RAISED FLOWER SOURDOUGH BREAD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I have tried quite a few times this method in which portions of a sourdough design are lifted during baking, usually by inserting small pieces of crumbled parchment paper underneath the area, something that is done once the bread is in the oven for about 7 minutes. I had failure after failure, but this time it worked better. There is a lot of room for improvement, but at least I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

RAISED FLOWER SOURDOUGH BREAD
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

480g bread flour
20g whole wheat flour
75g sourdough starter (stiff or 100% hydration)
10g salt
360g water
2 tsp oregano

Mix all ingredients in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead gently for about 4 minutes (first or second speed maximum).

Transfer dough to a lightly oil bowl and do a bulk fermentation with 4 folds made 45 minutes apart. Before you start the fermentation , remove a very small amount of dough to a small glass container (like those that hold spices), and mark where the level of the dough is with a permanent marker. Keep that at room temperature to monitor fermentation.

After the last folding cycle, keep an eye on the fermentation using the small vial. Ideally you want to let the dough ferment until it is double in size. Depending on the day, temperature of your kitchen, it might take 8 hours or more.

Once bulk fermentation is over, shape the dough as a round ball. Place in the fridge overnight.

Next day, freeze the dough for 30 minutes in the banetton, to make it easier to score later. Invert the dough on a paper liner, with three strings equally spaced. Rub the surface with cocoa powder, and proceed to score as a flower, using the strings to guide you (check the video after this recipe).

Close the pan and bake at 450F for 7 minutes. Remove the lid, go back and its a razor blade re-inforce the petals to force them to separate better, gently slice the tip of each petal with the blade parallel to the surface, and place a small piece of parchment paper underneath each petal to force it to rise up. Close the pan and bake for 30 minutes, open and allow the bread to brown for a further 15 minutes.

Remove the strings, and let the bread cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

This is a video of the scoring before baking. It is four times faster than real-time.

Comments: I consider this bread a work in progress. My goal is to repeat this technique but with more finesse. The lifted area needs to be thinner, more delicate, which is not a very easy thing to do. But I am stubborn. Just don’t tell the husband I admitted to that. Once you open the pan after 7 minutes, it is quite hot and steamy, it is hard to get the correct angle to work with the blade without burning yourself. More practice and a lot more Zen is needed. But I am thrilled with this outcome, as I had so many frustrated attempts in the past.

ONE YEAR AGO: Air-Fried Sourdough Bread

TWO YEARS AGO: Ube Macarons

THREE YEARS AGO: Christmas Sourdough

FOUR YEARS AGO: Star-Shaped Sun-dried Tomato Bread

FIVE YEARS AGO: Cranberry White Chocolate Tart

SIX YEARS AGO: I dream of Madeleines and a Tower of Cheesecakes

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Dominique Ansel’s Chocolate Mousse Cake

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Slow-Roasted Eye of the Round Beef

NINE YEARS AGO: Steam-Roasted Indian-Spiced Cauliflower

TEN YEARS AGO: Creamy Zucchini-Mushroom Soup

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Ken Forkish’s Pain au Bacon

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Carrot and Cumin Hamburger Buns

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Potato Galettes a l’Alsacienne & Book Review

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Caramelized Carrot Soup

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Miso-Grilled Shrimp

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Pain Poilane

5Dec2025

THE NUOVVA PAN, MY NEW SOURDOUGH TOY

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I admit it. I didn’t try to resist the temptation to buy this pan. It was too adorable and I needed it in my life. Today I share my very first adventure with the Nuovva double Dutch oven (click here for ordering info).

The pan is available in several colors, but my heart was set on this gorgeous red version. It is almost exactly 16 inches, so unless your oven is really small, you should have no issues using it.

DUET OF SOURDOUGH BOULES
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

580g bread flour
20g whole-wheat flour
420g water
11g salt
85g starter (I used stiff, at about 75% hydration)

Mix all ingredients in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead gently for about 4 minutes (first or second speed maximum).

Once bulk fermentation is over, divide the dough in two equal parts, shape them as two small balls and place in a floured banetton. Place in the fridge overnight.

Next day, freeze the dough for 30 minutes in the banetton, to make it easier to score later. Invert the dough on the paper liner, place in the loaf pan, you can invert it over 3 strings if you like to make a pumpkin/flower shape. Score in any way you want, or use a stencil.

