@isabel_paige

The Storyteller

Isabel Paige

Chocolate Sour Cherry Walnut Sourdough 500 g Bread Flour 380 g Water 100 g Sourdough Starter 10 g Salt 50 g Sugar (white sugar) 150 g Semi-Sweet Chocolate (dark chocolate, chopped or grated) 120g walnuts 85 g sour cherries 50 g Cocoa Powder (dutch processed) Autolyse - Premixing The DoughMix the bread flour, sugar, cacao powder and water together. Cover your bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel and let it sit for around 2 hours. After the dough has been through autolyse add 100g of sourdough starter, using your hands squeeze and mix the starter to combine. Now you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre, until a smooth ball is formed. You shouldn't need more than about 20-30 stretches to form the ball. Once the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the cling film back on and let it rest for 30 minutes. Stretch & Fold - Creating Structurenow sprinkle your salt over the dough and add your dark chocolate chips, sour cherries, and walnuts. Stretch and fold the dough to combine all of these things. Aim to do around 4-6 sets of stretches and folds. For each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times. Leave around 15 minutes in between each set. Again you do not have to be exact with time, but you need to do at least 4 sets over 2 hours. Once you've finished your stretch and folds, place the cling film or damp tea towel back over your dough and let it rest and ferment at room temperature (a plastic cover is a better option for this stage). You want the dough to double. This will take anywhere from 5-8 hours Once your dough has finished its first ferment, it's time to shape it. grab the banneton you're going to be using and sprinkle some rice flour or semolina on the bottom of the banneton. Use a dough scraper to gently ease the dough out of the bowl (your hands work just fine if you don't have one). You want it to land upside down on your counter so that the smooth top of the dough is on the countertop and the sticky underside is facing up. This will make it easier to shape.Before you shape the dough, pull it out into a rough rectangle. shape your dough however you want, you can Watch the video of me shaping it to see the method I use Once the dough is shaped, place it into your banneton smooth side down, so your seam is on the top. Lift your dough around the edges to pop a little more rice flour if you feel it needs it. Just try to handle the dough as little as possible and be really gentle as you really want to preserve all the gases and air bubbles that have formed during your bulk ferment. Now the dough is in its "shaping container" cover it loosely with a plastic bag or damp tea towel and place into the fridge. I use a large plastic bag to cover it - I just reuse it each time. Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum 5 hours up to a maximum of around 36 hours. The longer you leave it the better your bread will be! A longer cold ferment creates beautiful blisters on your crust and a deeper sourdough flavour. It will also ensure your dough forms a skin which makes it easier to score. Once you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230C/450F. Place your Dutch Oven into the oven when you turn it on so it gets HOT. Try to preheat for around 1 hour to ensure your oven is super hot - but you know your oven so just adjust this time if you need to.Leave your dough in the fridge until the very last minute - placing a cold dough into a hot oven will give you a great "spring". When your oven is at temperature, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of baking paper. Make sure that you make the baking paper big enough to use the edges as a handle to lower to dough into your Dutch Oven.Gently score your bread with a lame, clean razor blade or knife. At minimum a large cross is sufficient, but you can get as artistic as you like. Carefully take your dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the baking paper as a handle. Place 2 ice cubes into the dutch oven with the bread, put the lid on and place into the hot oven. BAKE TIME:30 Minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F plus10-15 Minutes with the lid off at 210C/410F When you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the dutch oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.