Turn my favorite Asian-style bread into a sourdough version
Growing up living across the street from a bakery, bread is the perfect after-school snack for us. In Taiwan, we have super soft bread (texture is similar to brioche) filled with a wide variety of fillings, sweet or savory. The most common ones are ham and cheese, pork floss and mayo, egg salad, tuna and sweet corn, and potato salad to name a few. Among all, sweet corn and spring onion (玉米青蔥麵包) is my no.1 favorite in the savory category.
The other day I saw a baker making sourdough with sweet corn and herbs. It instantly reminded me of my childhood favorite bread so I decided to make a sourdough version with the key ingredients. Traditionally, the filling is made with sweet corn kernels, spring onion and mayo. Mayo binds the two together and provide a creamy texture. The filling can be either inside the bread or on top of it. In this sourdough version, I made some alterations. First of all, instead of combining corn and scallions together as a filling, these two ingredients were scattered in the dough. Next, I used grated parmesan to replace mayo as there is no binding required also it provides saltiness to the bread.
Result revealed-
The bread is beautifully baked and the whole kitchen is filled with divine aroma from parmesan and spring onion. After a bite, I have to say the black pepper brought this bread to another level. It gives a subtle but prolonged hint when chewing.
Sweet corn, spring onion and parmesan recipe
| weight | ingredient | baker’s percentage |
| 384g | baker’s flour (protein 12.5%) | 80% |
| 96g | heritage flour (protein 13.2%) | 20% |
| 120g | starter | 25% |
| 360g | water | 75% |
| 9.6g | salt | 2% |
| 120g | sweet corn kernel | 25% |
| 36g | spring onion (scallions) | 7.5% |
| 24g | grated parmesan | 5% |
| some | black pepper (seasoning) |
Workflow
| Day before | Feed starter. |
| Day 1 | |
| 6:40 | Autolyse Mix both flour and most water (save some for later) until a dough forms. Cover with a tea towel and leave aside for about 30 minutes. |
| Prepare inclusions*: – Grate parmesan – Chop the spring onion into small pieces – sweet corn: I use canned sweet corn.* Drain the water in the can. Mix chopped spring onion and drained corn kernel together and add black pepper to season. Leave aside for later. | |
| Add in starter to the dough and mix until corporated. Add in salt and the rest of the water and continue mixing until gluten develops. Add in grated parmesan and mix to combine well. Add in spring onion and corn mixture. Mix until slightly corporate.* | |
| 7:20 | Bulk ferment starts. Perform 3 sets of coil fold with 30-minute intervals in the first 1.5 hours. |
| 11:25 | Pre-shape. 590g * 2 Bench rest for 20 minutes |
| 11:40 | Final shape – boule Transfer to the fridge for cold proof overnight. |
| Day 2 | |
| 9:30 | Pre heat oven and baking steel to max temperature setting. |
| 10:15 | Prepare boiling water for steam. Score the bread and bake. 250 degrees, 20 minutes, with steam 230 degrees, 20 minutes, without steam. |
Notes
* For spring onion, I only use the green part because I think the white part will be overpowering. It’s totally up to you which part to use. (or use both!)
* I used canned corn kernels this time. Simply drain the excess water out before weighing. If using a frozen one, defrost and get rid of excess water as well before using. Another good way to boost the flavor is to use fresh corn and grill it first.
* When mixing corn and spring onion into the dough, you can either add the mixture into the dough and let the machine mix it for you (mix for a very short time) or add it when performing coil fold. The idea is to keep the corn as intact as possible. The inclusion will be fully incorporated into the dough during coil folds.
At the end
It was a fun project converting my favorite Asian-style bread into a sourdough version. I have a couple more bread-converting ideas in mind already. What is your favorite bread? Let’s challenge ourselves and transform it into a sourdough edition.
