Hi Guys,
I am a hobby baker living in Germany and have been playing around making bread from memories I have while growing up in Australia. I really love bread and was a sourdough virgin until a couple of months ago. However I will never go back!
I bought a 1inch thick piece of granite that stays in my oven and I preheat this for an hour before baking to get the oven spring when baking sourdough!
I made my own culture from stone ground flours and mix up the flours regularly to obtain a deeper flavour.
Started with the typical 35g, 15g mix.
This is a recipe for a sourdough baguette that really tasted very good. You can also leave the olives out to have just a lovely nice white sourdough baguette. It is enough dough for 2 normal baguettes or 3 ficelle.
What I have found important is to use flour which has a minimum protein level of 11-11.5g per 100g.
The Dough
| Ingredient | Metric | Imperial | Baker's Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Flour 1050 | 150 grams | 5.3 oz | 41.67% |
| Spelt Flour 1050 | 150 grams | 5.3 oz | 41.67% |
| White Flour 550 | 40 grams | 1.41 oz | 11.11% |
| Rye Wholemeal Flour 1050 | 20 grams | 0.71 oz | 5.56% |
| Sourdough starter | 305 grams | 10.77 oz | 84.72% |
| Warm water | 150 ml | 5 teaspoons | 41.67% |
| Salt | 7 grams | 0.25 oz | 1.94% |
| Kalamata Olives | 100 grams | 3.53 oz | 27.78% |
- Total Flour Weight:
- 360 grams
Percentages are relative to flour weight (flour equals 100%) and every other ingredient is a percentage of this. Flour from the starter is not counted. This recipe was originally in grams and has been automatically converted to other measures.
- Mix flours all together in a bowl then add the starter and water.
- Mix all together and then cover with plastic in a bowl and allow to autolese for 30 minutes.
- Turn this out onto a lightly oiled bench and knead for a few minutes until this comes together and is smooth.
- Let this proof for 2-3 hours covered in an oiled bowl.
- Pit and chop the olives in half.
- Turn this out again and gently knead in the salt and the olives.
(Here you can leave out the olives to obtain a crusty plain sourdough baguette) - Cut into desired portions and shape into baguettes.
- Fold top 1/3 down, then the next 1/3 down and seal the seam with the base of your palm.
- Roll this out slightly and roll the ends.
- Place this into a couche (dusted slightly with polenta or semolina because this is a sticky dough)
- Allow to proof for a minimum of 6-8hrs. 12 is best.
- Turn onto a paddle and onto the baking stone. (Oven and stone preheated to 250 degrees C)
- Make cuts with a lame (razor).
- Add half a cup of water to a baing tray in the bottom of the oven or a skillet to get steam.
- Bake for 20-25 mins then rest of a wire rack.
ENJOY!!
Replies
Hi Bassbarry,
I haven't done baguettes, and I'm interested in the step 8:
So you first shape portions of dough into baguette. What is 'folding down top 1/3'? I know if I had attempted to bake it, it would seem easier to me.
Regards, Josho
i noticed that the olives are mostly at the bottom of your bread. To prevent this, next time dust your olives in flour before adding to the dough
Cheers for the tip!! :)
Hi Josho,
Go for it!
Step 8 is difficult to explain but i'll give it a go.
If you imagine you have a rectangle of dough in front of you, then instead of folding it in half i.e. into 2, imagine the dough is split up into 3 lengthway panels, then fold the top third (panel) down, then fold the bread onto itself and seal with the palm of your hand.
Here is a good video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP-E8qXuIQ4
I'll take some photos next time and post for you.
Currently working on a fig and hazelnut spelt loaf.
Check out the next post.
Hope this helps.
Bassbarry
Hi
I love your method. It doesn't seem to be too protracted. Please could you explain exactly how you refresh your starter for this recipes. I'm having quite good results with a starter I made from standard plain flour and am relatively new , but smitten with baking sour doughs!!I have now bought 00 bakers flour & look forward to a better spring. many people use bread improver. What are your thoughts regarding this. Is it necessary?
Hey there!
I refresh my starter generally in 2 feeds and only make up the required amount of starter.
Eg, 182g starter needed of 75% hydration
Use 1 teaspoon of leftover starter, usually kept in the fridge when im not baking.
91g flour and 68g water.
Then repeat this when the starter has bubbles in it and grown to double. Usually takes about 16hrs.
I dont see the need for a bread improver when we have such wonderful starters.
I am also using a 100% white starter now. Gives such lovely results.
Enjoy!