Enriched Sourdough Boule

I know that these slices and the boule in whole looks far from perfect, but was satisfactory from the taste aspect. It wasn’t tangy or sour just like the way we wanted. But yes, could have had better holes and a more open crumb just like a good sourdough bread. Maybe it was slightly under proofed or that the starter was not

strong enough or maybe the flour was not strong enough. But it’s worth a try. I am reiterating that sourdough bread would behave much differently than commercial yeast breads. Please follow a schedule according to your convenience. The rising time could be very different than mentioned in the recipe. So, do not worry if your dough takes more time to rise. Its all about your judgement and how the dough feels at each step be it, kneading or stretch n fold or coil fold.

If you do not have bread flour, use all purpose flour. I have used Matt and Keith’s unbromated and unbleached bread flour from wildpep.com. I have used a 240 ml cup.

Ingredients:

For the levain:

• Starter 30 gm
• Whole wheat flour 80 gm
• Lukewarm water 90 gm
• Sugar 2 tbsp

For the dough:

• Bread flour 300 gm
• Levain entire amount
• Milk 3/4 cup
• Salt to taste
• Butter 1-2 tbsp

Method:

To make the levain:

• Mix around 80 grams of whole wheat flour to 30 grams of starter.
• Add sugar and lukewarm water and mix well to form a smooth batter. Note that I have made a sweet levain here.
• Keep it in a warm place till it doubles in size. Mine took around three hours.

To make the dough:

• Take lukewarm milk (you may keep around one or two tablespoons of milk aside) in a big mixing bowl. Add the entire levain to it and mix well till there are no lumps.

• To this mixture, now add the bread flour and mix well with a wooden spatula. Make sure that there are no dry flour particles.

• Cover and keep aside for around half an hour. This is the autolysis period.

• After the autolysis stage, add salt mixed with a tablespoon of milk or water and squish it into the dough.
• Knead the dough on a clean kitchen counter till the dough looks smooth, elastic and bouncy
• Incorporate the butter into the dough while kneading.
• Transfer the dough into a well oiled bowl and allow it to double in volume. You can perform a set of folds at an interval of 30 minutes for around three times. Wet your hands, pull at one end of the dough and fold onto itself. Rotate the bowl by 90 degrees and repeat it. Do it on all four sides of the dough. You may refer you tube videos on how to do stretch and fold on the dough.

• After the three set of folds, you will notice that the dough has become more stronger and elastic and wouldn’t break on stretching. Now allow it to rest till it’s almost double in volume. Mine took almost 3.5-4 hours from the time the dough was mixed.

• Once the dough has doubled, gently degas it and roll it into a taut boule (ball) and allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes. This is the bench rest time.

• Take a clean cotton towel (avoid the hairy Turkish ones) and dust it literally with rice flour. Place the towel in a banneton or a mixing bowl.

• Now sprinkle some flour on the counter and spread the dough lightly. Roll it and tuck the dough onto itself and seal the seams. Place the boule with the seam side up into the prepared cotton towel.

• Cover the ball with the ends of the towel and allow it to almost double.
• Once the dough looks ready to be baked, check using the poke test (if on poking lightly, if the indentation fills up lightly it’s ready to be baked). Mine took almost 2-2.5 hours to become nice and puffy. Please pay attention to the behaviour of your dough. Proofing times could vary according to your starter strength, nature of flour, temperature and humidity of your place. Very difficult to judge if the proofing is enough or not. Trust me, with experience you will be in a better position to judge.
• You may refrigerate the dough for 10-15 minutes before you bake, so that it’s easy to score it.
• If you have a Dutch oven, preheat it at the maximum temperature setting of your oven with both rods and fan mode on for around half an hour. You may use a cast iron tawa, pan or a kadhai.

• Invert the boule onto a well dusted (with rice flour) sheet of parchment paper placed on a wooden peel or board. So now the seam side is at the bottom.
• Make scoring on the bread (please refer videos, you can be at creative best at it) and brush away the excess flour with a pastry brush.

• Open the oven door and carefully take out the preheated Dutch oven. Place the parchment paper into it and close the lid.
• Place it into the oven and bake with the lid on for around 20 minutes.
• Now remove the lid and bake at 220-230 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes till the bread looks nice and golden.

• You may check the internal temperature of the bread using a food thermometer. It should be around 100 degree Celsius.
• Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and transfer the boule along with the parchment paper onto a wire rack.

• Cool completely …. atleast for three hours before you slice them.

• Enjoy these naturally leavened bread without any commercial yeast or additives or harmful chemicals. It’s absolute bliss. Trust me on this 🙂

• The schedule I followed was as follows:

1. 7 am: prepared the levain
2. 10:30 am: autolyse the dough
3. 11 am: added the salt and kneaded
4. 11:45 am: first fold
5. 12:15 pm: second fold
6. 12:45 pm: third fold
7. 2:30 pm: bench rest
8. 2:50 pm: final shaping
9. 5:25 pm: baking

Notes:

• Please follow a schedule that suits you. Use recipes only as a guidance.
• Proofing times, amount of liquid, rise everything will vary from person to person.
• I am not claiming this to be a perfectly proofed bread. It could be very well under proofed.
• I am uploading this post as many of you have been messaging me saying that their starter is ready.
• There are thousands of recipes to make a basic sourdough boule avd you can follow any.
• But make sure that you have done your homework well and you know the nuances and basics of sourdough breads. The proofing time might vary drastically than that mentioned in the recipe depending on the type of flour we get here, our weather conditions, temperature, strength of starter and many other factors. Be ready to take risks and chances. You can’t learn sourdough baking without experimenting. Note down the salient features of each of your bake. Try to understand and analyse how things have worked/not worked.
• You can bake sourdough breads without sugar, butter/oil and eggs.
• You will have to adjust the amount of starter or levain used in the recipe to reduce or increase tanginess in the bread.
• Lastly, it’s very much an acquired taste. Not necessary that we will like the taste in the first attempt. Honestly speaking, I didn’t like the taste very much when I tried sourdough bread three years back. Now I am experimenting to make it fit for our palate.
• If we feed the starter very often, the breads wouldn’t be sour. But unfortunately, if we bake very minimally, it’s a bit tricky to do it. So, somewhere along the way we have to strike a balance.
• Do share your thoughts and experiences either in the comments section or mail me at pradeepa.nair0@gmail.com
• And lastly, I was quite sceptical whether the grill rack of my Borosil Prima 60 would be strong enough to bear the weight of my Prestige Dutch oven. But thankfully it did well and there were no mishaps. If you do not have a Dutch oven, you can use a cast iron kadhai or skillet or any heavy bottom pateela or vessel. Even a good clay pot should work well (I haven’t used so not very sure though I have heard people say so).