This is a sweet potato sourdough loaf. Potatoes have been used for hundreds of years in bread. It has the effect of sweetening the bread making it moist, which in turn means the bread keeps for longer.
If you are making sourdough bread for the first time or you are not confident shaping sourdough, you can put it into a 1kg banneton (a cane basket to prove bread in) or 1kg bread tin greased liberally with butter. Bake this Sweet Potato & Orange Sourdough loaf as per the recipe instructions below.
Makes: 1 large loaf
Equipment:
1kg round banneton or 1kg bread tin
A Dutch oven, cloche or baking stone
A sharp knife or ‘lame’ to slash the dough with
Ingredients:
Preferment mixed up the night before you bake:
200g baked, mashed sweet potatoes
125g sourdough starter
50g organic strong white flour
50g water
For the loaf:
The sweet potato preferment
450g water
100g of malted wholegrain organic flour
575g organic strong white roller milled flour (and some extra for dusting your banneton or bread tin)
Zest of one orange
10g fine sea salt
Semolina, to dust
Method:
The preferment
To make the preferment put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix well and leave covered on the counter in the kitchen. It will be lively and bubbly and ready to bake with after 8 hours.
Mix
In a large bowl whisk your water and preferment together. Add both flours, orange zest and salt and mix gently until all the ingredients come together into a large ball.
Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rest in a cool environment for about 2 hours.
Fold
Instead of kneading the dough, fold it. Lift and fold your dough over, doing a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat three more times. Do this three more times at 15-minute intervals with a final 15 minute rest at the end.
Shape
Shape the dough lightly into a ball then place seam side up into a round banneton dusted with flour (If you don’t have a banneton then use a clean tea towel dusted with flour inside a colander). Dust the top with flour, then cover with a damp tea-towel.
Prove
Leave dough covered on the side to prove until it has risen by two thirds.
Bake
Preheat your oven to 220°C/428F. Place your cloche or baking stone in the oven while it heats. If you are using a baking stone, then place a large pan of boiling water on the bottom of the oven or use a Dutch oven or cloche. The hydration helps form a beautiful crust. Dust the baking stone with a fine layer of semolina, which stops the bread sticking to it.
Put your dough onto the base of the cloche/Dutch oven or your baking stone and slash the top with your blade. Pop the lid on if you are using a cloche or Dutch oven. The slash allows the bread to tear in a controlled manner where you want it to as it rises in the oven.
Bake for 40 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180°C/356F (and remove the lid if you are using a cloche or Dutch oven) and bake for another 15 – 20 minutes. You need to decide just how dark you like your crust, but I suggest that you bake until it is a dark brown – it tastes much better.
Storage
Sourdough is really best left to cool before slicing to allow the full flavour to develop. Once your sourdough has cooled, store in a linen or cotton bread bag, or in a folded tea towel.
If you are not keen on a crunchy crust on your sourdough bread, simply wrap your bread in a clean tea towel whilst it is still warm.