Try @marielesterbaker’s hemp-enriched sourdough recipe for a delicious, flavourful loaf with good volume and a tasty crumb. Make two loaves with ease using the below step-by-step guide and equipment list. Enjoy a rich, mellow, nutty flavour with a hint of grass in every bite.
Happy baking!
Equipment:
1 mixing bowl
2 bannetons
1 Dutch oven (2 will allow you to bake 2 breads simultaneously)
Baking paper
Brown rice flour to dust
1 lame to score
Ingredients:
60g spelt
200g burrato type 2
40g hemp flour
400g bread flour (preferably Manitoba)
500g water
140g starter
14g salt dissolved in 20g water
Method and timings are based on a kitchen temperature of 19C. If your kitchen is hotter or colder than this, expect the timings below to vary.
1. Roughly mix the flours and water. Make sure that there is no dry flour on the bottom of the bowl. Rest (autolyse) for 1.5 hours.
Note: the dough may seem a little dry initially so give it time to allow the water and flour to bind.
2. Add starter, mix and rest for 1 hour.
3. Add salt and water and mix hard until dough looks integrated; rest for 30 minutes.
4. Perform 1 stretch and fold and rest for 45 minutes.
5. Perform further coil folds every 30-45 minutes - or when the dough visibly relaxes and spreads. With each coil fold the dough should increasingly hold its shape. Watch and feel the dough and how it changes. When you can see that it has visibly increased in volume, when it feels lighter (puffy) and has little bubbles on the surface, move to the next stage (this will take several hours - in my case c3 hours).
6. Pre-shape the dough and rest for 15 minutes.
7. Shape into a batard and place in a banneton. Cover and place on the bottom shelf of your fridge (5c). Leave the dough to retard over night.
8. NEXT DAY - Place a Dutch oven (cast iron casserole) in your oven. Turn the oven on to 250c and heat for 45-60 minutes.
When the oven is hot, remove the dough from the fridge. Turn it out on to a piece of baking paper or baking mat. Dust with rice flour and decorate as desired. Score and use a peel to lift and place in your Dutch oven. Put an ice cube at either end of the Dutch oven/casserole under the baking paper/mat.
Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove lid and reduce the oven temperature to 220c. Bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool for at least an hour.
Repeat with the 2nd dough.
The total fermentation time of these two loaves was as follows:
Ambient bulk on day 1: 6.5 hours
Cold retard overnight: 15 hours
Result:
Good bloom
Rich chestnut coloured crust
Crumb nicely open and dark in colour with a green tinge
Lovely flavour - always hard to describe but I would say richly mellow, rich, nutty with a hint of grass.