Close the pan and bake at 450F for 30 minutes. Remove the lid, and allow the bread to bake further for another 15 minutes or so. I found that the surface of the bread was not browning enough so after 40 minutes I removed them from the pan and let them bake for additional 10 minutes over the rack, outside of the pan.

Let it cool completely before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Cannot tell you how much we loved these loaves! They look adorable and baked perfectly side-by-side in the pan. I will be using it often. The loaves would be perfect for a dinner party, a sure way to impress your guests.

Did I need another sourdough toy? Probably not.
Am I happy I got it? OH, YEAH!

ONE YEAR AGO: November Cookie Round-up

TWO YEARS AGO: Pumpkin Shaped Soft Pretzel Rolls

THREE YEARS AGO: Cod Coconut Curry

FOUR YEARS AGO: The Best Ever Eggplant Parmigiana

FIVE YEARS AGO: Roasted Butternut Squash and Grapes with Maple Pomegranate Glaze

SIX YEARS AGO: A Really Big Announcement

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Stir-Fried Chicken in Sesame-Orange Sauce

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Monday Blues

NINE YEARS AGO: A New Way to Roast Veggies

TEN YEARS AGO: Two Takes on Raspberries

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Own Your Kitchen with Cappuccino Panna Cotta

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

22Oct2025

SPIDER WEB SOURDOUGH LOAF

Posted in Breads by sallybr

And three small changes in my overall sourdough approach… I will save those for the comments, check it out in case you are interested. But first things first, the method to make a scary good sourdough bread in the comfort of your kitchen…

SPIDER WEB SOURDOUGH LOAF
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

410g bread flour
275g water
8g salt
75g starter (I used stiff, at about 75% hydration)

Mix all ingredients in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead gently for about 4 minutes (first or second speed maximum).

Once bulk fermentation is over, shape the dough and place in a floured banetton. Place in the fridge overnight.

Next day, freeze the dough for 30 minutes in the banetton, to make it easier to score later. Invert the dough on the paper liner, place in the loaf pan. Add cocoa powder on the surface and score the pattern of a spider web.

Place small cubes of ice on the four corners of the pan, sliding the ice cubes between the metal pan and the paper liner. Place an inverted pan on top to act as a lid, and bake at 450F for 30 minutes. Remove the top pan, and allow the bread to bake further for another 15 minutes or so.

If when you remove the bread from the pan the bottom seems a little soggy, place it back in the oven over a rack and bake for 5 minutes outside of the pan.

Let it cool completely before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Pan liners available here

Loaf pans similar to these ones. I have a set of four, could not find the exact match. But they are 9 x 5 (inches).

Comments: I’ve been playing quite a bit with my default recipe for sourdough and the main change is that I now prefer to use a stiff sourdough starter to make my dough (sourdough starter from my fridge + 80g flour + 60g water, for a 75% hydration level). I like the way it handles, I like that it stays at maximal height for longer time than the 100% hydration version. In some bakes I have reduced the hydration to 60% – in this case the starter almost behaves like a dough that you can knead to mix – but after talking with my friend Philip, who recently also got into stiff starters, I settled for 75%. The good news is that I don’t need to adjust anything in the recipe, I can use my formula with the exact same amount of stiff versus loose starter. The difference in the amount of total flour is negligible and does not affect the outcome.

My second change is following the fermentation
with a small amount of dough removed once I mix it.

It turns out that I never bothered doing that, and yes, my bread was usually pretty good, no problems, but I had some inconsistencies from loaf to loaf that were hard to explain. It turns out that I always left the dough for 5.5 hours in bulk fermentation and after monitoring my dough with this method, I realize that in most cases I was cutting it a bit short. What I love about this simple detail is that I now wait until it doubles or almost doubles, shape the dough and retard in the fridge. It is really fun to see how it is quite sluggish in the first few hours and then in the last 90 minutes or so it gets going at a faster pace. No need to buy special gadgets that monitor the fermentation under controlled temperature. A simple little glass vial is all you need…

And finally, the third change is that I now freeze the dough for 30 minutes before inverting it out of the banetton and doing the scoring. Especially when doing more intricate designs, freezing the surface helps a lot. If you are just slashing the dough with two crossed lines, no need to freeze, but anything that requires a bit of more time you will notice a huge improvement.

And let the countdown to Halloween begin!

