Seeded Sourdough – Let’s Have Some Fun And Go nuts!

Incorporate your favorites nuts or seeds and make this sourdough unique

I love seeded bread. From nutritional aspect to the sense of smell and mouthfeel, those magic seeds and nuts have so much to offer in sourdough. And it can be playful. Add your favorite seeds/ nuts into your sourdough and indulge yourself with one of a kind sourdough loaf.

My sourdough bread is generally not sour, except for the seeded ones. I quite enjoy the sourness along side the earthy nutty seeds/nuts in every bite. There are serveral factors involes in the level of sourness in bread, which includes the choice of flour used in starter, mature (older) starter, temperature, lentgh of fermentation, amount of starter used in the recipe. For me, the simplest way to achieve the tanginess is prolonging the fermentation, especially during cold proofing. In a word, the longer the proofing is, the sourer the bread becomes.

Aiming for that tangy flavor, I leave the shaped dough in fridge for 36 hours before baking. Because of such long proofing period, I reduce the starter quantity in this recipe to avoid overproofing.

If you enjoy a good sour seeded loaf like I do, definately give it a go. This linseed sourdough bread had an explosion of flavor that you will not stop eating until you finish the entire loaf!

Seeded sourdough recipe

weight	ingredients	baker’s percentage
480g	baker’s flour (12.5 protein)	80%
120g	wholemeal plain flour (12.1% protein)	20%
480g	water	80%
120g	starter (100% hydration)	20%
12g	salt	2%
30g	linseed (flaxseed)	5%
total 1250g

Workflow

Day 1
10:00	Feed Starter (1:1:1) Use it when it doubles or reach its peak.
10:15	Autolyse: using a paddle attachment, mix both flour and 90% of water together in a mixing bowl until a dough is formed. Cover with a tea towel and leave it in fridge* during autolyse.
14:15	After couple hours, the gluten is shown in the dough. Add in active starter to the dough and mix until the dough is smooth. Add in salt and remaining water. Continue mixing until the dough doesn’t stick to the side of mixing bowl. Gradually add in seeds*, mix for a minute. Transfer the dough into a container.
14:30	Bulk Ferment starts. (total 6 hours) Perform 3 sets of coil fold with 30 minutes intervals at the first 1.5 hour.
20:45	Divide and pre-shape the dough into balls : 650g*2 (or 430g*3 for mini ones) Bench rest 30 minutes.
21:25	Final shape: batards (oval) or boules (round) Bench rest 15 minutes.
21:55	Cold proof in fridge for 36 hours*.
Day 3
9:00	Pre heat oven and baking steel to max temperature setting.
10:00	Prepare boiling water for steam. Score the bread and bake. 250 degree, 20 minutes, with steam 230 degree, 20-23 minutes, without steam.
10:50	Cool down for at least 1 hour before cutting.

Notes

* As mentioned above, the amount of starter in this recipe is 20%. I suggest applying 18-20% of starter. Longer proofing time also affects oven spring. Expect less oven spring if the dough is left in the fridge for longer period of time.

* I didn’t pre-soak the seed this time. One reason being that seeds/ nuts absorb different amount of water due to different water temperature, soaking time and etc. I slightly increase dough hydration so even the seeds absorb water from the dough, it is still in high hydration state. I would try going 2% higher hydration next time to see the outcome.

* Apply autolyse at lease 1 hour for better gluten development. Due to hot weather at the time I made the bread, I move the dough (in a mixing bowl) to the fridge during autolyse. Also to prevent overheat the dough later when mixing in the rest of ingredients. The downside of doing so is that final dough temperature will be lower causing slightly slower fermentation. By all means leave the dough on benchtop if the weather condition permitted. It is no problem at all.

* This is a high hydration dough recipe (80%). The application of autolyse and bassinage helps gluten network. Learn more at introduction to bssinage and what is autolyse.

* Seeds can be added after salt (mixed in the mixing bowl) or sprinkle on the dough during coil folds.

* Cold proof in fridge can vary from merely 8 hours to 72 hours (or longer if you wish). The longer the cold retard is, the sourer the bread will be. Longer proof go with less starter. When experimenting, take hydration and starter quantity into account as well.

* I always take pictures and videos while making bread. I put everything together and made a video. Please enjoy. (sound on)

At the end

Making sourdough is not only a fun but soothing learning progress to me. I discover how I like my bread and how I can make it better. I hope you enjoy today’s seeded bread recipe and let me know what is your favorite seeds/nuts to add to your bread.