Sourdough bread with purple wheat
Sourdough breads are so delicious. But add a little bit of special grains and you got yourself a treat. The combination of purple wheat and the Scandianvian øland wheat flours make this loaf shine. Both an incredibly nice dough to work with and an amazing mild nutty taste in the final loaf. Check out the detailed process below!
Equipment
- kitchen scale
- transparent jar
- mixing bowl
- bench knife/ dough scraper
- banneton (1/2 kg)
- bread lame/ sharp serated knife
- dutch oven/ baking stone/steel
- oven tray to produce steam if baking on a stone/steel
Ingredients
Levain build
- 25 g mature starter
- 25 g filtered water temperature neutral to touch
- 25 g strong bread flour
Dough build
- 245 g filtered water temperature neutral to touch
- 70 g levain at peak
- 70 g purple wheat flour whole grain if possible; stone ground will also work
- 35 g øland wheat flour stone ground
- 210 g strong bread flour stone ground
- 7 g sea salt
Extra
- flour to dust the working surface
- rice flour to line the banneton
- semolina/ corn flour (optional) for baking
- hot water if baking on a stone/steel
Instructions
Day 1 - levain and dough build
- Build the levain in the morning. In a jar add the water, starter and flour and mix well. Place in a warm spot until it rises to its peak level (4-6h, depending on your starter's schedule).
- When your levain is at peak, start building the dough. In a mixing bowl add the water, then the levain and stir a bit until the levain dissolves. Add the flours and with your hand or with a spatula mix everything together until all the flour is wet. Make sure there are no pockets of dry flour left. Cover and let rest in a warm place for 30 minutes (fermentolyse).
- Add the salt and dimple into the dough with your wet fingers. Fold the edges to cover the salt, then squeeze and start working the dough so the salt distributes well. I use a mix of Rubaud kneading method and a one handed slap and fold directly into the bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes more.
- Perform a strong stretch & fold. Cover and let rest another half an hour in a warm place.
- Perform 3 coil folds separated by 30 minutes. Handle the dough as gentle as possible towards the end, as it's becoming more airy. If you feel it is already strong enough and holding its shape, perform only half a fold. Listen to the dough.
- After the last coil fold let the dough finish bulk fermentation in a warm place, untouched. For mine it usually takes about one hour more. But look at the dough rather than at the time. You are looking for visible signs of rising (30-50% rise) and fermentation bubbles on top and on the side if using a transparent bowl like I do.
- Transfer the dough on your clean working surface. Use your bench knife to preshape the dough, the let bench rest 15-20 minutes. If the dough is already very proofy, cut the rest short at 15 minutes. If you feel it would need some extra fermentation, you can let it rest for up to 30 minutes or so.
- Lightly dust the preshaped dough and your working surface. Use your dough scraper to turn the preshaped dough upside down on the floured surface. Gently shape your dough in your desired way - boule or batard. Let rest on an unfloured surface for a couple minutes, so it sticks back together.
- Meanwhile lightly dust the banneton. Then gently place the shaped dough in it and stitch if you feel the dough needs a little extra tension. Cover and place in the fridge for cold fermentation overnight (4-6C for 12-20h)
Day 2 - baking
- Check your dough and observe if it's ready to bake - you can do that with the poke test.
- Preheat the oven with the dutch oven (or baking stone/steel and oven tray) inside, at 250C for 45min-1h. If baking on a stone/steel boil some water 5-10 minutes before baking.
- Dust the surface of your proofed loaf with some semolina or corn flour and gently roll out directly in your bottom side of your dutch oven, or on a baking sheet if you have a deep dutch oven or baking on a stone/steel. Score as desired. Cover and return to oven and bake covered for the first 18 min. If baking on a stone/steel, carefully slide the loaf on the hot stone/steel in the oven using a loading tray, then pour about 300ml hot water in the oven tray underneath and quickly close the door to retain the steam.
- Remove the lid carefully and return to oven to finish baking. If baking on a stone/steel, carefully open the door to release the steam. Reduce the heat to 230C and continue baking for 20 minutes more, or until you reach the desired coloration. The bread is ready when it feels light and tapped on the bottom it sounds hollow.
- Let rest on a cooling rack for at least 2h before slicing. The crumb continues cooking inside for a while after taking it out of the oven. Enjoy!