Seven seed and grain sourdough
Cotswold flour has so many amazing flour blends, this is just one of many!
Ingredients:
275g water
6g honey/maple syrup/barley malt syrup
~110g active sourdough starter
30g rye flour
140 strong white bread flour
250g Cotswold Flour seven seed and grain flour
13g salt
You can absolutely substitute the strong white bread flour portion for the seven seed and grain flour but you may want to increase the weight slightly so that the weight of the seeds and grains doesn’t affect your hydration too much, 10-15g extra should do it!
Method:
Whisk the water, honey and starter together until combined. Tip in the flour and mix by hand until roughly combined. Do about 5 minutes of stretch and folds on a clean work surface until smooth, stretchy and less sticky. Cover and leave to autolyse for around 1hr 15mins.
Then sprinkle the salt over the dough and add about a teaspoon of water. Pinch up to incorporate the salt before doing a set of stretch and folds. Tip the dough out onto a clean surface and continue stretching and foling the dough until the salt is fully incorporated and the dough has no slippery spots. Cover and leave to rest for ~30mins. Perform another 5 sets of stretch and folds at ~30min intervals.
This step is optional:
if you would like a seeded crust for the loaf: arrange a variety of seeds on a clean dry surface in a pattern if you like, but make sure the overall size is slightly larger than the base of your banneton. After the final stretch and fold, shape the dough (using whatever method you prefer) and spray a little water over the top of the dough. Gently roll the dough across the seed pattern pressing down very slightly. Place in a lined banneton, lightly floured with rice flour, so the seeds are on the bottom.
Rest at room temperature for anywhere between 2-4hrs depending on ambient temperature. Ideally you want the dough to have grown by around 50% before placing it covered in the fridge for 12 hours or overnight.
After 12 hours, preheat the oven to 230-250C for ~30mins with your Dutch oven in the oven. After the oven has preheated, turn the dough out onto a sheet of baking paper/silicone bread mat and score as you like.
If you want a detailed scoring design and have not opted for a seeded crust, I’d recommend using rice flour to dust with before using a clean, new and sharp razor blade to score the design you like. Place into the dutch oven and bake for 25mins with the lid on followed by ~12mins with the lid off with the temperature reduced to 210C.
If you are using the 5 minute score method, take the loaf back out after 5-7 minutes of baking and re-score along the line you want the main expansion to occur then put the lid back on, return to the oven and continue baking as normal.
Let the bread cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
