Another virtual baking with my Sourdough Buddy Yuli! This week its sesame themed bread and I have just the thing that I thought may go really well with it: Miso :)

This post is for those that have a basic knowledge to sourdough baking. If you want to learn more about sourdough bread baking, visit my post on "Olive Sourdough Bread".

RECIPE

Yield: 2 x 730 g loaves

Duration : 2 Days

Levain

70 g Whole Wheat Baker's Flour

70 g White Baker's Flour

140 g Water at 24°C

140 g Active Starter

Note: When you are making fresh levain, make sure that you save some of the leftover starter and feed it for use in the future.

Final Dough

140 g 20% Whole Wheat Bakers Flour (12% Protein)

560 g 80% White Bakers Flour (Manitoba 14.5% Protein)

580 g 80% Water - reserve 20 g for later

175 g 25% Ripe Levain (All of the above levain)

14 g 2% Fine Salt

Inclusions

This inclusions is enough for two loaves

20 g Black Sesame Seeds

20 g White Sesame Seeds

150 g Room temp water - for soaking

80 g Red miso paste

86% hydration

Note: Depending on the type of flour that you are using, it is recommended that you add the water in increments and adjust if needed.

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients from the Levain recipe together until well combined. Transfer them into a tub or a jar and tie a rubber band around the jar to monitor the growth of your Levain. The Ratio of the Levain used for this recipe is a 100% (meaning equal amount of flours to water) and should take approximately 4 to 6 hours for it to fully triple in volume.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the sesame seeds with the 150 g room temperature water and leave to soak until the Levain is ready. Strain the seeds from the water before including into the final dough.

3 hours later

An hour before the Levain is estimated to be ready, autolyze the dough by combining the flour and water (reserving 20 g) and mix until they form in to a shaggy dough. Cover and leave at room temperature until the Levain is ready. The water used is at 34°C for me since when I was making the dough, it was a rather cold morning. If you are making this dough during summer, you will need to work out the right temperature for the water. The formula for calculating water temperature is below.

Note: If the Levain is not ready in an hour's time from now, it is completely fine to keep the dough autolyzing until it is ready. Do not start mixing the dough until the Levain is ready.

To calculate Final Dough temperature

Desired Dough temperature (DDT) = 24°C

DDT x 4 - (flour tempt + Starter Temp + Friction + Room Temp)

Water Temperature = 24°C x 4 - (21°C (Flour) + 21°C (Starter) + 0 + 20°C RT)

= 96°C - 62°C

Water Temperature = 34°C

1 hour later

To test if the Levain is ready, gently scoop a small amount and drop it into a jug of water (not hot). If the Levain floats above the water, this means that there are lots of air and activities, and it is ready to incorporate into your autolyzed dough. If the Levain falls and sink into the bottom of the jug, this means that it is not active enough and you will need to leave for it for while longer. Be careful not to be too rough with the Levain when you are trying to scoop it out from the tub as this can also knock out the air and cause it to sink under water, which will give you a false indication on the readiness of the Levain.

When the Levain is ready, spread it on top of the autolyzed dough and with your hands lightly dipped into the reserved 30 g water, squeeze the dough and Levain and mix until they are well combined. This process takes roughly around 4 to 5 minutes to do. Once they are well incorporated, scrape the sides of the bowl clean, cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes in a warm place while maintaining the dough at 24°C.

30 minutes later

When the dough have rested, sprinkle the salt on top of the dough. Wet your hands with some of the reserved water and rub them onto the dough to help the salt to dissolves. Just like how you add in the levain, mix the salt into the dough until you can no longer feel grainy bits of salt. This process takes approximately 3 to 5 minutes.

Cover the dough and leave to rest for 1 hour.

The bulk fermentation starts at this point.

1 hour later

When I am making dough enough for two loaves, I like to divide them before incorporating the inclusions through the lamination method.

Working with one dough at a time (if you are making the whole recipe), lightly damp your work bench (do not over saturate otherwise the dough will slide and be hard to work with), place the portion of dough on top and working from the centre, stretch the dough to a rectangle or a square. It does not have to be stretched thin, but wide enough for you to fold the dough on to each other.

Spread the miso paste on top followed by the mixed and strained sesame seeds. Fold the top end towards the centre then fold the opposite ends to fully cover the top. You will now have a strip of dough. Fold one side of the dough lengthwise in to the centre then fold the opposite ends to fully cover the top. If your strips is too long, simply fold twice on one side before covering it with the opposite end of the dough.

Lightly grease a container then transfer the dough in to it and cover. Repeat the same process for the second portion. Cover and leave to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

30 minutes later

Once the dough have rested, perform the first coil fold by lifting the dough with your two hands from the centre. let the two corners from the north and south to fold under then tuck it under. Turn the container 90 degrees and repeat the same process for the other two ends.

Cover and leave to rest for another 30 minutes

30 minutes later

Perform the second coil fold like you would for the first coil fold.

Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes

30 minutes later

Perform the third coil fold then cover and rest for 30 minutes

30 minutes later

Perform the fourth coil fold then cover and rest for 1 hours at room temperature undisturbed for the rest of the bulk fermentation.

Note: Depending on the type of baker's flour you are using, check the dough in 30 minutes and if your dough looks like it is spreading out too much at this point, you can perform another coil fold to further strengthen the dough.

1 hour later

Once the doughs have rested for the rest of the fermentation time, proceed to final shaping the dough. If at this point you feel that the dough is still quite slack, you can pre shape the loaf, cover it on the bench and leave for 30 minutes before final shaping.

My doughs at this point is holding really well on to its shape without too much spreading and I am good to proceed with final shaping.

Generously dust the banneton with some baker's flour and place doughs snugly in to it with the seam side facing out. Cover and leave at room temperature for another 2 hours.

2 hour after final shaping

Place the shaped loafs in the fridge to retard overnight for at least 12 hours and up to 18 hours.

My fridge is sitting at 5 C.

12 hours later

With the sourdoughs still in the fridge, pre heat the oven to 220°C with the cast iron pot in the oven.

Note: It is crucial that you heat the cast iron pot in the oven gradually as you pre heat the oven as sudden shock of heat can cause your pot to crack.

1 hour later after pre heating the oven with the cast iron pot

When you are ready to bake the loaf, remove the sourdough from the fridge. Dust some flour on top of the dough then gently flip it over on to a parchment paper. Dust the top with more flour then brush off the excess. Score the top at a 45 degree angle.

Remove the cast iron pot from the oven (be very careful not to burn yourself, then place the scored sourdough on top. Place the lid on top and opening a small gap of the lid, spray the inside of the pot with some water to create an initial steam. Close the lid immediately and place the pot back into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

After the initial 20 minutes in the oven, remove the the lid and turn down the oven temperature to 200°C then return to baking in the oven for another 30 - 35 minutes or until the desired crust colour is achieved.