Once you have started to make a Basic Sourdough Loaf following my process:

• See here for Day 1;  and
• See here for Day 2 or 3

… then the next loaves you may wish to make would incorporate spice, fruit and nuts into the basic dough recipe.

The basic recipe remains unchanged, but the spice is added into the dough on Day 1 as it is being mixed in “Step 2: Use Your Starter”, and the fruit and nuts are incorporated into the dough on Day 2 or 3 in “Step 5: Stretch and Fold Dough”.

So before you go any further, it would be helpful to you to review my process in the links above.

To make it easier for you, I have detailed the full recipe with the additions included, but I will only show the photos of the steps where the spice is added, and the fruit and nuts are incorporated so please look at the photos in the links above to help you along the way.

Just some things to mention before we get started:

• I always hydrate my fruit and nuts 30 minutes before using them in a sourdough, as dried fruit draws moisture out of the dough, so using them when they wet solves that problem.
• You can use any combination of spice, fruit and nuts that you like, but I always use 3 tsps of spice, and 200g total of fruit and nuts.  I have given you the combinations that I like, but your selection is totally up to you.
• If you are using a bread tin, then you will need a medium size (450g) bread tin, as the smaller standard tin (340g) is not large enough to take the dough once the fruit and nuts are incorporated into it.
• I roll the fruit and nuts into the dough, as opposed to kneading them into the dough.  I do this because I found that when kneading the fruit and nut into the dough, some of it used to be pushed to the top of the dough while it is rising, and then burn on the crust in the oven due to the high baking temperatures.  This meant I had to pick off the burnt pieces of fruit which is such a waste (they don’t taste very nice), so by rolling the fruit and nuts inside the dough this does not happen.

For this post I am making two loaves to demonstrate:  one baked in a medium tin, and one baked free form but shaped in a Banneton

So … here we go!

SOURDOUGH: Basic Fruit and Nut Loaf - Day 1

 

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Author: Gina @ The Passionate Pantry

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS TO ACTIVATE YOUR STARTER

• 80g rye flour
• 120g filtered water
  
  

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE A SINGLE LOAF

• 80g active starter
• 240g filtered water, room temperature
• 400g unbleached bakers flour, or white spelt flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
  
  

INGREDIENTS TO FEED YOUR STARTER TO GO BACK INTO THE FRIDGE

• 60g rye flour
• 90g filtered water
  
  

FRUIT AND NUTS FOR A SINGLE LOAF TO BE ADDED ON DAY 2 OR 3

• 50g dried figs, cut into slithers
• 50g dried cranberries
• 50g walnuts
• 50g pecans

Instructions

STEP 1: ACTIVATE YOUR STARTER

1. Remove your starter from the fridge and add the flour and the water and stir vigorously. Once it's doubled in size this will give you 500g of active starter which is enough to make 4 loaves using 80g per loaf, and enough left over to feed to put back into the fridge for next time.
2. Scrape around the sides of your container so that you can see what is happening to the starter as it is rising, and make a mark with your non permanent marker pen on the outside of the container where the level of the starter is.
3. Put starter aside until it is bubbly and active … this will take 4 to 8 hours to double in size. If it is very cold then I will usually place the starter container on a board that I have placed close to the light under the exhaust … this creates enough warmth from the light for the starter to rise in about 6 hours. Otherwise i just leave it on my bench top.
4. Once the starter is bubbly and active it is ready to use (you will see air bubbles within the mix, the mix will have risen within the container and look fluffy, when poked you will see large air bubbles that will pop in the mix).
   
