Sourdough Bread with Olives

Sourdough Bread with Olives

It’s no secret in my neighborhood that I love to bake. So now and then a neighbor nudge me to bake some bread. So in honor of my olive-loving neighbor, I tried a, for me, new filling for my sourdough breads - olives. Prior to this I’ve used artichoke/parmesan or walnuts with big success. So even though I still love the walnut one very much, the olive bread comes in as a very close second. It’s really good!!

But if you are the type of person that love nutella or pålægschokolade (thin slices of chocolate, used on bread in Denmark) this bread will not be the best option for you. But if you are a chocolate covered olives kind og guy - well go right ahead.. 😂

This bread is great to have with cheese, cold cuts, soups or simply with some butter.

Makes 2 breads.

Ingredients:

Leaven:

• 3 tablespoons sourdough starter (fed 8 hours prior)

• 200 g water (78℉/25℃)

• 100 g all-purpose flour

• 100 g whole wheat flour

Bread dough:

• 720 g water (80℉/27℃)

• 250 g leaven

• 800 g all-purpose flour

• 200 g whole wheat flour

• 20 g salt

• 50 g water

Filling:

• 375 g pitted olives, I used ⅓ green olives

• zest of 2 lemons

Sprinkles:

• rice flour

Directions

Prepare the Leaven - 8am day 1.

The man in the cup - testing the readiness of the leaven. Here you see it floating on the water.

Mix the ingredients in a medium bowl, and let it sit covered on the kitchen counter for 7-8 hours. To test leaven's readiness, drop a spoonful into a bowl of room-temperature water. If it sinks, it is not ready and needs more time to ferment and ripen. If it floats, it's ready to use.

Save your leftover leaven.  It will be your starter/sourdogh for next time you bake. Read here how to feed and keep a sourdough starter.

Mixing the dough - 5pm day 1.

Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl, adding leaven, stir to disperse. Add flours and mix dough with your hands until no dry flour remain. Let rest covered with a tea towel on the counter for about 30 minutes. Mix in salt and remaining 50 grams warm water with your hands. Transfer the dough to a medium plastic container or a glass bowl. Cover with lid or kitchen towel. (I use a dough-rising bucket like this.)

I use the folding technique from the basic country bread a la Tartine during the fermentation. Instead of kneading the dough, I stretch and fold the dough, by reaching my hand under the dough and pull one side up and over onto itself. This will help build up the gluten network. The rise is temperature sensitive. As a rule, warmer dough ferments faster. Robertson tries to maintain the dough at 78℉ to 82℉ to accomplish the bulk fermentation in 3 to 4 hours. I ferment my dough in my oven on the proof setting, 85℉/29.5℃. I add the filling during the folding, by adding a little at a time, so the distribution will be evenly.

Do the fold every 30 minutes during the 3 hours.

Shaping the dough - 8-9 pm day 1.

Gently pull the dough out of container, onto an un-floured surface, using a dough spatula. Lightly flour the top of the dough and use a bench knife to cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. As you cut the first piece, use the bench knife to flip it over, so the floured side now rest on the work surface. Do the same with the second piece of dough.

While working with the dough you want to incorporate as little flour as possible. Work each piece into a round using scraper and one hand. Tension will build as the dough slightly anchors to the surface as you rotate it. By the end, the dough should have a taut, smooth surface. Dust tops off rounds with flour, cover with a tea towel, and let rest on the work surface for 20 to 30 minutes. During this stage, (bench rest), each round will relax and spread into a thick pancake shape. The edges should appear fat and rounded, not flat or "dripping" off the edge. If the dough is flat or the dough is spreading too much, the dough has not developed a strong enough gluten network during the bulk fermentation. To correct this, shape the dough into a round for a second time and let it sit to rest covered once more.

The final shaping:

To form the loaf's, carefully turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface with the floured side down, using the bench knife. Now the underside is facing up. Be careful not to deflate the dough. This final shaping builds up tension inside each loaf, so it holds its form and rises substantially when baked. This is called "oven spring."

Fold the third of the dough closest to you up and over the middle third of the round. Stretch out the dough horizontally to your right and fold this right third over the center. Stretch the dough to your left and fold this third over the previous fold. You are now starting to get a neat package. Stretch out the third of the dough farthest from you and fold this flap toward you, over the previous folds, and anchor it in place with your fingers. Then grab the dough nearest to you and wrap it up and over, while rolling the whole package away from you, that the smooth underside of the loaf now is on the top and all the seams are on the bottom. Let the shaped loaf rest on the counter for a minute. Fold the other loaf the same way.

