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Spiced Raisin Sourdough

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Spiced Raisin Sourdough

I have been wanting to make a cinnamon raisin recipe but after my last experience with cinnamon (bread took forever to rise and I found out that cinnamon impedes the growth of yeast), I have been wary of it. I found a recipe here on TFL that seemed to account for the cinnamon’s action on yeast and it had a lot of good reviews. So here is my adapted version from that adapted version from the Bourke Street Bakery Spiced Fruit Sourdough Recipe.

Spiced Raising Sourdough Recipe 

adapted from MadAbout B8’s version of  Bourke Street Bakery: Ultimate Baking Companion

Makes 3 loaves

 INGREDIENTS

Unbleached flour 768 g

Freshly milled Red Fife flour 112 g

Water 620 g

Sourdough starter (100% hydration)465 g

Salt 22 g

Ground cinnamon 2.25 tsp

Mixed spices 3.5 tsp

(4 parts cinnamon to 1 part each of ginger, clove, nutmeg, and coriander.)

Golden raisins (sultana)  358 g

Yogurt35 g

Freshly Ground flax seed50 g

  1. Add all the ingredients to the mixing bowl, except salt, raisins, cinnamon and mixed spices.  Mix until the ingredients are incorporated. Leave it to autolyze for one hour.  
  1. Mix raisins with cinnamon, mixed spices and yogurt. Reserve. (I think that next time, I would soak the raisins for an hour or so, drain them, add the yogurt and the spices to them and then go on with the recipe)
  1. Sprinkle salt over the dough surface and mix well. Fold until until a moderate gluten development is achieved. 
  1. Let rest for a half hour to relax the gluten and then incorporate raisins, cinnamon powder and mixed spices into the dough until well combined. I did this by sprinkling some of the raisins, doing a fold, sprinkling more raisins, doing another fold until all the raisins were in the dough. Then I let the dough rest a bit and then did more folding to make sure the raisins and spices were evenly distributed. I did add a few grams of water here as I found the dough a tad dry. The water helped rehydrate and distribute the raisins. 
  1. Leave the dough in a warm spot and cover the bowl. After one hour, do one set of stretch and folds. Let rise till doubled in size.
  1. Divide the dough into three ~830 g portions. Pre-shape the doughs into rounds and let them rest for 15-20 minutes.
  1. Shape the doughs into boules and place into bannetons and cover. Place the dough in the fridge overnight. The recipe says you can also proof at room temperature for 2 hours or until almost double in size.
  1. I baked some batches right out of the fridge and found I got a better oven spring than when I followed the recipe which said to let the dough rise for an additional 60-90 minutes after it came out of the fridge. I followed my usual baking method which is to preheat the oven and the dutch ovens to 475 F, load the dough into the pots (parchment rounds in the bottom of the pots prevent sticking especially with the fruit in there), drop the temp to 450 F and bake covered for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 25 minutes at 425 F.

I just had a few pieces and I must say, the spices really give it a zing in your mouth. It is super tasty and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the crumb was as open as it is. I was expecting a much tighter crumb based on the weight of the loaf. 

I did do a quite a few things differently than I usually do based on Trevor’s book. I did a three stage levain build 1:1:1, 1:2:2 and 1:3:3. Using a 100% levain is different for me but I figured I better stick fairly closely to the recipe. I usually use ~80% hydration levain. Another thing is that I never include the levain in the autolyse; being faithful to the recipe again! I was also way more gentle at the shaping stages. I have been degassing my dough quite firmly and did not do that this time. I handled it with kid gloves. ;-)

 

Comments

kendalm's picture
kendalm

This looks really enticing. Are you saying you did the bulk as a 12 hour cold retard then went straight to shape and bake - ie no dinal proofing ? With yeasted breads I find that shorteat proofs spring best and hace fone as low as 25 minites with final shapes still cold. Just asking as alan mentioned he never vench rests and since i have a pretty actove starter now just trying to find a good stategym. Tks

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Initially on the counter and later in the warmth of the oven with the light on. When it doubled, I divided the dough into 3, rounded it in loose boules, let test and then shaped it a bit more tightly, again into boules. Once they were in their final shape and in the bannetons, the final proof was in the fridge. I bake cold out of the fridge. I find this works nicely for my schedule and I really like loading cold dough into the hot Dutch ovens. It seems to stay together better (less chance of getting burned) and I seem to get better Oven spring. 

kendalm's picture
kendalm

Ok noted and tks. Looking for some insight on proofing sourdoughs especially being so used to commercial yeast. I also much prefer cold dough. So on the final (sorry if i missed the detail) what sort of time frame does it remain proofing in the fridge ? Isnt to goal to shape and then get some rise during final - id imagine its a pretty long final no ?

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

for proofing dough that has 13% prefermented flour is 10-12 hours in a fridge set at 37 F. This dough had a higher percentage, 19% if I figured it out right, but due to the cinnamon‘s action, I proofed it for 13-14 hours. 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

spirit!  I especially like that it doesn't have any sugar in it other than what the enzymes are producing from the starch in the flour.  There is a pile of levain in this one!  One way to get around the cinnamon effect is to flatten out the dough and put the cinnamon on and the roll it up like a cinnamon roll.  This on en=has to make the best French toast and bagels at a lower hydration!  Very nice bread indeed and

happy bakingDanni

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

i bet the fra is amazing. A question about the cinnamon. Did you use it in two places? Once alone and then in the mixed spice? i was wondering why you didnt just mix it measure wise all together. Will definitely ha this on my list. Movers come tomorrow! New kitchen and ovens Thursday... well after boxes get unpacked 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

The page where I got the inspiration is Australian and it called for mixed spice which I gathered is something similar to our Pumpkin spice. In the comments below, someone listed their version of mixed spice so I used that. 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Not much not to like about this one.  I can imagine that this would make amazing French Toast!

Great crumb and overall bake.

Regards,
ian

lenb's picture
lenb

Tried the recipe with excellent results.  This years Yule gift.  Got to me to TFL.

Thanks.

lenb's picture
lenb

I love this recipe.  I've made it 4 times in the last week.  I've got some tweaks I want to share for those who want  a bit more spice or WW.  I've doubled the spices and modified the process a bit to get a good rise, but basically it's the same recipe.  Just a bit spicier and wheatier.

Bread Flour    390 g
Red Fife WW 200 g
Water             400 g
Starter (100% hydration) 300 g
Ground Flax 75 g
-------
salt 15 g
------- spices (ground) (2X spices)
cinnamon 2+ tbsp
coriander 1 tsp
clove 1 tsp
ginger 1 tsp
nutmeg 1 tsp
-------
yogurt 75 g (3 oz)
raisins 225 g (1/2 lb)

Process (kitchenaid):

1. Mix flours (incl flax) with starter and water until no dry flour remains.
2. Autolyze for 1 hr.
3. Mix salt, spices, yogurt, and raisin. Raisins will plump.
4. Add #3 to flour mixture and mix on low 4-5 min. 
5. After 1 hr stretch & fold - dough very sticky. 
6. After 3 hr stretch & fold - dough tacky, no longer sticks to hands
7. Let rise ~10 hr @~70F (no rise).  Place in oven on proof ( 100 F ) for 3 hours.  Should double. S&F.
8. Divide in half, place in bannetons for 3-4 hrs at ~50F
9. Bake @ 450. 35 min covered, 10 min uncovered.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Do you have a picture of your loaves? And of the crumb?

lenb's picture
lenb

Most of it's gone.  The crumb is very dense and moist.