Cherry Yeast Water Sourdough Italian Bread with Apricots, Seeds and Nuts

It had been a while since we had used our cherry yeast water so we decided to make aa large 1 stage levain using some hard bits that was a 13% extraction multigrain soft and some AP.  It was refrigerated for 2 days after it doubled for this bake but we used some of it yesterday to make the cherry YW buns.

Lucy also thought it would be nice to add in a smaller SD levain too, making our favorite combo levain of 2 natural levains,  so that the bread would have the tiniest bit of tang and some much better keeping quality.  This two was made from the same 13% extraction sifted hard bits and was single stage build.  The SD levain was refrigerated for 18 hours after it doubled on the counter.

With the overnight lows in the upper 60’s the past couple pf days, we thought we could get away with having a larger total levain especially if the larger part was the slow acting  yeast water and still be able to have a long slow rising retard for the final proof. 

Being cooler, Lucy took this as a small opening to really pump up her Italian inspired ingredient list as well.  A little opening for her is really a huge and wide chasm and she didn’t disappoint.  2 Starters, 1 fruit 8 flours with 6 of them whole grains, 2 kinds of nuts; hazelnuts and almonds, and 6 kinds of seeds and 3 different liquids: apricot soaker water, coconut water and water rounded out the liquids.

This wouldn’t qualify for the minimum 15 Flour and No More Than 30 Ingredient Challenge bake but it is more than half way there.  But she wasn’t done yet either.  Lucy decided to do a new kind of bread shape that we have never tried before.

You roll out the final dough into a10” wide by 18” long rectangle, sprinkle on poppy and sesame seeds, cut it into 6 strips the long way with a pizza cutter, twist each strip and then twist all the strips together and then make a final circle with the twisted up rope.  The hydration was a little high for this and the strips were a little sticky so, when you make it ,you want to cut the hydration down to 72%.

You put the twisted up circle on parchment so that it can be easily transferred to the oven.   I think she saw this shaping on one of the cooking shows that originated out of London.  I’m guessing it was Lorraine Pascale, since she is a baker, but Lucy can’t remember for sure.

The things we kept sort of normal after we got the levains out of the fridge were: 1hour of autolyse for the dough flour and liquid with the salt sprinkled on top, 3 sets of slap and folds of 7, 2 and 1 minute followed by 3 sets of stretch and folds all on 20 minute intervals.  

We did pre-soak the dried apricots for the dough liquid and the chia seeds so that we could put these seeds into the dough without them stealing all the liquid.  The Apricots were squeezed to get the liquid out and then paper towel dried after they soaked for 24 hours in the fridge  We wanted to make sure they weren’t going to transfer any extra liquid to the dough.   My wife drank a half a can of coconut water before she decided she didn’t like it so Lucy used some of it for the dough liquid.

The seeds (less the poppy and sesaame seeds), nuts and apricots were added to the mix on the first set of stretch and folds and were complexly incorporated by the end of the 3rd set.  Then the rolling, seeds sprinkling, slicing, twisting and shaping began.  The final donut shaped loaf was bagged and placed in the fridge for a 20 hour retard and baking the next morning.

The bread didn’t proof much in the fridge and, when we took it out the next morning,  we set it on the counter for 3 hours to warm up  We then fired up  Big Old Betsy to 500 F and readied the Mega Steam.  Once the oven hit temperature we put the steaming apparatus on the bottom rack and in 15 minutes the stones were at temperature and the steam was billowing.

We slid the dough onto the bottom stone with a peel while turning the oven down to 465 F for 15 minutes of steam.  Once the steam came out we turned the oven down to 425 F convection until the bread registered 208 F on the inside.

It puffed and browned up nicely and came out of the oven crunchy.  We will have to see how this beautiful loaf on the outside looks on the inside and how it tastes once we cut it for lunch.  This bread is delicious.  The crumb came out fairly open for a 50% whole grain bread with so much other stuff in it,  was very soft and moist too.  It made a fine baconaise, black forest ham, smoked Gouda, lettuce and tomato sandwich to go with the bow tie pasta, assorted fruits, veggies and salad.  You can't buy this bread anywhere but if you could it would be sold out:-)  So treat yourself and your loved ones by making one of  your own  - a perfect bread for the holidays.  For those who aren't into sour bread, this one fits the bill as the YW mutes the tang. 

Formula

 Lucy reminds us to not forget the salad