Line two baskets with clean tea towels generously dusted with rice flour. These bowls will hold the fermenting dough overnight in the fridge to proof. Using the dough scraper, transfer each round to a basket, smooth side down, with seam centered and facing up. Cover the dough loosely with tea towel, and place it in a large ziplock bag - do not close the bag. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator overnight.

Baking the Bread - day 2.

Pull the loves out of the refrigerator, removing the bowls from the ziplock bag. Let the bowls on the kitchen counter while you preheat the oven and dutch/French oven to 500℉ (260℃), with rack in lowest position.

Flip one bread into hot dutch/french oven. Score top twice using a razor blade matfer lame. Cover with lid. Return to oven, and reduce oven temperature to 450℉ (232℃). Bake for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove lid and continue to bake until crust is deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes more.

Transfer loaf to a wire rack. It will feel light and sound hollow when tapped. Mix the topping and spread it on top of the hot crust, then let the loaf cool. Letting the bread cool, is the hardest thing.

To bake the second loaf, raise oven temperature to 500℉ (260℃), wipe out dutch/French oven with a dry kitchen towel, and reheat with lid for about 10-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

A look inside.

Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Bread

Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Bread

This bread is a take on the garlic artichoke bread from Pescadero's Arcangeli Market, but in a sourdough version. The original bread is really yummy. My neighbor introduced the bread to me, and it paired perfectly with cheese, charcuterie and some red wine. But I felt it could benefit from the sourdough texture. And boy was I right?

I baked my test loafs last Friday, being the first sourdough bread baked in my 'new' oven. (I have had this oven for almost a year, but who is counting??).

I decided to share the great bread with my neighbors, who introduced me to the original, as a thank you. I do believe they liked it. 

Makes 2 loafs.

Ingredients:

Leaven:

• 2 tablespoons mature sourdough

• 200 g warm water (80℉/26℃)

• 100 g whole wheat flour

• 100 g all-purpose flour

Dough:

• 700 g warm water (80℉/26℃)

• 200 g leaven

• 900 g all-purpose flour

• 100 whole wheat flour

• 16 g salt

• 50 g warm water (80℉/26℃)

Filling:

• 340 g well drained artichoke hearts in water, quartered

• 100 g grated parmesan

Topping

• italian spiced

• chopped garlic

• olive oil

Directions:

Draining the artichokes.

Leaven:

Day 1, morning: The morning before you plan to make the dough, feed the sourdough starter. Mix the sourdough starter from your refrigerator in water, and add flours. Mix well so you don't have any lumps of dry flour. I do this in the container that I keep my sourdough starter in. Let rest on the counter for 8-10 hours.

Day 1 - night: Mix 200 g leaven with water and flours. Mix well so you don't have any lumps of dry flour. Let rest overnight on the kitchen counter. 

Drain the artichokes:  quarter them, and place them on paper towels, to dry them as much as possible. Keep them in the refrigerator overnight. 

Day 2, morning: To test leaven's readiness, drop a spoonful into a bowl of room-temperature water. If it sinks, it is not ready and needs more time to ferment and ripen. If it floats, it's ready to use. As it develops, the smell will change from ripe and sour to sweet and pleasantly fermented.

Make the Dough:

Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl, adding leaven, stir to disperse. Save your leftover leaven.  It will be your sourdough starter for next time you bake. Add flours and mix dough with your hands until no bits of dry flour remain. Let rest covered with a tea towel on your counter for 30 minutes. Add salt and remaining 50 grams warm water. Transfer to a medium plastic container or a glass bowl. Cover with kitchen towel. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Adding small amount of filling, when folding the dough.

Folding:

I use the folding technique from the basic country bread a la Tartine during the fermentation. Instead of kneading the dough I stretch and fold the dough, which helps build up the gluten network. The rise is temperature sensitive. As a rule, warmer dough ferments faster. Robertson tries to maintain the dough at 78℉ to 82℉ to accomplish the bulk fermentation in 3 to 4 hours. I ferment my dough in my oven on the proof setting, 85℉/29.5℃.
Fold dough, repeating every 30 minutes for about 2½ to 3 hours. To do a fold: Dip one hand in water to prevent sticking. Grab the underside of the dough, stretch it out, and fold it back over itself. Rotate container one-quarter turn, and repeat. Do this 2 or 3 times for each fold. After the first fold, let the dough rest covered for 30 minutes. Add a little of the cheese and artichoke on top of the dough, before the next 4-6 foldings, to incorporate the filling into the dough. After the 3 hours, the dough should feel aerated and softer, and you will see a 20 to 30 percent increase in volume. If not, continue bulk fermentation for 30 minutes to 1 hour more.

