Cheddar-Rosemary Sourdough
I created this loaf to celebrate my current bread starter's second birthday. The loaf is intended to be pulled apart by hand rather than sliced (although, once a bit stale it makes fantastic toast or grilled cheese).
Ingredients
- 60 grams whole wheat four
- 340 grams all-purpose flour
- 240 grams warm water (80°-90° F)
- 11 grams salt
- 200 grams fed (within the past 6-12 hours) sourdough starter
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dry rosemary, chopped
- 1 or 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Method
Active time: About half an hour Total time: If I start mixing the dough at 1PM, it's out of the oven at 8 or 9AM the next morning.
- Combine flours in a plastic tub or large mixing bowl
- Add salt and whisk to combine
- Add warm water and mix with a chopstick to combine. Set aside to autolyze while preparing the rest.
- Heat oil in a tiny sauce pan over medium
- Add rosemary and fry until fragrant (30-90 sec), remove from heat. Let it cool for a few minutes Note on rosemary: This would probably be great with fresh rosemary, but all I had was dry. If you have fresh leaves, I suspect you can skip the oil step entirely. But it really is necessary to bring out the flavor from the dry rosemary.
- In a medium mixing bowl containing a little warm water (maybe a tablespoon) to prevent sticking, add starter, oil mixture, and cheese. Mix with a chopstick
- Add starter and cheese mixture to the flour and water mixture, mix with a chopstick until it comes together in a single mass, then continue to mix with a wooden spoon. When it combines enough to clean the bowl or tub, kneed with damp hands for a couple minutes
- Cover the container and let bulk fermentation happen. The timing will depend on your conditions, but I let this one go for about six hours.
- Use a bench scraper to divide the dough into a bunch (7-16?) of roughly-equal sized pieces
- With lightly floured hands, roll each piece into a ball between your palms
- Place all of the balls into a Banneton basket for final fermentation, cover with plastic to avoid drying out. Wait for final rise. Use the poke test to confirm. It took about 12 hours.
- Place dutch oven with lid on into oven, preheat at 450° F for 45-60 minutes
- Carefully remove loaf from basket and gently place into pre-heated dutch oven
- Cover and bake for 30 minutes
- Remove lid and bake for another 10-20 minutes, remove when the crust looks the way you want
It's best to let it cool for an hour before tearing into it, but if you can't resist that's okay too. This bread is best when fresh. I recommend toasting it if it's more than a day or so old.
