For a long time I’ve fllirted with the idea of working with a sourdough at 100% hydration. What’s the big deal, you might ask? First of all, in bread lingo, the hydration level reflects the amount of water in relation to total flour. Total flour then becomes the amount considered as 100%, and all ingredients are listed in proportion to that amount. If a bread calls for 500g of flour and 250g of water, it is at 50% hydration. Usually, if you look at recipes for sourdough bread, that level sits at 65% to 70%. If you want to see what increasing the level of water from 65% to 100% does to a dough, simply mix 100g of flour with 65g water and play with it. Now do the same with 100g flour + 100g water. It is a totally different reality… Anyway, without further ado, this is my first adventure with a sourdough bread containing 100% water. The famous “Pan de Cristal”.

PAN DE CRISTAL
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

makes four loaves

400g strong flour
400g water (divided in 350g + 50g)
10g olive oil
10g salt
100g starter (at 100% hydration)

Mix the flour with 350g of water in a bowl. Use a dough whisk or your hand to mix it until no dry bits of flour remain. Let that sit for 45 minutes at room temperature. Mix the salt with the 50g water and reserve.

Add the sourdough starter, incorporate by kneading into the flour/water mixture. Add the remaining water/salt in 3 additions spaced by 10 minutes, mixing with your hand. After the last amount of water is added, wait 10 minutes and add the olive oil .

The dough is ready for bulk proofing. Place it in a square pyrex dish sprayed with olive oil. Perform coil folds every 45 minutes. You should do five to six cycles of folding, as shown in the video. Transfer the dough to the fridge overnight

Next morning, place parchment paper over your countertop, and flour the surface of the dough, as well as the parchment paper. Flip the dough onto the floured paper, then divide it with a bench scraper in four pieces. Each piece should go into a separate piece of floured parchment paper for easy moving into the oven. Cover the pieces and let them proof at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Heat your oven to 450C with a baking stone over the rack. Bake the bread with steam for 10 minutes, the reduce the temperature to 425F and bake for 20 minutes more.

Let it cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Below you can watch a video of the last cycle of “folding” before placing the dough in the fridge for its overnight beauty sleep.

It was quite a challenging dough to work with, but I am pretty happy with the outcome. Make sure to flour the surface quite a bit before diving the dough into four pieces.

The crumb was very open and airy, the bread is delicious and was perfect for pulled pork sandwiches on the 4th of July… If you like to have a little bread baking challenge, I highly recommend this recipe!

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