Sleeping Giant Skull Rock Stout and 2-Year Old White Cheddar Sourdough with Oats

Sleeping Giant Brewery is one of our very successful local breweries. So when it turned out that the stout I used in this recipe last April, was no longer available, it was a no brainer to support our local brewery. Hopefully, this tastes as good as the last time!

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Soaker

180 g oats

200 g stout beer (Sleeping Giant Skull Rock Stout)

Dough

720 g Unbleached flour 

200 g freshly milled Selkirk wheat flour (200 g Selkirk wheat berries)

100 g freshly milled Einkorn flour (100 g Einkorn wheat berries)

600 g water 

100 g stout beer (Sleeping Giant Skull Rock Stout)

24 g Pink Himalayan salt 

30 g yogurt

250 g Levain (procedure in recipe)

125 g 2 Year Old White Cheddar, finely cubed 

Extra whole grain flour (I used einkorn and kamut) and unbleached flour to feed the levain

Two mornings before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of strong baker’s flour and let rise until doubled (about 6 hours). 
2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. I mill my own wholegrain flour so if you are doing the same, measure out the stated amount for each type of flour in berries or grain, and mill it on the finest setting of your home mill. If buying flour, get the freshest that you can and try to ensure that it is wholegrain. 
2. Place the required amounts of the wholegrain flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 
3. Cover and set aside.
4. Cut the cheese into very small pieces, sprinkle with a bit of flour, toss and place covered into the fridge. Tip: If you sprinkle the flour on the cheese before chopping it, it makes it stick less to itself. 

Dough making day:

1. Take the levain out of the fridge to warm up on the counter. I usually give it a stir to redistribute the beasties and give them access to more food. 
2. In a stand mixer’s bowl, add the water, the second amount of stout beer and the flours. Mix on the lowest speed until you have a shaggy dough with no dry spots. This takes a couple of minutes. 
3. Autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature. 
4. Mix the soaker together and cover. Let rest on the counter.
5. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed up for 9 minutes. 
6. Then add the cheese cubes and the soaker, and mix for another minute or two.
7. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 
8. Do 2 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals and then 2 sets of sleepy ferret folds at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 30%. It should have irregular bubbles visible through the sides of the container and  bubbles on top as well. 
9. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~830 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 
10. Do a final shape by flouring the top of 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.
11. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

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 but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

Amazing oven spring! Loaves hit the lid while baking! So we have flat tops! ?

All loaves are spoken for so no crumb shot or taste notes.