Gently pull the dough out of container using a dough spatula onto an unfloured surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough and use a bench knife to cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. As you cut the first piece, use the bench knife to flip it over, so the floured side now rest on the work surface. Do the same with the second piece of dough.

While working with the dough you want to incorporate as little flour as possible. Work each piece into a round using scraper and one hand. Tension will build as the dough slightly anchors to the surface as you rotate it. By the end, the dough should have a taut, smooth surface. Dust tops of rounds with flour, cover with a tea towel, and let rest on the work surface for 20 to 30 minutes. During this stage, (bench rest), each round will relax and spread into a thick pancake shape. The edges should appear fat and rounded, not flat or "dripping" off the edge. If the dough is flat or the dough is spreading too much, the dough has not developed a strong enough gluten network during the bulk fermentation. To correct this, shape the dough into a round for a second time and let it sit to rest covered once more. 

The final shaping:

To form the loaf's, carefully turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface with the floured side down, using the bench knife. Now the underside is facing up. Be careful not to deflate the dough. This final shaping builds up tension inside each loaf, so it holds it's form and rises substantially when baked. This is called "oven spring."

Fold the third of the dough closest to you up and over the middle third of the round. Stretch out the dough horizontally to your right and fold this right third over the center. Stretch the dough to your left and foldt this third over the previous fold. You are now starting to get a neat package. Stretch out the third of the dough farthest from you and fold this flap toward you, over the previous folds, and anchor it in place with your fingers. Then grab the dough nearest to you and wrap it up and over, while rolling the whole package away from you, that the smooth underside of the loaf now is on the top and all the seams are on the bottom. Let the shaped loaf rest on the counter for a minute. Fold the other loaf the same way.

Line two baskets with clean tea towels generously dusted with flour. Using the dough scraper, transfer each round to a basket, smooth side down, with seam centered and facing up. Let rest at room temperature (75℉ to 80℉), covered with towels for 3 to 4 hours before baking.

Baking the Bread:

20-40 minutes before you are ready to bake the bread, preheat oven and dutch/French oven to 500℉ (260℃), with rack in lowest position.

Flip one bread into heated dutch/french oven. Score top twice using a razor blade matfer lame. Cover with lid. Return to oven, and reduce oven temperature to 450℉ (232℃). Bake for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove lid and continue to bake until crust is deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes more.

Transfer loaf to a wire rack. It will feel light and sound hollow when tapped. Mix the topping and spred it on top of the hot crust, then let the loaf cool. Letting the bread cool, is the hardest thing.

To bake the second loaf, raise oven temperature to 500℉ (260℃), wipe out dutch/French oven with a dry kitchen towel, and reheat with lid for about 10-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sourdough Chocolate Bread

Sourdough Chocolate Bread

In Denmark you can bye rye bread with chocolate, and I've seen a lot of sweet chocolate breads with dried fruits. But until I stumbled across this bread from Chocolate & Zucchini, I had no intention off making a chocolate bread. I liked the idea of an unsweetened sourdough bread with small chunks of good dark chocolate. 

This bread is perfect for an afternoon snack, with a thin layer of cream cheese and sliced strawberries on top. It tastes a bit like a piece of cake, but not as sweet, you may even say that it’s healthy, since chocolate is considered a vegetable by some.

Ingredients:

Leaven:

• 1 dl sourdough starter (the leaven you saved in the refrigerator, from last time you baked)
• 2 dl water
• 1 dl whole wheat flour
• 1 dl all-purpose flour

Bread:

• 200 g leaven
• 525 g bread flour (high in protein)
• 50 g dutch processed cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon dry yeast
• 425 g water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 125 g dark chocolate, Valrhona, chopped

Directions:

Leaven:

Feed the starter to make the leaven. The leaven is ready to use when the leaven is bubbling and smells like beer - after about 8 hours at room temperature. Cover the bowl with the leaven with plate or a clean towel. 

Save about 200 g leaven and put it aside in a sealed container. This will be your sourdough starter for the next batch of bread. It will keep without feeding for about 14 days in the refrigerator.

Feeding it is like making the leaven. Just pour out the liquid on top of the starter, and discard all but 1 dl of the starter. Mix in flour and water, and leave it on the kitchen counter for about 8 hours, until it's nice and bubbly. Now it will keep for another 14 days in the refrigerator before feeding.

