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Fruit and Nut Sourdough by Patrick Ryan

Makes: 1 LoafMealtime: Lunch, DinnerMachine: MixerType: BreadsTotal time (min.): 35 plus 2 days Prep 
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A beautiful sourdough with a perfect combination of fruit and nuts.

Ingredients

Tools

Method

  1. To prepare the levain. This should be done 8 to 10 hours prior to making your dough.
  2. Combine 60g of sourdough starter with 60g of strong white flour (if using a rye starter, use rye flour) and 60g of water, stir everything together and leave covered at room temperature until you're ready to start making the dough.

  
Day one:

This dough will be built in stages.

  1. Combine the flour and water together in a clean dough to form a rough dough. Mix everything until all the loose flour has been incorporated. Leave to autolyse for 30 minutes (simply leave the dough to sit at room temperature)
  2. After 30 minutes of autolysing to the dough, add the salt and levain. Start kneading the dough for 2 to 3 mins. The dough will be wet and sticky, but that's ok don't add any additional flour. Continue to Knead the dough until the windowpane effect has been achieved. Transfer the dough to a clean oiled bowl. We'll now leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
  3. Stretch and fold every 30 minutes. We want to build strength in our dough by simply stretching and folding. We'll do this 3 times within each 30-minute break. This is the perfect time at which to add the soaked fruits and nuts. The fruit and nuts will be added in stages along with each stretch and fold. This will ensure an even distribution of fruits and nuts. After the 3rd stretch and fold, simply leave the dough to prove for an hour before shaping.
  4. After the final hour of proving, turn out onto a floured work surface. Without knocking too much air from the dough, gently preshape. Let the dough rest on the counter for ten minutes.
  5. This quantity of dough will make one large sourdough loaf.
  6. Whether you're using a proving basket, Pyrex dish, or simply proving in a bowl lined with a tea towel, it should be prepared by dusting with flour. Rye flour or rice flour works well for this.
  7. Mould the dough into a round, dust the surface of the dough with flour and place into your proving basket seems side facing up. Leave the shaped dough to prove for 60 to 90 mins at room temperature before placing it into the fridge to prove overnight.

Day two:

  1. The next day, remove the dough from the fridge. Preheat the oven to 240c with an empty tray placed at the base of the oven.
  2. Turn the dough out from the proving basket, rub some flour over the surface of the dough and score. If baking using a Pyrex dish or Dutch oven, place the dome over the dough and bake.
  3. Bake for 35 minutes. If using a Pyrex dish or Dutch oven, there is no need to steam the bread however, if simply baking on a baking tray adding steam to the oven is required. This can be done by pouring boiling water into the preheated tray that's sitting at the base of your oven.