As we continued to gain experience with Sourdough bread baking, we discovered all the different inclusions you can add to your recipe. It is so easy and so much fun to try different flavors. We've tried sesame seeds and green olive inclusions and they were both delicious although the olives one needed some herbs to pick up the punch. In this recipe, however, we will share a recipe with blueberries! You will add it after your first stretch and fold during lamination. I'll elaborate below for you, follow along and enjoy!
Ingredients
- 100 g of active starter
- 270 g of water at room temperature
- 390 g of bread flour
- 9 g of salt
- Rice flour to dust basket only
- 130 g blueberries skins (remove the juice by mashing them throughly).
- 40 g of blueberries (You'll add them whole in your dough. It is up to you how much you'd like to add but keep in mind that you're adding more hydration to the dough so try not to go over 60 g. You can also just do blueberries skins.)
You'll also need a banneton basket and our Tool Kit! And other tools like a dutch oven, saran wrap, parchment paper and a digital scale.
Method
If you already have a favorite sourdough recipe you are familiar with, follow that and skip to the blueberry inclusions in step 7.
1. Most important step is to have the starter active and fed at 100% hydration. If you don’t have one, don't worry! click here to get started with one and then come back to continue. If your starter is ready, continue with step 2.
2. Pour the water into a mixing bowl. Then add the sourdough starter and mix well.
3. Continue to add the flour.
4. Add the salt and continue mixing until you form a rough ball. Cover it with saran wrap and let it rest to hydrate for 30 minutes.
5. Now we'll do four stretch and fold sets every 30 minutes. We'll do one now and the remaining three after lamination.
- How to fold: Wet your hands slightly before handling the dough if it's sticky and do it as much as you need to throughout. Stretch the dough gently upwards and fold it over the dough itself, rotate clockwise and do the same. Do this until you complete a 360.
6. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
7. Now we'll add the blueberries by doing a lamination: Get the dough onto your work surface and stretch it from all sides as much as you can without tearing it. If it does tear, just patch it and continue stretching.
8. Once the dough is fully stretched, add the blueberry skins and the blueberries throughout your dough. Add the quantities you prefer, make sure you'll have enough blueberries to do this twice more as we fold the dough. Now fold the dough from left to middle and add the berries, then fold again right to middle and add more berries. Finally, roll the dough up into a ball, put it back in the mixing bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes.
9. Continue with the remaining stretch and folds as in step 5. Do three more sets to build up the gluten and strengthen the dough. After each stretch and fold remember to cover and let it rest 30 minutes.
10. Once you complete your stretch and fold sets, you're ready for the bulk fermentation. Transfer the dough onto your work surface and shape it into a ball by rotating and tucking. Don't add more flour unless your dough is too wet. Trust the process and be confident when you handle it. Open your dough a bit and then fold the two sides of the dough over each other, then roll it up. From there, press the dough from the sides and rotate it to create tension using your surface as the grip. Then with your fingertips tuck the dough under itself, and then rotate again. Do the rotate and tuck until you have a tight and smooth ball. Then move it back into the mixing bowl and cover it. If the blueberries pop out, push them back in. If the surface of the dough rips, don't force it, just leave it to bulk ferment.
11. Leave it out at room temperature to bulk ferment for six hours or until the dough increases by 75%. For example, during winter/spring months in NY, six hours is perfect.
12. After the bulk fermentation is complete, carefully transfer the dough to shape it once more like in step 10. This time do so with light hands so the gas doesn’t escape too much and the blueberries don't rip your dough. Be very gentle in this step.
13. Dust the banneton basket liberally with flour. Rice flour will prevent the dough from sticking to the basket better than any other flour. Highly recommend for best results. The blueberries might stain the rattan of your basket, (it happened to me!) so if you prefer use a liner to keep your banneton basket intact. To clean the basket I used a bristle brush to dust off the flour and a lightly damp paper towel to remove the blueberry stains.
14. Transfer the dough into the banneton basket seam side up and seal it gently. Make sure the dough is in a tight ball before you transfer. Then, cover the basket with a linen liner or plastic wrap and take it to the refrigerator for overnight rest for 10 to 15 hours.
15. The next day preheat the oven to 490 F with the Dutch oven inside, lid included, for 45min to 1 hour.
16. Plop your dough in one quick flip onto the parchment paper, brush off any excess flour and score it half inch deep. I added more bread flour over it to create a nice contrast with the berries. You can do what you'd like better.
17. Transfer the dough carefully into the hot Dutch oven. Cover it, and bake it for 20 minutes at 490 F. After the 20 minutes, remove the lid and back to the oven for another 20-23 minutes at 450 F.
18. The loaf should have a caramelized crust, bursts of berries everywhere! and should sound hollow when you knock it. If you’d like it darker, bake it for five more minutes. Let it cool down on a wire rack for at least 45 minutes before slicing or serving and enjoy!
Extra Tips
If the dough is too sticky, wet your hands before handling.
To avoid burning the bottom of your dough, place a sheet pan on the bottom rack throughout the entire bake. It's a game changer! Make sure the pan can endure high temperature.
To store your loaf: Wrap it in saran wrap and a dry tea towel. Place it in the banneton basket to keep it fresh and soft for at least a week at room temperature. Every morning I toast it for breakfast and it's perfect!
Always adjust recipes to your own liking and remember the room temperature plays an important role when you're bulk fermenting. For example, warm weather above 73 F speeds up the fermentation and lower than 70 F will take longer.
Finally, practice makes perfect. Don’t get discouraged and keep baking!