Cathy’s seeded spelt sourdough

I have created the ‘real bread’ sourdough loaf of my dreams! I’ve brought together some of the flours, that are in my personal top 5 and combined them with the delicious wholemeal starter. Plus there’s the option of adding in seeds. I like to use the ‘Munchy Seeds’ brand, featured on the Free From Food Awards website. Not because of any affiliation, but they offer quality, flavour and the reassurance of what is in the packet and what is not. I urge you to give this a try with or without the seeds. The spelt flour is considered an ancient grain and therefore said to be more similar to the grains we were eating in ancient times. Maybe our bodies recognise that better? And the organic wholemeal flour adds the feeling of being full for longer, along with the protein from the seeds. This is great toasted with something creamy or warm on, marmalade or use the loaf for a delicious open sandwich. The making of this is so worth it. Give it a try this weekend and enjoy the sourdough of my dreams!

Ingredients 

This makes 1 large sourdough – feed the starter the night before. Make the dough on the day (the sourdough does the work, so you can do things in between). Bake the following day.

395g room temperature water – mostly cold water with a dash of recently boiled water. NB in hot weather use cooler water.

100g fed and risen wholemeal starter. If you don’t have wholemeal, use another starter.

250g organic wholemeal bread flour

250g white spelt flour

12g table salt

50g pumpkin seeds

40g sunflower seeds

Additional flour for dusting

Utensils

Making: Mixing bowl, scales, wooden spoon, clean tea towel, a clean area on your worktop for resting the dough.

Baking day: Wooden chopping board or similar, small sharp knife

Baking: Small high-sided tray for some boiling water in the oven, kettle boiled water or ice cubes for steam.

Method

Add the water and starter to the mixing bowl and mix gently. NB in hot weather use cooler water.

Add the flours, salt and seeds and mix well with a wooden spoon, until there are no floury bits left. You should have a messy dough.

Let the dough rest in the bowl, uncovered, on the kitchen counter for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, fold the outer edges of the dough into the centre, using a ‘coil folding technique’. You basically take hold of a piece of outer dough, pull it up and place it down into the centre. Do this in a clockwise or anti clockwise direction, repeating for about 12 folds. Place a clean tea towel over the top of the bowl and leave to rest for *two hours.

*After two hours repeat the above folding process. And again after one more hour. Leave the tea towel on, over the top of the bowl, during the resting time.

*These asterisks show these two folds during this time are optional. If you are going out, you can just do the first set of folds and the last set. The sourdough will still have rested and fermented for a total of nearly 6 hours.

To shape the loaf, tip it out onto a floured worktop. Use your two hands to go around the loaf and cup it to shape it and create tension, from the top of the loaf to the base, until you have a roughly shaped ‘boule’. Or you can use a dough scraper in one hand and your hand as a tool to turn it round and round as you push the dough scraper against and slightly under the dough. Have loose plain or wholemeal flour on hand to help. Just avoid using too much.

Leave the loaf to rest on the worktop or a wooden chopping board, for 30 mins to 45 mins with a tea towel over the top.

After this time get a clean mixing bowl, lined with a clean tea towel or a well floured banneton basket. Cup your hands around the loaf again to loosen it from the worktop and tighten it into it’s boule shape. Then place it upside down into the prepared bowl or banneton. The wetter side will be facing up. The smoother crust will be touching the bottom of the lined bowl / banneton. Put it in the fridge, uncovered, over night. And relax!

To bake the next day, preheat the oven to 210°C fan/230°C/gas 8 or as high as it will get, to that temperature. Place a heavy baking sheet or pizza stone in the middle of the oven to preheat, at the same time. Along with an old roasting tin on the bottom shelf. Preheat for 30 mins to an hour.

Before placing in the oven, remove the sourdough loaf from the bowl by tipping it upside down onto a lightly floured wooden chopping board. Score the the sourdough with a very sharp knife or a ‘bread lame’. Keep the depth of the scoring no further than ¼ depth into the loaf. One quick movement from one edge to the other is perfect.

Shuffle the loaf from the chopping board onto the baking sheet or pizza stone, in the hot oven and pour boiling water or put ice cubes into the tray underneath and shut the oven door. Leave to bake for 20 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 190°C fan/210°C/Gas 6 and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. If you need to turn the loaf round, due to uneven baking, this is a good time to do it – watch out for the steam from the oven!

When baked it is best to remove from the oven and leave the sourdough loaf to cool on a rack until completely cold, before slicing.

Enjoy this in many different ways. It will keep for a good 6 days in a bread bin or wrapped tightly. You can slice, wrap and freeze it. Or wrap and freeze it. Frozen it will keep it’s same state for a month, maybe more.

If you enjoyed this recipe and want to try more, you can order a copy of my recipe book here.

Copyright The Doorstep Baker, Catherine Lloyd-Williams