Sweet potato, walnut and pecan sourdough

I’ve been meaning to bake a bread with potatoes in it, and I got some great tips from Isand66 and Dabrownman last week for potato bread , i thought why not start with a sweet potato loaf.

My formula is based on a recipe by txfarmer "Sweet potato sourdough with walnuts" . 

I didn’t change much, except I did use a bit more water in the autolyse. Things were just feeling bit stiff and my levain was only going to be 80% hydration, instead of the 100% called for in the recipe. I skipped the maple syrup and used a combination of walnuts and pecan nuts.

Formula:

Method:

1. Levain builds in three stages (using my NMNF rye starter), all with whole wheat flour.

I retarded the levain overnight once it doubled after the 3rd feeding.

2. Boil the sweet potato, until it’s really soft, then mash it (skin and all).

I just used fork to mash it, so it wasn’t particularly smooth.

Toast the nuts, leave to cool before chopping them up.

Mix the flour and water to make a fairly stiff dough, chill for a few hours and then leave to come to room temperature overnight.

3. In the morning, remove the levain from the fridge two hours before mixing, stir down and leave to bubble up again. Mix the dough, sweet potato mash, salt and levain, using a series of stretches/slaps or whatever gets everything mixed in really well.

The sweet potato added a lot of moisture to the dough, but it wasn’t too wet for me.

4. Develop the dough using stretch and folds.

I did another 4 sets at 45 minute intervals and added the nuts on the first set after the initial mixing. Leave the dough to bulk ferment for a few hours (I left my dough undisturbed for another 3 hours) until its increased in volume and there’s some nicely visible bubbles.

5. Pre-shape and leave to rest for 30mins before shaping and retarding overnight.

I left the dough to proof for another hour before putting it in the fridge for 19 hours.

I baked this loaf for 40 mins at 230dC, with steam for the first 30mins. I left the loaf in oven for another 5 mins after i turned it off, with the door ajar. 

The loaf sprang and bloomed pretty well.

I was worried i had over proofed it, but i think i got away with the long fermentation times. The crust is thin, crispy and really quite fragile. 

The crumb turned out well, i think. It has little bits of purple in there from the walnuts, which i think looks cool. 

I really like the taste of this loaf, it has a lovely nuttiness. The crumb is really moist, probably due to the sweet potato. Just had a slice with a bit of butter and my favourite strawberry jam! It was awesome. 

I'm really happy with how my first potato loaf went :) Next time, i might up the sweet potato a bit just to see what happens. 

Happy baking every one!