Turmeric, Cashews, and Carrot Sourdough (No-Knead version)
George Bernard Shaw once said “there is no love sincerer than the love of food;” I am re-writing that sentence: “there is no love more sincere than the love of bread.”
Sourdough is one of life’s simplest pleasures. How lucky I am to not have gluten intolerance.
It’s been nearly four years since I last posted. Is anyone familiar with an Australian aborigines’ rite called “walkabout”? I feel like I had gone on a long walkabout and have just found my way home. A lot had transpired in between, but at this very moment, I feel not much has changed between me and sourdough.
So, Hello friends, I see a few familiar faces but most I don’t recognize. I guess that won’t matter; bread is our common language.
I never thought I would lose it, but I did – a few times I tried to make bread during my time away but failed miserably and I never quite knew what went wrong. A year or 18 months ago, I bought my sister Orange Jim Layhey’s famous No Knead bread book; secretly I wanted to learn it too as a way out of the mud, or quick sand, I was in with my formal way of sourdough making.
Scroll forward, a week ago, I came across a no-knead sourdough formula on Eric’s BreadTopia, I thought it was amazing and decided to give it a try. The result was really pleasing, however I could never just follow a recipe; I needed to do my own thing. So after a few experiments, I did the following:
Turmeric, Cashews, and Carrot Sourdough (No-Knead version)
(adapted from BreadTopia’s no-knead cranberry & pecan sourdough, thank you, Eric!)
- 430 g flour (consisting of 390 g bread flour, and 40 g wholemeal/spelt/rye flour mix)
- 60 g very young 100% hydration starter, diluted in 50 g water
- 300 g carrot juice (from 4 – 5 medium carrots)
- 100 g cashew nuts (lightly roasted and cooled)
- 70 g threaded carrot (from about one small carrot)
- 2.5 teaspoonful of turmeric powder
- 9 g salt
(Overall hydration about 81%)
Method
(1) Mix everything up in one go, and just leave it.
If you are so inclined, give it a fold or two, or none, not straightaway, but perhaps a couple of hours later, or whenever. (Being a sourdough baker, you would just be so tempted to fold it. It is not possible to not fold it; you cannot not do it.) In the 9 hours of bulk fermentation at room temp averaging 22-24C (72-75F), I did just one letter fold.
(2) Just before shaping, I did another letter fold, and I let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then shaped it (very minimalist handling); final proof a little over 2 hours.
(3) 30 minutes before baking, pre-heat with a Dutch oven inside to 225C (450F). Bake it covered for 30 minutes (no need for steaming), then open the lid, and bake a further 10 minutes.
A few notes (these are to refresh my own memory:
- Hydration – it is one thing to want to have large holes, and another to have too much hydration with the bread ending like a big pancake;
- Fermentation – I have found most no-knead bread recipes asking for too long fermentation, with the end result of a pancake again; long fermentation is safer with lower hydration;
- Temperature - an all important issue which bloggers or posters don’t seem to spend time to talk about; temperature is key in deciding the length of time needed for fermentation;
- Starter - a young starter is always my preference; unless I am making a German or Swiss style rye bread, in general, I do not like making sourdough with mature starter;
- Total time from initial mixing to just before baking – this time figure is what I pay attention to; but at the end of the day …
- When all is said and done, I am finding learning to “read” the dough is THE most important step of all steps, a step that can override all other steps!
Not sure how much I will be posting going forward, but glad to be back and say Hi.
Cheers to all!
Shiao-Ping
Comments
That is a stunning looking loaf!
It must have tasted amazing.
Great post. I've never made a no knead loaf, but this is one i'll definitely have to try.
I've just had a glance through some of your older blog posts, you are very talented. Your breads are lovely.
I'm glad you've started baking again after your walk about. Hope to see you post again soon :)
Love the festive colors! It must taste really special.
We miss you and your wonderful baking! Maybe you do not know me but I'm one of your fans when I was still stalking TFL years ago! Glad to see you're back and I hope we'll see more from you soon.
請問您做過/吃過老麵饅頭嗎？ 謝謝您！
周可
Being a fan of your breads/bakes..this is such a treat. Wonderful bake as always. It feels like a friend who went for a long "walkabout" and suddenly, pop up at my door to present me this bread.