   

STEP 2: USE YOUR STARTER

1. Before you start making your dough, place a plastic freezer bag on your bench, one for each loaf you are making, and spray with olive oil
2. For each loaf of bread add to your TM bowl in the order listed: starter; water; flour, spice and salt.
3. Knead dough for 30 seconds
4. Turn the TM bowl upside down onto the freezer bag and twiddle the base of the blade of the ™ bowl to help the dough drop onto the oiled bag … remove the last of the dough by Turbo x 1 and add to the mix on the bag
5. NB: If you are using spelt flour, you will find it particularly sticky ... I keep a separate spatula in a jug of water near the plastic bags as I dip that into the ™ bowl and use that to scrape around the bowl as the dough does not stick to the wet silicon spatula
6. Continue until you have done your desired loaves (no more than 4)
7. Rest dough for at least 20 minutes before you progress to the next kneading stage (this resting period is called “autolyse” which allows the flour to absorb more fully into the liquid and is an important step to do)
   
   

STEP 3: FEED YOUR STARTER TO GO BACK TO THE FRIDGE

1. While you are waiting for the dough to rest, you can feed you starter to go back into the fridge
2. Firstly, you want to keep 150g of starter in your container to feed and no more
3. Secondly, tare your digital scales before putting your container onto it
4. Thirdly, add the weight of your container (if using a 1 litre Decor round container like I do it is 60g without the lid) to the 150g of starter you want to keep which = 210g (if you are following my process you would have weighed your container before using it to house your starter)
5. Then place your container with starter inside on the scales and see what the weight is
6. Use a spoon to remove excess starter until the scales measure 210g ... you now know you have 150g starter left in your container
7. Feed your leftover starter 60g rye flour and 90g filtered water and stir vigorously until well combined
8. Scrape around the sides of the container so that it is relatively clean, and again make a mark on the outside with a non permanent market pen on the level of the starter (you are only marking the container to give you feedback on what your starter is doing whilst in the fridge ... it will sometimes rise a little but that tells you it is very happy which is good to know)
9. At the same time mark today's date on top of the container so you know when you last fed it
10. Put the container back into the fridge until you need to use it next time
11. You are now ready to finish the final step in Day 1
    
    

STEP 4: FINAL KNEAD

1. Starting with the first dough you prepared, pick up the bag with the dough on it and allow the dough to drop into the ™ bowl (it should just slide off because of the oil on it)
2. Knead the dough for 1 minute
3. Whilst doing that, place the freezer bag back onto your bench and spray it with a little extra olive ... this is important as it will help stop the dough from sticking to the bag when you remove it on Day 2 or Day 3, it also adds a little extra moisture to the mix which does it good
4. After kneading turn the TM bowl upside down over the same plastic bag the dough was originally on, and again twiddle the base of the blades to help the dough drop out ... it will be a little stickier this time because of the extra kneading so use your wet silicon spatula to help remove it, and turbo x 1 if needed
5. Lift the bag up with the dough on it in one hand, and use your other hand to pull the underneath of the bag back and over the top of the dough so that you are enclosing it ... before you close the bag, spray the inside base of it with oil where the dough is going to come in contact with it and loosely tie the bag up and leave it on your bench
6. Continue with your next dough using exactly the same process
7. For ease of handling, put the bags of dough into a container and place into fridge until tomorrow or the day after

Notes

I always hydrate my fruit and nuts 30 minutes before using them in a sourdough, as dried fruit draws moisture out of the dough, so using them when they wet solves that problem.

You can use any combination of spice, fruit and nuts that you like, but I always use 3 tsps of spice, and 200g total of fruit and nuts. I have given you the combinations that I like, but your selection is totally up to you.

If you are using a bread tin, then you will need a medium size (450g) bread tin, as the smaller standard tin (340g) is not large enough to take the dough once the fruit and nuts are incorporated into it.

I roll the fruit and nuts into the dough, as opposed to kneading them into the dough. I do this because I found that when kneading the fruit and nut into the dough, some of it used to be pushed to the top of the dough while it is rising, and then burn on the crust in the oven due to the high baking temperatures. This meant I had to pick off the burnt pieces of fruit which is such a waste (they don't taste very nice), so by rolling the fruit and nuts inside the dough this does not happen.

CLEANING YOUR ™ BOWL:

Whenever I make a dough in the ™ bowl, I always clean it by adding water to just to the top of the blade shaft, add a very little touch of detergent, then heat 3 to 4 minutes / 60 degrees / speed 6. Remove the bowl and put aside for 30 minutes, or up to an hour if you have the time, and the bowl should be really easy to clean as per usual

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