The garnish on top not only elevates the look but provides profound flavour in sourdough
Garnishes on top of sourdough can be an indication of the inclusion (add-on) in the bread but for me, it serves better purposes – to boost the flavour and to contribute to different texture. One example is my honey and porridge sourdough (Check here for the recipe) and today I’m going to share another sourdough recipe where I take advantage of this simple garnish tip to levelup my sourdough game.
Black sesame seed sourdough recipe
| weight | ingredient | baker’s percentage |
| 400g | baker’s flour (12.5% protein) | 100% |
| 300g | water | 75% |
| 120g | starter | 30% |
| 8g | salt | 2% |
| 40g | honey | 10% |
| 40g | black sesame paste | 10% |
| 20g | black sesame powder (optional) | 5% |
| toal 920g |
Workflow
| Day before/ On the same day | Feed starter and use it when double size |
| Day 1 | |
| 15:30 | Mix flour, black sesame powder and most of water until a dough forms. Cover and rest for 30 minutes (autolyse) |
| 16:00 | Add active starter and some water into the dough. Continue mixing until all ingredient combine well. Add salt and the rest of water. Continue mixing until medium level of gluten is reached. |
| Take 20% of the dough and mix with black sesame paste. Fold the colored dough in the original dough. Transfer the dough to a container. (see demonstration at notes section below) | |
| 16:30 | Bulk ferment starts. Perform 3-4 coil folds with 30 minutes intervals. |
| 20:30 | Transfer the dough into fridge to continue first proof. (I was tired and wanted to go to bed) |
| Day 2 | |
| 6:00 | Move the dough from fridge to bench top to resume first proof. |
| 7:30 | Divide and preshape the dough. 460g *2 boules Bench rest 30 minutes. |
| 8:10 | Final shape. Dip the shaped dough on the plate with a paper towel soaked with water. Then dip the dough onto another plate with cooled toasted black sesame seed. Move the dough in proofing basket (seam side facing up and the garnish facing down.) |
| Bench rest for another 20 minutes. Transfer the dough into fridge to continue final proof (cold proofing). | |
| (I went to work for 5 hours.) | |
| 14:30 | Preheat oven and cast iron bread pan to max. |
| 15:30 | Score the bread and transfer it to the bread pan. Chuck 2 ice cubes at the side. Quickly cover with lid and move into oven. Bake at 250 degree, lid on, 20 minutes. Remove the lid, lower heat to 230 degree bake for 25 minutes or until the colour is perfect to your eye. |
Notes
* Make your own black sesame powder : simply blend some toasted black sesame into powder and you have the fragrant nutty flour. Continue blanding it, you will get black seswame paste. Alternative : those ingredients can easily be found in asian supermarkets.
* Black sesame powder is added to strengthen the fragrance. However, including too much black sesame powder may interfere gluten network. Add additional gluten powder if needed.
* I took a small amount of the dough to mix with black sesame paste and fold in the original dough to create marble effect. Due to many folds I performed, the two colour dough corporated way too much. I would try either reduce the portion of the colored dough or corperate two doughs at later stage. Otherwise, you can spread the black sesame paste randomly over the dough to create two color effect.
* After shaping, slightly dip the dough (seamside up) on a plate with a paper towel soaked in water and then dip the dough again onto another plated with toasted black sesame. (Water assists stick sesame seed on the dough) Quickly transfer the dough into proofing basket to continue final proof. This is my usual set up :
* When choosing garnish, use raw seed. If using toasted sesame seeds, it will burn during baking.
* I enjoy the conbination of black sesame and honey. Honey not only boosts fermentation (wild yeast needs sugar (food) to go through fermentaion activity) but provides a mellow flavour in profile. Leave it out if you prefer a simpler flavour.
At the end
I have tried different approaches to make this sourdough taste more nutty, including increasing the quantity of black sesame paste and adjusting sesame flour amount in the recipe. The best and the most efficient way is to use black sesame seed as a garnish. I can taste the toasted sesame as well as wheat flavour and honey every bite I have. The cruchy garnish on the crust also offer texture to the bread. If you enjoy toasted seeds/ nuts as I do, you will definately appreciate this simple garnish tip that helps bring out most of the aroma.