So happy to hear from you and welcome back Shiao Ping
I need to try one of this!
I'm one of the newbies, first post I've see fromyou. Gllad you came back.
There's always some mud for every one... But there is always bread to make also :)
Happy baking.
v.k.
Nice to see you here baking and blogging again.
Best,
Tim
TFL was to read the 'Brisbane Blogs' from start to finish - Yours and Phil's. Then you both stopped posting - I thought it was me causing this disaster and it was for Fresh Lofians:-)
You started up, beautiful inside and out, right where you left off and this one looks like it fits tight into your SD progression over time. Well done! Now we need to work on Phil :-) Glad to see you back and
Happy baking SP
Fantastic post, Shiao-Ping, and wonderful to have you come visit us again.
I'd love to feature this post on the homepage for a while, if you'll permit me.
Welcome back. So nice to see a post from you and a beautiful one at that.
Regards,
Ian
Glad that you have decided to come back and post! That loaf is beautiful! It looks delicious!
I am overwhelmed by the warm welcome back you all gave me. Thank you all. You guys are just too kind. I don't deserve all the praises. I think there is so much giving and warmth in TFL. dabrownman, I saw Phil two years ago. His book must be nearing publication. Floyd, I'll be honored if you use this post. I've enjoyed your Instagram. 周可，you have a very nice name. (For those of you who don't know, Taiwanese love Mainland Chinese people's names, often very poetic.) Yes, I have had 老麵饅頭 back in Taiwan. 老麵饅頭 literally means "old-dough steamed-buns"; "old-dough" is a Chinese version of sourdough; to Chinese, any dough that is 24 hours old is technically "old-dough".
Debra,
It's so nice to see your beautiful photography again, Shiao-Ping, and picture-perfect breads. It's a great combination of talents.
I couldn't agree more with your notes, especially number 5. I think one of the problems with following bread recipes at home that were developed in production bakeries is that the processing times of large batches extends the total fermentation time, but dividing, pre-shaping, final shaping, scoring, etc., aren't accounted for in bulk fermentation, final proof, or anywhere. That was brought to my attention by a friend in Beenleigh. :)
Phil is writing a book? How wonderful.
All the best,
dw
I remember your lab starter glass jar very well. Have you blogged any bread since your Hamelman class in Vermont back in 2010? If not, then I am in front, haha. No, I don't know for sure if Phil is publishing a book, but that was just my guessing because these days with social media those super good bakers seem to be singled out more easily ....
You're right Shiao-Ping, you are way ahead of me! Maybe I'll get back to it one day ...
Wowzer! I have not checked in for a while due to keeping too busy with work and house renovation. This one I just HAVE to try!
Thank you for such a detailed and inspiring post :)
It is hard to believe that it has been so long. I take long breaks as well. Somehow I always end up back here and the information is always as rich as when I left. I often read over old sourdough posts that I enjoyed in the past. Sometimes I see a post I made so long ago that it as if I was learning it all over again haha. Your name comes up so often that I hadn't realized it has been so long since hearing from you again. Glad to see you have returned.
Hi all again, I often received a comment and feel the immediate warm friendship. TFL bloggers are so warm, this is a great place to be! Thank you all again.
Miss the posts you used to do. Glad you are back and hope you have time to post more!
Welcome back, Shiao-Ping I have missed you and your posts and great photography very much. I was away down south near Margaret River and showing a friend the great resource that TFL is on his computer when I noticed your post and couldn't wait to get home to greet you myself . Both you and Phil although tother siders always showcased Australian baking at its absolute best. your great photography and accounts of your baking were looked forward to with great eager.
The long break away from TFL certainly hasn't harmed any of those skills that you possess.
Along with a recent post from Khalid (Mebake) and now you, all we need is as Dabrownman said is for the re-emergence of Phil and it will be a great year for homecomings.
I am still waiting to see Zita from Cambodia (bakingbadly ) post some of his exploits too so that TFL folk can share, another talented young man doing some great baking and living their dreams.
All the best from here in the West Derek (yozzause)
You guys are too generous; they are so many great bakers at TFL, there are great breads to look at every day. Indeed, this is one stop for everything one needs to know about sourdough and much more. Thanks for the warm welcome back!
I have just returned from holidaying in Taiwan. Sadly we were not able to get to Alishan but spent some time at Sun Moon Lake and on the East Coast. Such breathtaking scenery.
