tin Size cm (HxWxD)

6,5 x 27 x 27

Starter Quantity

200g

Status of Starter

bubbly, lively second-build starter

DDT

22°C (72°F)


Flours

  • Rye variety Lichtkornroggen
  • Wheat Flour Gut Rosenkranz

Baking Temperature

170°C/150°C fan/340°F/gas mark 3½

Baking Time

35-45 minutes


Timings

StepDayTimings (hh:mm)
Feed Starter 1st. build or build stiff Chocolate Levain (80g starter, 80g rye cake flour blend, 15g cocoa, 5g sugar, 40g warm water)Day 18am
Feed Starter 2nd. build or build stiff Chocolate Levain (80g chocolate levain from 8am, 80g rye cake flour blend, 15g cocoa, 5g sugar, 40g warm water)Day 18pm
Prepare Dough: Mix dry ingredients, than mix eggs and sugar until creamy, add starter and mix, add water and oil and mix, fold in dry ingredients.Day 28am
Prove Dough: Pour the dough into the prepared tin, cover and leave it to prove on the kitchen table.Day 28.30am
When used starter and not levain feed starter: Mix 20g 2nd. build starter with 100g of water and 100g of flour and leave to rise, covered.Day 28:45am
BakeDay 21.15pm
Put the starter in the refrigerator.Day 24.45pm

How to Store

The cake base by itself can be stored for 4-5 days. It will become drier with time. The assembled torte should be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of 1 day.

Top Tips

The fermentation time can be extended up to 10 hours to make the cake even more digestible. In this case, however, care should be taken to use a slightly younger levain.
The cake can also be made from 100% rye cake flour blend. It then also needs more fermentation time.

All reasonable care is taken when advising about health aspects of bread, but the information that we share is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

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