ONE YEAR AGO: Halloween Almond Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Miso-Honey Chicken Thighs

THREE YEARS AGO: Raw Zucchini and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Yogurt

FOUR YEARS AGO: Black Tahini Shortbread Cookies

FIVE YEARS AGO: A Fruitful Trio (of Macarons)

SIX YEARS AGO: Halloween Entremet Cake

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Pork with Prunes, Olives and Capers

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Kansas Corn Chowder

NINE YEARS AGO: Impossibly Cute Bacon and Egg Cups

TEN YEARS AGO: Pulling Under Pressure

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Cooking Sous-vide: Two takes on Chicken Thighs

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Miso Soup: A Japanese Classic

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: On my desk

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: A must-make veggie puree

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Vegetarian Lasagna

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Brazilian Pão de Queijo

7Oct2025

BRAIDED SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

First things first, credit goes to Sophia, an amazing sourdough baker I found by accident looking at pictures on Instagram. If you like to gild the lily as far as baking bread is concerned, definitely look at her page on IG (click here). She is also super helpful and I am grateful for the feedback she gave me when I had some issues trying to reproduce her masterpieces. Without further ado, my first braided sourdough inspired by one of her many creations.

For this version, I used my default formula for sourdough, but increased the total flour to 700g, so that I separated it in 400g (main bread), and 300g (for four strands with 75g each). Looking back, I did not need so much dough for the braid, but I was worried and did not want to take risks. Do your math, scale any recipe you are fond of and go from there.

I always allow my bulk fermentation to go for about 5 hours at room temperature and then shape and retard in the fridge overnight. So that’s what I did: fermented the whole 700g at room temperature, divided into two portions, shaped one as a boule and kept the 300g in another container, waiting to be twisted next morning, still cold from the fridge.

Each twist will have two strands, one covered in black sesame seeds, one left plain. I could have done a better job with the amount of seeds to be more homogeneous over the dough, but it is hard to get it all right on the first time… It is also important to twist both ropes to the same extent, in my case one had more twists than the other.

Of course, you can do a real braid with three strands, and I intend to go for it in the near future. No matter the little boo-boos, I love the way this bread turned out.

The crumb will be a little tighter than normal, because the rope will prevent full expansion, but that is not a serious problem…

Make sure to visit Sophia’s page, and be ready to get seriously inspired!

ONE YEAR AGO: German Chocolate Macarons

TWO YEARS AGO: Dressing up the Oreo Cookie

THREE YEARS AGO: OMG Roasted Sweet Potatoes

FOUR YEARS AGO: Air-Fried Eggplant Raita

FIVE YEARS AGO: Turkey-Pumpkin Roulade with Cider Sauce

SIX YEARS AGO: Strawberry-Vanilla Mini-Cakes

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Bourbon-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Pea Pesto

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Chocolate Chip Cookies from Naturally Sweet

NINE YEARS AGO: Little Bites of Paradise

TEN YEARS AGO: Maple-Glazed Pumpkin Bread

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, October 2014

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Grilled Steelhead Trout

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Brown Butter Tomato Salad

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Spelt and Cornmeal Rolls

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Roasted Potato and Olive Focaccia

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire

16Sep2025

CROISSANT SOURDOUGH BREAD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

I first saw this cool recipe over at Karen’s Kitchen Stories, and I knew I had to bake a loaf for us. After making it I’ve noticed that many bloggers and bakers are talking about it, so apparently it is one of those baking adventures that went viral. I hate the term “viral” but will reluctantly put it to use. It conveys the right picture, I guess. Without further ado, my take on this tasty bread.

For the recipe, visit Karen’s blog with a click here.

It is a straightforward sourdough formula, the trick is to incorporate frozen grated butter in the second half of the bulk fermentation. The dough is rich, and the addition of so much fat slows down the fermentation a bit, so it won’t rise during fermentation as much as a ‘normal’ sourdough will.

This is the dough all soft and bubbly before you add the butter….

The frozen butter is added (in two steps), and the dough folded over to enclose it….

After shaping and retarding it in the fridge overnight, you are ready to slash and bake…

The bread smells amazing as it bakes and the addition of butter somehow made it develop a very nice golden crust…

It has wonderful taste and texture, and it is not “greasy” at all. Toasts beautifully also… I don’t normally make stuff for us that has a lot of butter, so this was a special indulgence. If you like to bake sourdough bread, definitely consider this recipe for a change.