Benito's blog

On the weekend we decided that it’s been much too long since I’ve made pizza.  So using the same recipe for sourdough pizza that Will shared with us all during the Community Bake, I put together 4 dough balls so we could have four 9” pizzas over two days.  I didn’t use the diastatic malt, but I think without it I could allow the dough to cold ferment much longer.  Usually I bake after 48-72 hours in the fridge, today’s bake was the 48 hour cold ferment.  I’m thinking without the diastatic malt 72-96 hours would probably be even better.

My partner requested a cheddar and apple bread so I put together this iteration based on Kirsten’s Basic Open Sourdough recipe.

Levain build 1:2:2

20 g mature starter

20 g bread flour

20 g whole wheat flour

40 g water

311 g white bread flour.               74% including levain

46 g whole wheat flour.               21% including levain

This is an adaptation of a Tartine recipe with one of Maurizio’s and using generally the methods of FullProofBaking.  I attempted to score a leaf on the dough but was hilariously unsuccessful in my attempt.  It just looks like random scores on one side.

Levain build 1:2:2

20 g mature starter

20 g bread flour

20 g whole wheat flour

40 g water

311 g white bread flour.               74% including levain

I baked this bread a second time and adjusted what I was doing based on some comments and suggestions I received here and elsewhere.  Because the sweet potato should already be adding sugars to the dough I skipped the diastatic malt.  I also did bulk fermentation at a slightly lower temperature because I thought the last bake could have been a bit overproofed.  I also baked the bread differently based on an idea that Kirsten of FullProofBaking posted.  On the lowest rack I placed a roasting pan with rack and then baked the bread in my Dutch oven on this rack.

To celebrate the naming of my almost one year old starter John Dough, I decided to make biscuits for the first time.  Because I have just enough discard I am making the biscuits using John Dough’s discards.

I made small adjustments to a recipe from thekitchn.com.

This is my first time working with purple sweet potatoes.  I find that the flavour is slightly more floral than the more common orange variety.  I was hoping to have more oven spring from this but overall I’m fairly pleased with the bake.

To make about 900 g total dough 

Levain 20% 74 g 1:1:1 6 hours @ 78ºF

35 g starter 35 g water 35 g whole wheat flour 

Autolyse 2 hours

90% bread flour 331 g

10% white spring flour 41 g (I used Einkorn)

Diastatic malt 0.5% 2.045 g

Water 275 g

I’ve been looking for purple sweet potatoes to make an interesting bread for months without any luck, so I finally decided I would try it with regular orange sweet potatoes.  Yesterday after having roasted my sweet potato and with the levain build going I decided to go for a walk to Chinatown where I haven’t been recently.  I went very early in the morning well before it gets busy at all.  The first grocer I went to had a ton of purple sweet potatoes so I bough a few and next week I think I will use it for a sourdough bread.

We are all seeing how flour is harder to come by lately with the pandemic and everyone baking.  So, when I went to one of my go to places for organic flours here in Toronto I picked up more than I usually do including some Einkorn which I’ve never tasted or baked with on a whim.  I then found an instagram post of Kirsten’s Full Proof Baking that had some einkorn in it and decided to give it a go.

100% hydration levain - 1:1:1 6 hours @ 78ºF 

Levain need 97 g 100% hydration

40 g starter

40 g water

40 g whole wheat flour 

I’m really sorry if I’m boring you guys, but I’m learning a lot as I repeatedly bake the same recipe.  I did this with Maurizio’s Beginner Sourdough and then Kirsten’s basic sourdough and now this 50% whole grain sourdough.  Up until now I hadn’t done any sourdough with this high a whole grain percentage, prior to this my 40% was a flat pancake.  However, after learning a few things in particular lamination when we did the CB with Kirsten, I feel that I’m getting a better handle on building structure.

I’m still trying to hit the sweet spot on this recipe from Maurizio’s The Perfect Loaf.  I’ve posted the recipe that I followed two blog posts earlier.  

I didn’t extend the bulk fermentation this time as I believed that my starter was more active now than for the first bake which I felt was underproofed.  After final shaping I did leave the dough in the banneton on the counter for 30 mins before placing it in my 3ºC refrigerator for its cold retard overnight.