Celebrating this festive season with these sweet and nutty sourdough
It’s always been jolly in the air at this time of the year. With Christmas and New Year coming, I made this fig and walnut bread for families, friends and colleagues. Those sourdoughs are the perfect go-to when having cheeseboard or simply enjoying them on their own.
This fig and walnut sourdough features a creamy interior with a sweet fig and crunchy texture from walnut. The excellent combination brings out the best flavor of each ingredient. If you run out of fig, dates are a terrific substitute.
Some recipes require soaking* the dried fruit and nuts before adding to the dough. However, I like to keep that crunchiness of walnut so I leave out the soaking part. As for dried figs, I use them as they are since they are quite fresh and still juicy. If using figs that sits in the pantry for a while, taste first to check if soaking is necessary.
Fig and walnut sourdough recipe
| weight | ingredient | baker’s percentage |
| 560g | baker’s flour (12.5% protein) | 80% |
| 140g | heritage flour* (13.2% protein) | 20% |
| 560g | water | 80% |
| 175g | starter | 25% * |
| 14g | salt | 2% |
| 105g | dried fig | 15% |
| 56g | walnut | 8% |
| total 1620g |
Workflow
| Day Before | Feed starter. |
| Day 1 | |
| 9:00 | Autolyse: Using a paddle attachment, mix both flour, and most water (save some for later when adding salt) until a dough forms. Cover with a tea towel and let it rest for about 30 minutes. |
| 9:10 | Prepare inclusions* – dice dried fig (to your preferred size) – roughly chop walnut |
| 9:40 | Add in active starter and mix until gluten develops. (windowpane test) Add in salt and remaining water. Continue mixing until the dough doesn’t stick to the side of mixing bowl. |
| 9:50 | Add in prepared inclusions*. Roughly mix again until fig and walnut are incorporated into the dough. |
| 10:00 | Bulk Ferment starts. (total 6 hours) Perform 3 sets of coil fold with 30-minute intervals at the first 1.5 hours. |
| 16:10 | Divide and pre-shape the dough into balls: 500g*3 + 120g*1 Bench rest for 20 minutes. |
| 16:35 | Final shape: boules (round) Bench rest for 20 minutes. |
| 17:00 | Cold proof in the fridge for at least 12 hours. |
| Day 2 | |
| 9:00 | Preheat oven and dutch oven/baking steel to max oven setting. |
| 9:50 | Prepare boiling water (if using open bake) Score the bread and bake. 250 degrees, 20 minutes, with steam. 230 degrees, 20-23 minutes, without steam |
Notes
* soaking dried fruit: pour boiling water onto dried fruit. Let it sit for 15 minutes or until the dried fruit is juicy. Drain the excess water before use.
* soaking nuts/ seeds: Same process as soaking dried fruit. Use either hot water for a short period soaking (10 minutes) or room-temperature water for a longer period soaking (overnight).
* Heritage flour I use is a mix of ancient grain containing all endosperm, bran and germ (wholewheat flour). You can use wholewheat flour to replace it or simply leave it out. Here is an introduction to this flour: https://www.goodness.com.au/sustainable-wholewheat-heritage-flour-5kg/
* how much inclusion to add to the dough is totally up to you. I would add more figs next time (maybe increase to 20%) and dice it smaller too.
* Again, you can either use lamination (see notes section here for instruction) to add in inclusions or add the inclusions to the dough and let the machine mix for you. Or simply add the inclusions on the dough when doing coil folds.
* I drop the percentage of the starter because of different seasons. During summer time, I adopt 20-25% starter while in winter I generally increase starter to 30%. Feel free to adjust the quantity of the starter. Remember, baking isn’t always the same. It is changeable and manageable and you are the one who observe the difference and makes changes to get the best result.
At the end
Dried fruit and nuts are a common yet great combination in sourdough flavor. Have fun trying different fruit and nuts in sourdough baking. I hope you enjoy this fig and walnut sourdough like I do. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
