Rosemary Kalamata Sourdough
At my sister’s request, I made up a batch of Rosemary Kalamata Sourdough. The combination of those two flavors is irresistable! I also like to put Asiago cheese with this kind of bread but my sis is allergic to milk, so it got left out this time.
To make up this bread you need to start with a preferment the evening before you plan on doing your dough mixing. To do this you mix together:
- Starter @ 166% hydration- 9 oz/255g
- water – 6 oz/170g
- Bread flour – 8 oz/226g
This will make 1 lb 7 oz/652g of preferment @ 102% hydration
Mix this up in the evening and allow the preferment to set overnight in a covered container large enough to hold it when it doubles.
Next day mix together:
- All of the preferment – 1 lb 7 oz/652g @ 102% hydration
- Water- 10 oz/283g
- Soft buter- 1 oz/28g
- Salt-0.6 oz/17g
- Bread Flour- 1 lb 6 oz/623g
Total weight of dough is 3 lbs 8.6 oz/1590g The hydration is: 64.7%
Mix the above ingredients together well, don’t worry about an autolyse period (where you leave the salt out for a time) because with a preferment, you already have much of the dough autolysed overnight.
Allow the dough to ferment for six hours, folding the dough at least four times during the bulk fermentation. After it is done fermenting, put the dough into a covered container and refrigerate until evening.
In the evening take out your dough and shape it. You should have enough for two loaves. To shape it, spread one piece of dough out on your work surface. Then cover it with .2+ oz (Use 1-2 Tablespoons) of chopped fresh Rosemary and 4+ oz of Kalamata olives. Next fold the dough over on top of itself and work in the olives and Rosemary. The dough can get a little sticky and hard to work with. Just let the dough set for ten minutes and come back to it if this happens. Once you have the olives somewhat worked throughout the dough, let the dough set again for ten minutes and then shape it into the loaf you desire.
Put the loaf into the banneton, cover it with plastic and put it into the refrigerator overnight. Next morning, take out your loaves, one at a time, staggered by 30 minutes. Take off the plastic and let them warm up and final proof. This can take two or more hours.
When the loaves are ready, bake in a preheated 450F degree oven. Make sure your oven and baking stone are hot and also your baking lid which you use to cover the dough while it is baking.
Place the slashed dough onto the hot baking stone, spray water on top of the loaf and then cover it with your roasting lid. Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and turn the oven down to 425F degrees. Finish baking for 10 -15 minutes more or until the loaf is a nice brown color and sounds hollow when you tap on the bottom. Cool and enjoy with fresh butter and a glass of wine.