If you have been in the venture of sourdough bread making at home, you probably have gone through a time where you are looking around in your pantry finding inclusions that you can use for your next batch. I was given a beetroot sourdough starter a while back and because it requires fresh beet root juice as part of the feed, I figured I could make some use with its pureed flesh as well. Beet root sourdough is nothing new, let's be real, but then I found some blueberries, and I guess I do not have to tell you what happen next: #20 Sourdough happened. :)

RECIPE

Beetroot Puree

250 g Beetroot

250 g Water

Puree the two ingredients together and press down through a sieve to remove as much liquid as possible. Reserve the beetroot water and beetroot puree separately.

Levain

60 g Starter

60 g Beetroot Juice

15 g Rye Flour

45 g White Baker's Flour

Final Dough

280 g 80% White Baker's Flour (12.5% Protein)

70 g 20% Whole Wheat Baker's Flour

280 g 80% Water at 24 °C

7 g 2% Fine Salt

70 g 20% Levain

Inclusions

90 g Beetroot Puree added with 0.2 g Citric Acid

30 g Fresh Blueberries

Work Flow

11 am Build Levain by mixing all the Levain ingredients together until well combined. Place into a container with a loose lid. Tie a rubber band around the container or jar level with the Levain to monitor activity.

Note: The Levain ratio should take roughly around 4 to 5 hours to triple in volume at a room temperature sitting at 24°C. If your kitchen is particularly cold, place the autolyze dough and the Levain in a warm place and maintain it at between 24°C - 26°C.

2 am An hour prior to the Levain estimated to be ready, Autolyze by mixing the flours and water together.

3 pm To test if the Levain is ready, gently scoop a small amount and drop it into a jar of water. If it floats, it is ready to go. If the Levain sinks, you may need to leave it to mature a little longer before proceeding. If the Levain pass the float test, add in the required amount into the autolyzed dough and mix by hand by pinching and kneading into the dough until it is well incorporated. This process takes around 5 minutes.

Cover the dough in the bowl with a damp tea towel or a plastic and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Note: Sinking Levain is also an indication of the Levain being past its peak and has exhausted its leavening properties. In this case, do not worry, place the autolyzed dough into the fridge and rebuild your Levain again and let it mature at room temperature. 2 hours before the Levain is estimated to be ready, remove the autolyze dough from the fridge and place it at room temperature.

3:30 am Add the salt and lightly wet your hand and rub the salt over the dough to help dissolve the salt. Same as you would mix in the Levain, pinch and knead into the dough until you can no longer feel grains of salt. Cover and leave to rest for another 30 minutes.

4 am Laminated the dough by spraying your work space lightly with some water on a space wide enough to the space that you will be stretching your dough to. Transfer the dough onto the wet spot and starting from the centre always, stretch the dough gently in to a square. You do not need to stretch the dough out too thin but just enough for you to fold the ends over on to each other. Once you have stretched the dough out to a square, gently spread the pureed beetroot and scatter the blueberries on top. Fold the top ends over to the centre then fold the bottom end to fully cover the top. You dough will now shaped like a long rectangle. Now, fold the left side over the the centre then fold the right ends over to fully cover the left ends.

Lightly grease a container, gently lift the dough from the centre and drop the dough into the container allowing the ends from the north and south side to tuck underneath.

Cover the dough and let the dough rest for 30 minutes

4:40 am Perform the First Coil Fold. Cover and rest for another 30 minutes

5:10 pm Perform the Second Coil fold. Cover and rest for 30 minutes

5:40 pm Perform the Third and Final Coil Fold. Cover and rest for an hour.

Note: Through the whole bulk proofing process, the dough are maintained at a constant 24°C

6:40 pm Monitor the strength of the dough, if the dough seems to be holding on to its shape without too much spreading, this means that your dough has build up enough gluten that will help the dough hold on to itself during baking. If this is the case, you can go straight in to final shaping then place the dough into a well dusted proofing basket with the dough's seam facing upwards. Dust the seam side with more flour, then cover the dough with a plastic.

Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before placing into the fridge for its final proof overnight. Dough can be retarded in the fridge for anywhere between 12 to 16 hours prior to baking.

Note: If the dough seems to be spreading out a lot at this point, this means that there are not enough strength in your dough mostly due to the type of flour used. If this is the case, do another set of coil fold, cover the dough for another 30 minutes. Monitor the dough after the 30 minutes to see how it is spreading. Do another few sets of coil fold if necessary but be mindful of not over proofing the dough at this point. Once the dough feels ready and has more tenacity, you can proceed to final shaping and follow the steps above before retarding the loaf in the fridge.

7 am the next day An hour prior to baking the loaf, pre heat the oven with the cast iron pot in the oven to 230°C. At this point, the sourdough is still in the fridge.

8 am Transfer the dough on to the cast iron pot, dust the dough with some flour and score. Place the lid to cover the pot and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, remove the lid and continue to bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until desired crust color is achieved.