I have written a few posts about making bread with kefir now. The version I use the most is this one: Date Syrup Kefir Bread
My latest post is this one where I make an experimental 38% wholemeal kefir loaf with no added sugar and has a recipe which you can print off.
For ease of reference I will put all the links here on one page. For more detail and recipes click on the links under the photos.
It all started with a post by Cecilia which she kindly wrote to explain how she did it to me. She blogs at thekitchensgarden.com.
I wrote about the results here: Cecilia’s Amazing Kefir Bread
Raisin and Goats Milk Kefir Bread – recipe
Date Syrup Kefir Bread – Recipe
Kefir Leavened Bread with no sugar / syrup in the preferment and a proportion of wholemeal flour – Recipe and notes
April 2014
Here is one of our loaves looking very pleased with itself in Nick @ FrugalFeeding’s Kitchen as a Leek Toastie
Zeb Bakes 
Came over here to visit via Frugal’s blog. So glad I did! I am a keen sourdough baker and have recently been gifted some Kefir via another blogger (theroadtoserendipity) in Tasmania. Haven’t started using it yet but am feeling very inspired by what you are doing!
Hi Chica Andaluza! We know all the same people :) I am pretty keen on sourdough too and I have been side-tracking into kefir lately, wild and frothy stuff that it is. I hope you have great fun with Narf’s supercharged kefir grains, I bet they are brilliant.
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Hello. I have been trying out some of your recipes with interest. I have Kefir on hand as I have been making and drinking it for a couple of years so I tried the 38% wholemeal, with a few alterations (eg I didn’t have any extra strong flour).
The first time I made it I realised that I had used all the initial mixture when I should have only used 50g. But having made that recipe twice the same way I am now wondering whether to double the quantities of the main mix to make a larger loaf. Is there any reason not to do this?
I also went back to Cecilia’s original recipe and tried that with a good result.
Before coming across your site, the only kefir raised bread I had found and used was from The Healthy Home Economist site, where she uses 700ml of kefir which makes 2 x 2lb loaf tins. This is useful if you have too much kefir!
Hi Erica, how nice of you to write :) To be totally honest with you, these are all experiments, You can certainly scale up quantities, tweak the ratios of kefir to water to flour, change flour types, mixes etc etc. I often double recipes, or half them depending on what how much dough I want.
Just like making any sort of bread, some changes have bigger effects than others on the final result and I suppose the thing is just to keep good notes and see what you like and don’t like and what works for you. I usually make about 1.5 kg dough for my baking and make two largish loaves or three small ones. Freeze some and so on. And that works for me. For some reason I wrote that one up for one small loaf and I see I was very specific as to flours, at the moment I am baking with different flours from those described there anyway! If you don’t use the high gluten/extra strong flour you might find you need less water in the final dough, that is the only real thing to watch out for. You can use more kefir and less water too and see how it goes as well. I only keep a small amount of kefir going at any one time these days as I use it primarily for breadmaking and not for drinking, though sometimes I strain it for a labneh type soft cheese. Hope this helped, best wishes, Joanna
Thanks very much. I will have a go at increasing the amount of dough and see how it goes.
Hi there,
This comment is regarding your post on date kefir bread (comments closed). I saw that you’d tried using Doves GF white flour with unpleasant results. I think I have a theory for you as to why. Doves GF white uses xantham gum as a substitute for gluten. Xantham gum is produced through a fermentation process involving bacteria. Perhaps the strain of bacteria used to produce xantham gum killed some of or competes with the bacteria or yeast in the kefir? Just a theory. Would love to take a look at some of these cultures under the microscope. It’s so fascinating. Thanks for the kefir bread recipes. I’m experimenting with them at the moment.
Hi ! I have closed comments on most of my posts because I am not blogging actively these days but lovely to hear from you on the kefir subject ! That is interesting, I am not really very knowledgeable on gluten free baking, so that might definitely explain it. I am told by Steph who develops recipes for GF that usually one is better off making one’s own gluten free mixes. So there is probably a mix out there that would work just fine, one without the xanthum gum maybe? If you figure it out do let me know, I would love to try someone else’s recipe/method and get a good result :) It would be interesting to see under the microscope I agree totally. all best wishes, Joanna