< Rustic Seed Sourdough

Yield: 1 big / 2 small loaves

Time: Prep today, bake tomorrow morning

Notes: 75% hydration?

Description

My regular bread, which I will split depending on the schedule. Requires a few bits of equipment, which I can recommend investing in if you have baked a few loaves and want to continue.

Ingredients

• 120g active starter (wholemeal ideally)
• 500g strong white, extra for dusting
• 200g wholemeal
• 100g rye flour
• 280g water (room temp, put into bowl if from cold tap to warm up and settle)
• 16g fine salt
• 10g seeds

Equipment

• Banneton
• Pyrex bowl
• Oven proof metal dish (needs to form a good seal with the pyrex)
• bench scraper
• Oven thermometer
• Food thermometer
• Knife
• Scale
• Linen cloth
• Space in the fridge!
• Banneton dusting flour
• Water spritzer

Method

Prep

• Starter mix should be bubbly. A teaspoonful of the starter should float in warm water if ready. If not, continue adding 25g flour and 25g of 30c water into the mixture daily until it becomes active, and 12 hrs before you want to use it, spoon half of it off and feed it first with 100g warm (35c) water, and then 100g flour. Leave, covered, at (23c) room temperature.
• Around 30min prior to the starter being ready (once it starts bubbling and a bit of rise), mix the 3 flours and water.

Mixing

• Ensure you have somewhere warm (23c) to prove if the kitchen is very cold.
• Mix in the starter, ensuring it becomes consistent. Wait 30min
• Mix in salt with wet hands (not soaked). Wait 30min
• Perform 4 stretch and folds, with 30min gap between each.
• Bulk rise for around 2-3 hours, doing the poke check after 2 hours.

Shape

• Possibly the most important part - take care here.
• Dust the banneton and add 5g of seeds into the bottom
• Gently scrape the dough out of the bowl, (and split if you want two loaves)
• Preshape the dough ensuring you don’t overwork the bread (eg 1, eg 2
• Shape the dough, mixing in some seeds at this point. Shape the dough into a boulle (eg 1, eg 2
• Gently place the boulle into the banneton, flour the top surface and pinch any gaps closed.
• Cover with a linen cloth and place in the fridge overnight.

Bake

• Be careful here, and don’t overdo it!
• Preheat the oven to 230c (or hotter!), placing the Pyrex dish and the dish in the oven to heat them up.
• Once oven at temperature, carefully and quickly both dishes.
• Carefully remove the bread from the banneton and drop it into the metal dish
• Give the bread a nice deep score across the surface, around 1cm deep and across the full width slightly offset
• Give the dough a light spritz of water
• Bake for 30min at 230-240c and then 15min at 220c. Remove the pyrex for the last 10min but be careful not burn it!
• Leave to rest once out of the oven for an hour or more.

---