Learning Objective
You will learn how to make sourdough coffee gibassier and find out how coffee can be beneficial for your gut microbiome.
Makes: | 12 |
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Level: | Intermediate |
Created Over: | Mix and bake immediately |
Kind of Bake: | Ambient day – French style – mixed in the morning and baked in the evening |
Diversity Score: | 12 (or 34 if using Blend No. 4) |
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A gibassier is a sweetened bread from the South of France, usually eaten as a delicious breakfast treat. It is made using olive oil instead of butter, and is traditionally flavoured with orange peel and anise. My version is a Sourdough Coffee Gibassier. There are days when my brain just needs a rich, steamy (read: tall, dark and handsome) mug of coffee – and something good to go with it.
After doing some research, I’m not surprised. When consumed in reasonable amounts, coffee offers a number of benefits to the body – and the brain, thanks to bio-active compounds like chlorogenic acid, which has neuroprotective properties. This may help reduce stress in healthy individuals, and can also protect the brain from age-related mental deterioration and inflammation associated with diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Coffee has also been shown to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. A recent study of the human gut microbiome suggests that coffee may also increase the activity of probiotic Bifidobacteria without disturbing its overall composition. Of course, not everyone can drink coffee, but used in this coffee gibassier, it also adds a deep, rich flavour.
Tip: the leaven needs to stay at 25–26°C (77–79°F) – it won’t work in a cold kitchen. The reason you use a young leaven is because the yeast levels remain high, and it won't acidify the gluten.
Dough DDT: 16°C/60°F (first dough); 24°C/75°F (second dough)
Practical advice: you can also increase the diversity score by adding toppings to the coffee gibassier before you bake, such as poppy seeds or mixed seeds.
I hope you enjoy making and eating this delicious treat...
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Rolling pin
- Knife
- 3 baking trays (39cm x 26cm)
- Small saucepan
- Wire rack
Suggested Starter
Wholemeal
Status of Starter
bubbly, lively first-build starter
DDT
24°C (75°F)
Flours
- Botanical Blend No. 4 (see Sweet Sourdough book)
- or stoneground wholemeal flour
To Ferment Your Dough
- 20g wholemeal starter
- 40g wholemeal flour
- 40g water at 28°C (82°F)
For The Dough
- 1ST DOUGH (overnight ferment) DDT: 16°C/60°F
- 100g wholemeal leaven
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 65g olive oil
- 100g live yogurt
- 50g water
- 400g Botanical Blend No. 4 or stoneground wholemeal flour
- 100g coconut sugar
- 2ND DOUGH - DDT: 24°C/75°F
- 50g cooled espresso
- 70g unsalted butter, melted
- 140g Botanical Blend No. 4 or stoneground wholemeal flour
- 7g sea salt
- zest of 2 large oranges
- 1 cardamom pod, freshly ground (optional)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla powder
- TO GLAZE
- 1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of milk
- 60ml espresso, mixed with 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1 tablespoon muscovado sugar to glaze
Baking Time
18–20 minutes
Bake At
180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4
Tutorials
Step | Timings |
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Refresh starter day 1 | Day 1, 10pm |
Refresh starter | Day 2, 8am |
Make leaven | Day 2, 6pm |
Mix first dough | Day 2, 9pm |
Overnight prove | Day 2, 9.20pm |
Mix second dough | Day 3, 8am |
Rest, stretch and fold, then prove for 1 hour. | Day 3, 8.15am |
Divide into 12 balls and prove for 2.5 hours. | Day 3, 9.45am |
Chill for 1 hour | Day 3, 12.15pm |
Cut claws and place on trays to prove. | Day 3, 1.15pm |
Bake and glaze | Day 3, 2.30pm |
Guidance, tips & techniques
Method:
To make the first dough for the overnight ferment, combine the leaven with the eggs, olive oil, yogurt and water. Mix in the flour and sugar until there is no dry flour remaining, then cover the bowl and leave on the kitchen counter to ferment overnight.
The ferment should be good and lively the following morning, ready to make your second dough. Add the espresso and melted butter to the bowl and gently mix these through, then stir in the flour, salt, orange zest, cardamom and vanilla. You should have a soft dough. Leave to rest for 20 minutes, then gently stretch and fold the dough. Leave to rest for a further 10 minutes, then repeat the stretch and fold. Place the dough in a bowl, cover and leave for about an hour.
Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, each weighing roughly 110g. Shape each piece into a ball, then roll them out gently to form flattened ovals about 2.5cm thick. Prove for about 2.5 hours until doubled in size – this will take longer in a cooler kitchen – then pop in the fridge for about 1 hour to firm up. Once firm, cut slashes into the top of the dough in a fan shape to create the distinctive gibassier design (see photo).
Place the cut dough ovals on to buttered baking trays, leaving space for them to spread a little as they prove. Cover and leave until doubled in size. The time this takes will vary depending on the temperature in your kitchen, but if you pop them somewhere warm (about 25–26°C), such as in the oven with just the oven light on, they should double in size within about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 about 30 minutes before you are due to bake. (If you are proving the gibassiers in the oven, they’ll need to come out at this point.)
Brush the gibassiers with the egg glaze and bake for 18–20 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown. While they are baking, make the coffee glaze. Simply combine the espresso, butter and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat and boil for 1 minute. Remove the gibassiers from the oven when done and brush each one with the coffee glaze. Cool on a wire rack.
Learning Outcome
You will understand the benefits of using coffee as an inclusion and know how to make sourdough coffee gibassier.