Apple Pecan sourdough
My family members do not usually unanimously vote in favor of any new bread I make, but this one got it right.
The apple adds localized moistness to the crumb and its tartness works well with the pecans. It is a bit tricky to fold in a large amount of pecans and apple cubes, but the result is almost like a sugarless coffee cake.
Ingredients
150 g of 100% hydration starter made with A/P flour
238 gr A/P flour
203 gr whole wheat flour
10 gr salt
290 gr lukewarm water
100 gr toasted pecans, each halve broken into 4 pieces
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped into small cubes
Evening before baking day
Feed the starter so it is mildly tasting the morning after
Baking day
1. Mix well flours and salt
2. In a separate bowl, mix well water and starter
3. Combine flour mix and water mix. Work the dough until all the flour is wet
4. Start bulk fermentation: put the dough in a covered bowl inside an oven and turn on the light. The temperature should stabilize about 82F (28C) degrees. If it goes higher - turn off the light
5. Let the dough bulk for an hour. Use this time to toast the pecans and chop the apple
6. Mix the pecans and apple cubes into the dough. It is a relatively large amount and I find this method to work well: (a) flatten the dough into a larger circle; (b) spread the apple and pecans evenly over the dough and lightly press them in so they don’t fall (c) make initial layers by doing four or five folds one on top the other. For each fold, grab a corner and fold it to the center or other side on top of the previous folds. (d) round the dough without breaking it
7. Continuing bulk fermentation in the oven for several hours until the dough is about 1.5 times in volume. During that time, gently stretch and fold the dough on the countertop two or three time. Due to the large amount of pecans and apple, it is hard to do that efficiently in a bowl.
8. Pre-shape the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes
9. Shape and proof the dough
10. Score and bake - 20 minutes covered @ 480F, 20 minutes uncovered @ 450F
Wow !!!
Looks nice !! and thanx for the recipe, will try it out.
Seems like an interesting recipe. Some questions before I give it a try:
1. I assume the starter ingredient means "150 g of 100% hydration starter" -- made with "A/P flour" -- or is this a typo?.
2. Bulk ferment is at 82F. Temperature seems a bit high. I usually do this at room temp of approx 72F
3. Bulk ferment is for "several hours" at 85F. How many hours?
4. OK to bake in Dutch Oven?
(1) English corrected - thank you
(2) the higher temperature is more optimal for gas production and in my experience it helps creating bigger holes in the crumb at a shorter time. This is really only an optimization - if you prefer room temperature, sure, go for it. take a look here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/59477/sourdough-yeast-growth-rates-various-temperatures
(3) I am not sure about the exact time and yours will anyway be different since your flour, water, starter and everything else is different. 3 hours in the oven can be a good initial guess but you have to monitor the dough and decide
(4) Dutch oven works very well. I use a double roster instead since I can fit two or three loafs of different shapes:
roaster.jpg
See my comments in 2/18 posting
Have you tried mixing in the apple and nut pieces using a stand-mixer with dough-hook at low speed?
Works fine for me when I bake SD raisin /walnut bread -- first combine flours and liquids for about 8 min, then fold in raisin and walnut pieces during an added 1 min mix.
Same technique for apple/pecan SD ?