Kalamata Olive, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Feta Sourdough

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It was time to do a repeat of this particular loaf. The recipe is very slightly tweaked from my original version.

1. Chop 100 g of Kalamata olives, 50 g of sun-dried tomatoes in oil and 100 g of feta. Add in 1/4 tsp of dried thyme and 2 tsps of dried oregano.

2. Autolyse all of the above with 705 g of water, 550 g of unbleached flour, 200 g of multigrain flour, 202 g of freshly milled Selkirk wheat flour and 50 g of freshly ground flax. Let sit for a couple of hours.

3. Mix in 21 g salt, 266 g of 80% hydration levain and 10 g of water. Use pinching and folding to integrate well.

4. Do 3 sets of folds 30 to 45 minutes apart and let rise until double. This took forever (~7 hours) because my kitchen was cool and my usual warm spot (oven with the light on and the door cracked open) was in use by the daughter.

5. Divide into 3 portions, pre-shape loosely into boules, let rest 10-15 minutes and shape tightly into boules. Place in rice/unbleached floured bannetons, cover and put into fridge for 10-12 hours.

6. The next morning, heat up the oven and the dutch ovens to 475 F. Load the boules into the dutch ovens lined with parchment paper rounds and bake covered at 450 F for 25 minutes. Remove lids and bake a further 22 minutes at 425 F. 

I haven't cut into our loaf yet but my friends who bought loaves are telling me that it is delicious!

The husband is shaking his head at me exclaiming at how good this looks --- he knows that I heartily dislike olives and sundried tomatoes, yet you've made this look so good that I'm STILL tempted!

That is a seriously creamy crumb for that amount of add-ins --- awesome job!

... and in my imagination it smells divine! Awesome combination. Is the ground flax for structure or flavour? I've started using ground flax and water as an egg substitute; seems to work well.

Well done!

And good for you too! I've also used flax water (the mucilaginous water left from soaking some flax seeds) to make bread softer and give better dough structure (if you don't want the seeds to end up in the bread).