Herb And Tahini Sourdough Bread Recipes

DURUM HERB CHEESE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Sauté the herbs, garlic, and pepper in olive oil and set aside to cool. If you want impressive garlic power, use all four cloves (or more) and just warm the minced garlic in the oil. If you want muted garlic flavor, you can reduce the quantity of garlic and/or heat to the point of softness.
• Measure and prepare in a bowl the dry ingredients of the dough, including the cheese.
• Add the water, starter and sautéed ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix.
• Cover the dough and set it aside at room temp for one hour.
• After one hour, stretch and fold the dough four times as per the first video here. To summarize the video instructions: scrape the dough loose from the bowl with a wet scraper, lift it out with two hands, fold it in thirds. Then do the same from the opposite sides of the dough.
• Put the dough back in the bowl, cover and set a timer for twenty minutes.
• Repeat this three more times. This is four stretch and folds over the course of the second hour since mixing (1:00, 1:20, 1:40 and 2:00 hours). You should notice a big difference in the pliability of the dough over the course of the stretching and folding.
• Let dough ferment for an additional 6-12 hours depending on room temp (that is 8-14 hours total since mixing up the dough).
• Scrape the dough out of its bowl onto a well-floured counter. Gently spread the dough into a rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds and then in half. See this Breadtopia video for more details on folding and shaping.
• Let the dough rest for 15 minutes while you wash the dough bowl and prep your proofing basket. I sprinkled flour directly into an oval coiled rattan basket.
• Flour your hands and the dough, flip the dough, tuck under the edges while rotating it to create a batard shape.
• Lay your dough in the basket, seam side down and cover.
• Put the basket in the refrigerator for about 10 hours (up to 20) OR leave the basket at room temperature for about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven and your baking vessel to 500 F for thirty minutes before the proofing time is up.
• Flour your hand and flip the dough out of the basket, and place it into the hot baking vessel. Score it with a razor or allow the existing seams to open up.
• Bake until the internal temp is around 205 F.
• 30 minutes at 500 degrees, lid on.
• 10 minutes at 450 degrees, lid off.
• Variations
• Eliminate the stretching and folding. The loaf may be a bit flatter, but the crumb will still be open and the taste delicious.
• Reserve the herb-garlic sauté until after the bulk fermentation, and then spread it onto the dough when you fold it in thirds. This works best if you strain or squeeze out the oil from the sauté. The crumb will have a swirly pattern of herbs.
• Use mozzarella cheese cut in chunks instead of provolone. The crumb will be open from the melting chunks and the cheese flavor is milder. Consider adding an additional 1/2 tsp of salt.
• Use provolone in slices that you add after the bulk fermentation and while folding in thirds. This creates a strange crumb with long open layers.
• (Pictures of these variations are below the photographic instructions.)

ITALIAN HERB BREAD I

Steps:

• Mix yeast, warm water, and white sugar together in a large bowl. Set aside for five minutes, or until mixture becomes foamy.
• Stir olive oil, salt, herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, cheese, and 3 cups flour into the yeast mixture. Gradually mix in the next three cups of flour. Dough will be stiff.
• Knead dough for 5 to 10 minutes, or until it is smooth and rubbery. Place in an oiled bowl, and turn to cover the surface of the dough with oil. Cover with a damp linen dish towel. Allow to rise for one hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
• Punch dough down to release all the air. Shape into two loaves. Place loaves on a greased cookie sheet, or into two greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about a 30 minutes.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 minutes. Remove loaves from pan(s), and let cool on wire racks for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

HERB AND TAHINI SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Autolyse
• Mix the flours and water until incorporated. Cover and set aside 30-90 minutes.
• Measure your additions and set them aside unless you're doing all-in mixing.
• Adding Starter and Salt
• Sprinkle the salt on your dough, fold the dough over itself, and add the starter to the top of the dough.
• Work the salt and starter into the dough with both hands by gently pressing, stretching and squeezing. Pause if the dough starts to tear. When the dough is smooth and uniform, cover and let rest 30 minutes.
• Gluten Development, Additions, and Bulk Fermentation
• Do four rounds of gluten development with 30-minute rests in between. I recommend stretching and folding for the first round, lamination with additions for the second round, and coil folding for the last two rounds. Videos of these techniques can be found here.
• When putting the additions into the dough, you can fold and press them in, or dab them around the dough when it is stretched into a large rectangle during lamination. During the final two coil folds, the additions will spread more evenly through the dough.
• The dough should begin to feel bubbly and crackly by the final coil fold.
• When the dough has increased in size by 60-70%, it's ready to shape. My dough fermented about 5 hours at warm temps (low 80s) on a Raisenne dough heating pad. Depending on your starter strength and dough temperature, the first rise may be shorter or longer.
• Shaping
• Scrape your dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work space.
• Gently stretch it into a small rectangle and shape it into a batard, boule, or oblong loaf depending on your proofing basket shape.
• Flour your basket and place the dough inside seam-side up.
• Final Proof
• Numerous proofing strategies are valid. For this loaf, I proofed at room temperature for 30 minutes, and then in the refrigerator for 14 hours. I baked the dough straight from the refrigerator without warming it up first. You can also proof the dough entirely at room temperature; 1-2 hours should be sufficient. The dough should expand 1-2 cm up the sides of the basket.
• Baking
• Preheat your oven and baking vessel to 500F for at least 30 minutes.
• Flip the dough out of the proofing basket and onto a sheet of parchment paper or onto the base of your hot baking vessel. Score the dough, then cover and return the vessel to the oven.
• If your baking vessel is a ceramic cloche, bake at:
• 500°F for 20 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 5 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid off
• If your baking vessel is cast iron, bake at:
• 500°F for 15 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid off
• At the 15-minute mark, place a baking sheet directly under the cast iron on the same shelf. This will prevent the base of the bread from burning.
• When baking is complete, the bread should have an internal temperature of at least 205F and it should sound hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf.

SOURDOUGH ONION HERB BREAD

Steps:

• Add all ingredients to bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.
• Select dough cycle, but remove from machine at the end of the kneading and do not let dough rise in machine.
• Turn dough out onto lightly floured board and shape into two loaves.
• Place into greased bread pans and spray tops with non-stick cooking spray.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place until light.
• Patience here, as this can take several hours (usually 2 1/2 to 3).
• Bake at 350° F for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Remove from oven and turn out of pans onto wire rack to cool.
• Brush tops of loaves with butter while still hot.
• Recipe can also be made without a bread machine, using conventional methods.