SCALDED BUCKWHEAT FLOUR AND HONEY SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

This wonderful bread was inspired by The Perfect Loaf, but I modified it quite a bit. Check his site for the original, which makes two loaves and includes a few extra instructions I omit.

SCALDED BUCKWHEAT FLOUR AND HONEY SOURDOUGH
(adapted from The Fresh Loaf)

for the levain:
27 g whole wheat flour
27g water
27g sourdough starter

flour scald:
23g buckwheat flour
37g boiling water

autolyse step:
320g bread flour
95g whole wheat flour
270g water
All of the flour scald

main dough:
45g water
9g salt
all the level
40g honey

sesame seeds for decoration (optional)

Prepare the levain: mix and allow it to ferment for 3 hours. At the same time make the buckwheat scald by mixing the flour with boiling water. Mix well into a paste. Cover and reserve.

Do the autolyse step: Combine flours, water, and scalded buckwheat in the bowl of your KitchenAid mixer. Use your hands or the dough hook to mix the ingredients until the flour is all incorporated. Cover and let it at room temperature for 1 hour.

Add the levain, additional water (hold some back and see if the dough can take the full amount), salt, and honey. Turn the mixer with the dough hook and knead for 3 minutes in low-speed. Turn the mixer off, wait for 5 minutes and turn it on again at low-speed for 3 to 5 more minutes. Remove a small portion of the dough to monitor fermentation.

Ferment for 3 hours (I used my proofing box set at 78F), with folds at every 30 minutes. Allow the dough to sit undisturbed until it increases by 50% in volume. I left mine for a total of 6 hours.

Pre-shape the dough, allow it to rest for 15 minutes and shape as a ball. Place it in the fridge overnight.

Next morning, freeze the dough for 20 minutes to make it easier to handle. Spread black and white sesame seeds over parchment paper. Invert the dough on the seeds, roll to coat it well. Slash if so desired.

Bake in a Dutch oven at 450F for 30 minutes with the lid on, remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes.

Allow it to cool completely before slicing the bread.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: We loved this bread! It has a smoky quality, probably due to the scalded buckwheat flour, perfect for ham or smoked salmon. It is hearty, very flavorful, with a nice crumb and perfect crust. I highly recommend you try this recipe, or go for the original from The Perfect Loaf, that has a much higher proportion of whole-wheat, and uses malt syrup and aniseeds.

I am definitely going to make it again!

ONE YEAR AGO: Three Adorable Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Ube Sourdough, Two Ways

THREE YEARS AGO: Brown Butter Dulce de Leche Cookie Cups

FOUR YEARS AGO: Chicken Poblano Tortilla Soup

FIVE YEARS AGO: Kung Pao Chicken

SIX YEARS AGO: Galette de Rois

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Sous-Vide Overnight Oatmeal

EIGHT YEARS AGO: A Valentine’s Day Opera

NINE YEARS AGO: Incredibly Simple Times Four

TEN YEARS AGO: Walnut-Cranberry Sourdough Bread

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Ottolenghi in Brazil?

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Roasted Winter Vegetables with Miso-Lime Dressing

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: 2012 Fitness Report: P90X2

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Caramelized Bananas

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Roasted Lemon Vinaigrette

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Whole Wheat Bread

7Feb2026

VALENTINE’S SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

You can use any recipe you are fond of, the scoring is not intricate so you can even increase a bit the hydration level if you prefer. You will need parchment paper cut with a heart shape (save the heart and the outside area), and a stencil with little hearts. I used Red Yeast Powder to add color, but air-brushing would also work. I love how the little white heart popped into the design, totally by accident! Serendipity at work…

VALENTINE’S SOURDOUGH
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

450g bread flour
50g whole wheat flour
75g sourdough starter (stiff or 100% hydration)
10g salt
360g water
Thai rice flour (or tapioca flour)
Red Yeast Powder for color (I used this one)

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, add the heart shape in the center, and flour the region around it (I used Thai rice flour). Lift the heart shape, place the larger parchment as a mask to cover the rest of the dough. Add your stencil, making sure it is tight on the surface. Rub Red Yeast powder over the design, lift the stencil carefully. Score the perimeter of the heart and the outer area of the dough, and place in a Dutch oven.

Close the pan and bake at 450F for 7 minutes. Remove the lid, go back and re-inforce the cut around the heart, although this step is optional. Close the pan and bake for 30 minutes, open and allow the bread to brown for a further 15 minutes.

Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This was a lot of fun to make, although I could have done a better job keeping the stencil tighter to the surface for a sharper edge around the little hearts. Here is the full process…

First, get the parchment paper cut and the stencil ready.

Now start by placing the heart on the top of the loaf, fresh from its little rest in the freezer… Rub flour all around.

Lift the stencil, revealing the heart underneath with no white flour on it…

Place the parchment paper as a mask hiding the areas outside the heart, the stencil on top of it…

Rub the red powder over the design…

Gently lift the stencil, score the dough and you are ready to bake!

I close this post with a baking memory from 2023 (click here for full details)

ONE YEAR AGO: Yogurt and Pistachio Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Chinese-Style Orange Chicken goes Light

THREE YEARS AGO: Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Quinoa

FOUR YEARS AGO: A Savory Phyllo Pie

FIVE YEARS AGO: Nut-Free Lady Grey Macarons

SIX YEARS AGO: Mini-Heart Cakes for your Valentine

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Blue Moon Milk

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Slow-Cooked Chicken Meatballs

NINE YEARS AGO: Zesty Flourless Chocolate Cake

TEN YEARS AGO: Maple Pumpkin Pecan Snacking Cake

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Silky Gingered Zucchini Soup

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Sweet Fifteen!

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Sesame and Flaxseed Sourdough

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Green Beans with Miso and Almonds

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Saturday Morning Scones

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: White Bread

21Dec2025

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).

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!