Dough:

In the large bowl for you stand mixer, combine water, leaven and yeast with flour and cocoa powder. Mix for about 3-5 minutes, and then set to rest for 20-30 minutes. 

Mix in salt and chocolate. Let the dough start fermentation at room temperature for about an hour. 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and pour it onto the floured kitchen counter. Cover it with a clean kitchen towel, and let it get to room temperature, 2-3 hours. Make two rounds, and let them rise for another hour. 

Folding:

Fold the third of the dough closest to you up and over the middle third of the round. Stretch out the dough horizontally to your right and fold this right third over the center. Stretch the dough to your left and fold this third over the previous fold. You are now starting to get a neat package. Stretch out the third of the dough farthest from you and fold this flap toward you, while rolling the whole package away from you, that the smooth underside of the loaf now is on the top and all the seams are on the bottom. Let the shaped loaf rest on the counter for a minute. Fold the other loaf the same way.

Let the dough rest in baskets generously dusted with rice flour. Using the dough scraper, transfer each round to a basket, smooth side down, with seam centered and facing up. Let rest at room temperature (75℉ to 80℉), covered with towels for 3 to 4 hours before baking.

Baking the Bread:

Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake the bread, pre-heat oven and  dutch/french oven to 500 degrees, with rack in lowest position.

Flip one bread into heated dutch/french oven. Score top twice using a razor blade matfer lame. Cover with lid. Return to oven, and reduce oven temperature to 430℉. Bake for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove lid and continue to bake another 15-20 minutes.

Transfer loaf to a wire rack. It will feel light and sound hollow when tapped. Let cool.

Enjoy!

Adapted from chocolate&zucchini.

The danish version:

Chokoladebrød bagt på surdej

Ingredienser:

Surdej:

• 1 dl surdej (den surdej du har haft i køleskabet siden du bagte sidst)
• 2 dl vand
• 1 dl grahams mel
• 1 dl hvedemel

Brød:

• 200 g surdej
• 525 g hvedemel (gerne med højr proteinindhold)
• 50 g kakaopulver (Valrhona)
• ½ tsk tørær eller 5 g alm. gær
• 425 g vand
• 2 tsk salt
• 125 g mørk chokolade, Valrhona, groft hakket

Fremgangsmåde:

Surdej:

For at kunne bruge surdejen til bagning, skal du fodre den. Jeg plejer at tage ca. 1 dl "gammel" surdej og blande den med 2 dl vand, 1 dl hvedemel og 1 dl grahamsmel, og så røre det godt sammen. Lad den nye surdej stå tildækket på køkkenbordet i ca. 8 timer, indtil den bobler lystigt og dufter af øl. Herefter tager du det fra du skal bruge til bagningen og kommer resten i køleskabet i et syltetøjsglas eller lignende. Nu kan surdejen holde sig 14 dage i køleskabet, inden du skal fodre den igen. 

Dejen:

Kom vand, surdej, mel, gær og kakao i skålen til din røremaskine og ælt dejen sammen i ca. 3- 5 minutter. Lad derefter dejen hvile i 20-30 minutter før du går videre.

Bland salt og chokolade i, og start hævningen ved stuetemperatur den første times tid. Dæk skålen til med plastisk film og kom den i køleskabet i 8-12 timer.

Tag dejen op og hæld den ud på et meldækket bord og dæk den til med et rent viskestykke. Lad dejen ligge og komme op til stuetemperatur i ca 2-3 timer. Del herefter dejen i 2 kugler og lad dem hæve yderligere 1 time.

Foldning:

Fold den trediedel der er tættest på dig hen over midten af dejen. Stræk dejen ud til siderne og fold siderne indover midten på dejen en ad gangen. Til sidst tages den del længest væk fra dig og foldes godt ind over de andre foldninger, men du spænder dejen op, så den bliver glat. Gør det samme med den anden dejklump.

Drys rismel (eller hvedemel) i hævekurvene og læg dejen i med samlingen øverst, og lad brødene hæve ved satue temperatur i 3-4 timer.

Bagning:

Omkring 20 minutter før du skal bage brødene, forvarm ovnen med en støbejernsgryde (med låg) til 260℃.

Vend brødet ud i den varme støbejernsgryde, snit i toppen af brødet med et barberblad og læg låget på. Kom gryden tilbage i ovnen og skru temperaturen ned til 220℃. Bag brødet under låg i ca. 20 minutter.

Fjern låget og bag videre i 15-20 minutter, indtil brødet er færdigt, og lyder hult, når du banker på bunden af det.

Afkøl brødet helt før du serverer det.

Velbekomme!

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site.