The Fresh Loaf

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Irish stout, oats and cheddar cheese sourdough

Anthony Power's picture
Anthony Power

Irish stout, oats and cheddar cheese sourdough

Decided to make my first adventurous sourdough an Irish one and also wanted to bring porridge into it as i haven't tried that yet. So i settled with a strong cheddar + stout/oat soaker. I was thinking the stout soaker would be a good idea as the oats would soak up the stout/alcohol and wouldnt effect my bulk dough performance as much to try make the results a bit more predictable. 

 

My last 2 bakes have been Tartine country bread so i loosely based this recipe and process off that. 

 

Gathered my ingredients:

 

Decided with the crafty brewing company Irish stout over a predictable Guinness as its more malty and sweet. The cheddar is one we normally buy, nice and mature flavoured.

INGREDIENTQUANTITYBAKER’S PERCENTAGE
   
   
Water (26C) (inc leaven)600 grams55%
Stout250 grams23%
 Total liquid77%
   
Leaven (100% hydration)200 grams18%
   
Total Flour (inc oats & leaven)1,100 grams 100%
   
White Flour750 grams68%
   
Whole Wheat Flour50 grams5%
   
Whole Rye Flour50 grams5%
   
Oats150 grams14%
   
Salt22 grams2%
   
Additional  
Cheddar 100 grams 

 

 

 

At 11:00 am

Gave starter second feed of the morning. 

Started autolyse by mixing all the flour (white/ ww / rye) with 500g of water. It was dryer/firmer as i withheld the stout for the soaker. 

Made soaker by mixing 150g oats and 250g stout... at 11am in the morning i was tempted to finish off the other half of the bottle!!

 

 

At 12:30 my starter was lovely and bubbly so i added 200g to the dough mix. I withheld the soaker and salt as i wanted to give the dough a head start - i was afraid of possible effects from the alcohol in the stout. 

 

At 13:00 i was ready for my first S&F so i added in the soaker, salt and cheddar. 

 The 100g of cheddar was just a guess amount and i cubed it rather then grate as i wanted it to be found through the bread rather then incorporated/lost. 

 

I S&F every half hour at room temperature 23C. 

It was 18:00 before i was ready to preshape - was amount 30% bigger and loads of bubbles.

 

During the S&F the cheddar kept breaking the surface but by the time i got to pre-shape the dough was elastic enough to hold it all in

 

 

Arounf 18:45 both loaves went into baskets and into the fridge for overnight proofing. 

 

9:00am next morning i heated oven to max which turns out to be about 230c on the thermometer. Baking stone on the bottom rack with a pyrex bowl preheating.

 

Baked at 250c for 20mins with bowl and a further 25mins uncovered, I also moved the rack up to middle of oven for last 25mins. 

 

After 20mins:

After baking it out:

 

 

The Cheddar can be found in its own pockets all over :)

Overall im delighted with this one, crust is really stouty/malt flavoured as that flavour was enhanced by the dark bake. Inside has a lovely cheddar flavour throughout. The crumb looks very irregular in the pics but i think the cheddar played its part in that.

Comments

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

I need to know! Did you follow through on your temptation to finish the bottle? I would have, no matter what time of the day it was. ?

I am bookmarking this. Love the crumb!

Anthony Power's picture
Anthony Power

Nope, didnt want to cheat on my dry january!

Thanks for bookmarking!

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

Those are gorgeous ! Love everything the combination of flavors and that gorgeous crust and cheesy crumb.  Very nicely done . c

Anthony Power's picture
Anthony Power

The combo defo works.. ill be doing it again. Might add some walnuts in next time.

 

 

mwilson's picture
mwilson

I really like this. Well done, I bet it tastes delicious!

Always nice to read a well documented post.

Dry January may be followed by a very wet February! (At least for me anyway)

Anthony Power's picture
Anthony Power

Indeed! Malty, sweet, stouty and cheesy!! All works! 

Thanks man- not bad for my first post - will try keep up the standard!

Filomatic's picture
Filomatic

Really nice work.  I'd love a slice right about now.

Anne-Marie B's picture
Anne-Marie B

It sounds like the perfect combination of flavours. And love the look of the crumb. Bookmarking this one. Enjoy!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

For someone who loves Irish: bread, beer and cheese this is the ultimate bread.  This is about as good as it gets.  Well done and happy baking  

latanante's picture
latanante

Thanks! my husband and in-laws love them. I dont have a crumb shot but it was pretty good. I need to work on it but still. I feel like a learned a lot with these loaves.  Here are some pictures :)