Sweet Potato Sourdough with Flax and Pumpkin Seeds

 I had an excess of sweet potatoes in the pantry so it was time to try a bread with potatoes in it. Thank to whoever mentioned that sweet potatoes are 70% hydration. That really helped in making sure I didn’t end up with soup instead of dough. ?

Makes 3 Loaves

Ingredients

• 700 g Unbleached flour 
• 150 g high extraction Kamut flour (175 g of Kamut berries-mill and sift out bran)
• 150 g high extraction Spelt flour (175 g Spelt berries- mill and sift out bran)
• 550 g water 
• 300 g sweet potato, baked, cooled, and mashed
• 100 g raw pumpkin seeds 
• 50 g freshly ground flax seeds 
• 30 g yogurt 
• 250 g 3 stage 100% hydration levain (Procedure in recipe)
• 23 g salt 
• Extra bran, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds

Morning or mid-afternoon the day before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of bran. I used bran left over from other bakes where it was sifted out. One also can use Wholewheat flour. Let rise in a warm place (oven with the light on and door cracked open - 82F)
2. Mill the Kamut and Spelt separately and sift to obtain 150 g of high extraction flour for each grain. Save the bran for another use. 
3. Place the high extraction flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour and the freshly ground flax seeds to it. Cover and set aside.
4. Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan or in the oven and reserve. I did mine in the oven since it was still hot from baking the sweet potatoes. 

The night before:

1. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of AP flour flour including any left over high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm place overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of AP flour and let rise 5 hours in a warm spot.
2. If your mashed sweet potatoes are in the fridge, take them out to warm to room temperature. 
3. Two hours before the levain is ready, put the water in a bowl of a stand mixer and add the sweet potatoes with the flours. Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This took only a minute or two. Autolyse, covered, for a couple of hours.
4. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin seeds and mix just long enough to distribute them evenly. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes. 
5. Do 4 sets of folds at 30 minute intervals, then switch to hourly folds for another 2 sets. 
6. Retard the bulk for 3 hours. The dough rose barely 20%.
7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of 760 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest one hour on the counter. 
8. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.
9. Sprinkle bran, pumpkin seeds, and flax seeds in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons, cover, let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully place the dough seam side up inside.
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 25 minutes. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

I got great oven spring! Will have to wait until we cut into one to see the crumb.