Now back to baking. I love your posts and I have learned so much from them and other TFLers. I always bake in a DO but want to try baking straight onto the stone because I want to bake more than one loaf at a time and cannot fit 2 DOs into my oven. Do you have any tips on steaming and or just spraying the loaves? I have tried but got a very thick crust which I didn't like.
I look forward to reading your posts. Cheers, Carol
then it might not be a good idea to move away from Dutch Oven because I think baking on a stone does tend to give you thicker crusts (unless perhaps you under-bake your dough, I mean to not give it a gutsy bold bake). I don't have any clever tips on steaming though.
So nice to see your post and add to welcoming you back. Welcome back! Missed you...
...And what a crumb shot!
Have almost all the ingredients. Using a Rye starter?
What do you think of using raw turmeric? Blanched & grated? Going to local market tomorrow, whoops, today.
Currently awake at strange times (jet lag) and walk about camp while everyone is sleeping. Should put all this energy into something simple and lovely to celebrate your return, your gifting of inspiration for future bakes and my first loaf back in camp. I cannot not thank you for your post. :)
Mini
I've missed you too. Fresh turmeric grated would be lovely; I don't think you need to blanch it beforehand though. Rye starter? No, that would be an overkill. You want cleaner taste of a white starter; or at most a Gerard Rubaud style of starter with up to 30% in WW/spelt/rye.
Hi All,
I let my loaf rise in a heavy stainless pan and covered it with a preheated pan of the same size.
Some mistakes: I didn't slash, missed the 50 gr of water to dissolve starter with, had overly strong turmeric, and forgot the nuts.
The color and oven spring (from 2/3 filled loaf pan to brimming over the top of pan) were good.
The crumb and density were not so great, yet I loved working with this recipe. I cubed the loaf, then tossed with spices and olive oil to make great croutons!
What a lovely looking loaf, thank you for sharing with us.
I'm just a mom who stumbled into sourdough during hormonal times of pregnancy 6 years ago. I enjoy it but don't bake regularly, and I've recently refreshed the starter from the back of my fridge wondering what I want to do. I've got, on scrap paper, and probably poorly converted to American volume measurements, my three favorite breads: Shaio-Ping's whole wheat a l'ancienne, chocolate sourdough, and sourdough chia (my favorite of the three, and my kids and niece love it too).
I searched for your blog today because I finally own a cheap kitchen scale and I wanted to update my "recipes" with weight. I'm excited to see this new bread. I never got entrenched enough in my baking to stick to a single method and I've mostly been baking no-kneads with commercial yeast in these years, so I can totally appreciate the relaxed way you treat this dough. Just used all my carrots and I'm allergic to cashews but the color of this bread begs me to try (your pictures are stunning as always). I think I will use some sliced almonds for my take.
No need to keep churning out new bakes; I will happily keep baking my favorites as I continue to slowly explore the world of bread baking. It's nice to "see" you again, though!
... commentary. Wish you lots of luck on your new scale. Even though this bread is no-knead, if you like, give your dough some folds when you feel like it and when time permits. On top of all, MAKE SURE, MAKE SURE your starter is as fresh and young as it can be for the best result of no-knead method. I gave my sister a no-knead book because she is a busy career woman but she tells me her sourdough always comes out looking like a pancake (because her starter is too ripe)!
If you like more crunchy texture in the nuts you put in your bread, try walnuts next time. They have higher fat content than either cashews or almonds.
Hi Shiao-Ping,
I just wanted to write a quick note of thanks. I just rediscovered TFL forum, after first looking at it 3 years ago. Today, I saw your profile pic attached to a recipe, and I thought "I think this is will be a good recipe, though I can't recall why..." Now after reading through your forum, I remember reading man of your recipes (and musings) 3 years ago. They were very helpful then, and very interesting to read now! So a belated thank you. I would look forward to reading about whatever you are baking these days.
best,
Josh
Hi Josh, thank you for your kind remarks. Baking sourdough is a fun endeavour; I hope you make lots of sourdough to share with family and friends. All the best, Shiao-Ping
I must concur the ads are making it very difficult to follow these posts. I am assuming this is a resurrected post. The reason remains unknown to me. I get lost scrolling past the ads.