50% Whole Grain Sourdough Bread

50% Whole Grain Sourdough Bread is a beautiful bread to make with a strong flavour profile from malted bread flour as well spelt, rye and whole flours. It has been a journey to get to this 50% Whole Grain Sourdough Bread with steep learning curves and challenges along the way. At the beginning of spring 2020 a friend introduced sourdough baking to me. Getting the hang of the new jargon and terminology plus figuring out what worked best for me and which recipe I preferred. Through many trials, tribulations and a tantrum or two, I think I’ve finally cracked it.

Sourdough now feature in many of my bakes such as Sourdough Pancakes and Sourdough Focaccia.

Ingredients:

 

Levain:

• 55g ripe starter
• 27g malted bread flour
• 27g spelt flour
• 55ml water
• Method

To make the levain add starter and water together in a bowl to make a slurry, to that you add the two flours until everything is mixed, set it aside for 2.5 hours covered.

 

Ingredients

Autolyse:

• 493g Malted white bread flour
• 233g whole grain spelt flour
• 208g wholemeal wheat flour
• 52g rye flour
• 830ml water
• 20g salt
• 164g ripe starter
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp malted barley

(These last two items need to be slightly diluted in hot water to enable easier mixing)

Method:

Mix the flours and most of the water except for about 100ml. Make sure everything is incorporated. Cover a keep in a warm room for half an hour before you add the ripe starter, salt and the molasses and malted mix)

I tend to do this bit in the KitchenAid to ease to mess I make. Once it’s fully incorporated, it’s time for slap and folding kneading technique, which once you master very satisfying.

Bulk fermentation:

For the next 3.5 hours the dough is bulk fermenting. You’ll need to perform 3 sets of stretch and folds. A stretch and fold is with when you with the bowl in front of you grab and lift the dough and fold it over, you do this 4 times; top to bottom, left to right, bottom to top and finally right to left.

You’re gonna do the first stretch and fold after 15 mins and every 30 mins after that. Once you’ve performed your third fold, you’l need to leave the dough to rest and perform its magic. Remember to cover the dough for the whole fermentation process.

Divide and preshape:

With a bowl containing water and your bench knife ready, you gently tip out the dough on to your counter top. Dip your bench in the water and wet your fingers (this will ease handling of the dough). Cut the dough in half with your bench knife simultaneously pulling away with your wet fingers. Your two halves now need to be preshaped. I tend to fold the dough in on itself essentially like an envelope. flip it over so the folds are underneath and then try to tighten the dome. repeat this with the other half. Bench rest for about 20 mins.

 

Shape:

There are several great videos online showing this method. I tend to flip over the preshaped dome and pull at it, so it becomes elongated, then I grab top left side and fold it over and conversely do the same with the right hand side of the dough just a little further down so it loosely becomes a zigzag pattern. I then fold the top part over towards me, so the seam is on the bottom. Time to turn and shape until you have a nice tight dome. once finished, you turn it over bottom up in a prepared bowl with tea towel dusted with rice flour. Cover the bowl in plastic and it’s time to cold ferment over night. reapeat the second half. See you in the morning

 

Bake:

Preheat your oven to 265 C with Dutch oven inside. Once the oven has reached the required temperature, it’s time to take out your first bowl from the fridge. Taking a sheet of greaseproof paper along a chopping board, you place it on top the bowl with your dough in, flip it over. Take out your Dutch oven. With your dough boule the right way around, now it’s time to score. Take a blade  and confidently slice into the dough. Kinda any pattern will do. I tend to do 3 zigzags along the top and a few ornamental cuts a long the edges. Get creative!

Tie to cover your Dutch oven and put the whole thing in the oven. As you do turn the temp down to 235C and bake for 20 mins. This is when oven spring happens. After 20 mins, take off the lid (if possible, leave the lid in the oven next to the base, so that it keeps the heat) and bake for another 30 mins. Once baked, out it comes and on to wire rack and it’s time for loaf no.2.

Turn temperature up to 265C again and once reached the whole procedure starts again.

The result is a bread packed full of flavour with a thick crumbly crust. I leave my breads to cool completely and when it’s time pour some delicious virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar into a ramekin, sprinkle with sea salt, cut a slice and dip. Heaven!!!