Jenny Cahill

Hi Kristine! It's sorghum syrup in the recipe I posted above. The birds might pass on that... but you might still have to fight the ants.

You're welcome, Denise! Though I haven't tried other syrupy sweeteners myself in this recipe, I would suspect that honey or agave or even maple would work well. Just be aware you may get a significantly different flavor (especially with maple). If I were going to play with it, I'd probably start my experiments with honey.

This is an old recipe that I picked up at an intentional community about 25 years ago. It's for a spongey loaf and works well with freshly milled hard wheat.

Yields 8 loaves

4 T yeast
1 c sorghum
8 c water
4-5 c milled flour
1 c oil
3-4 T salt

Mix yeast, sorghum, warm water and let it sit 5-10 minutes.

Add enough flour to make a pudding consistency.

Let sit 30 minutes, until spongey.

Add oil and salt plus more flour... Enough to make stirring extremely difficult.

Knead in more flour until proper consistency.

Let rise in an oiled bowl 1 hour.

Punch down, let rise again.

Split into 8 balls, knead each, and put in oiled loaf pans. Let rise 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour.