Learning Objective
To bake a sourdough loaf with malted bread flour
Makes: | 2 |
---|---|
Level: | Intermediate |
If you had me a few years ago I’d have told you that there was only one loaf I’d dream about. The classic one I’d grown up eating all my life and to be honest there is a certain safety and comfort in baking the same loaf over and over. It’s something I encourage my beginners to do...stick with a flour and learn how it behaves. That said every now and again I long for something to push me out of that everyday familiarity. Using a new flour or loaf tests your skills, and re connects to you with your senses. It reminds us of why we have to watch and connect to the dough as we bake.
Suggested Starter
White French
DDT
26°C (79°F)
To Ferment Your Dough
- 30g starter
- 100g flour
- 100g water
For The Dough
- Total water 790g
- Water for the salt 30g ( removed from the total water)
- Bassinage water 40g (removed from the total water)
- Marriage's Organic Malted Flour 1kg
- Salt 20g
Baking Time
1 Hour in a Cloche or Dutch Oven and 5 - 10 minutes uncovered depending on your preferences
Bake At
Pre heat oven 220C dropping to 200 C
Tutorials
Step | Timings | Timings |
---|---|---|
Make leaven | 11pm evening | 9am |
Autolyse | 7am following morning | 10am |
Mix leaven in to dough | 8am | 12 noon |
Add the salt | 10.30am | 12.30pm |
Bulk | until 2pm | until 3pm |
Shape | 2pm | 3pm |
Bench rest | 2.20pm | 3.20pm |
Floor time | 4pm | 4pm |
Prove | - | Overnight in the fridge |
Bake | 4.30pm | Between 8am & 4pm the following day |
Guidance, tips & techniques
Sometimes I get a flavour or a taste in my head and it’s all I can dream of. It’s usually something very specific I want and in all honesty nothing else will do. A loaf with a rich deep darkness; something like a robust multi grain but more ballsy…I imagined a bread with a distinct deep character, but not rye.. I want something sweeter and with decidedly complex slightly bitter notes like a rich chocolatey stout so it has to be something malted. I tried a few combinations and then stumbled There is no doubt that this is the one that hit the mark. A malted flour that makes a loaf with a caramelised crust and a decidedly open slightly sticky tender crumb. When it comes to sourdough malted flour has a reputation of being a mercurial flour .. it needs close attention but the loaves are so unbelievably good. So I have to admit that the only way to satiate that desire is to accept that until I get what I want nothing else will do, and so here is my exquisite malted sourdough…. it was utterly impossible not to reach for a second or third slice .. and so truthfully there is not a crumb of left. It is nothing more than just a memory. I’ll have to bake another one…but not just yet…you can have too much of a good thing…this one is for my students to bake now.
TIP
My top tip is to keep the desired dough temperature during the bulk at about 22 – 23C for the retarded and 25C for the ambient
Learning Outcome
Understanding different flours - getting to know the differences when baking with malted bread flour.