Grand Marnier Spiced Cranberry and Raisin Sourdough.

I’ve made these before based on Bourke Street Bakery’s Spiced Fruit loaf but this time, I soaked the dried fruit in Grand Marnier. Yum! 

Makes 3 loaves

 INGREDIENTS

Snockered Fruit

150 dried cranberries

60 golden raisins (sultanas)

60 g Thompson Raisins

50 g Grand Marnier

Main dough 

770 g strong baker’s unbleached flour

110 g freshly milled Durum flour

50 g freshly ground flax

620 g filtered water

40 g plain yogurt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3.5 tsp of mixed spices (4 tsp ground cinnamon, .5 tsp each of ground ginger and ground cloves, 1 tsp each of ground nutmeg and ground coriander - Note this makes more than you need.)

22 g pink Himalayan salt 

465 g of 4 stage levain (100% hydration)(Procedure in recipe)

Extra unbleached and whole grain flour to feed the levain.

Two nights before:

1. Take 16 g of your refrigerated starter and feed it 16 g each of whole grain flour and filtered water. Let rise overnight.

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 32 g of wholegrain flour and 32 g of filtered water.

The night before:

1. Mix the unbleached flour, the durum flour, and the ground flax well in a tub, cover and reserve.
2. Measure out the cranberries and the two types of raisins and place in a bowl. To the bowl, add 50 g of Grand Marnier, and mix well. Cover and let sit overnight, tossing the fruit occasionally. 
3. Before going to bed, feed the levain 64 g of filtered water and 64 g of unbleached flour.

Dough day:

1. Feed the levain 128 g each of unbleached flour and filtered water. Let rise in a warm spot till double. This should take about 4-5 hours.
2. Two hours before the levain is ready, mix the flours and the water in a stand mixer to a shaggy dough with no dry spots. Autolyse for a couple of hours.
3. Once the levain is ready, add the levain, the yogurt and the salt to the dough in the mixing bowl. Mix on speed 1 for a minute and then on speed 2 for another 7 minutes.
4. Add the fruit mixture and the spices, and mix on speed 2 for another couple of minutes until the fruit and spices are well integrated. Let rest for a half hour in a warm spot. (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then more 2 sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 50%. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~810g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Sprinkle oat flakes on top of the flour mix, then place the dough seam side down. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

No crumb shot as they all sold. 

On the other hand, I got a great deal on 3.4 quart cast iron pots on Amazon. They are a bit smaller than my other pots’ diameter wise but seem taller with the domed lid. The enamel on my other pots had started chipping and crazing so I’d been looking for a while. Heating them empty to 475F on a regular basis is hard on enameled pots, especially cheap ones. 

It’s not easy to find 3 quart size, never mind at decent price. These were $23 US so even with the exchange, import duties and taxes plus paying a broker to go get them at the border (since the border is closed and we can’t cross), it was a great deal! 

Note they are pretty rough on the inside but that might be an asset to help prevent sticking. I do use parchment paper and I did season these even though they said they came preseasoned. No sticking with this batch so I was happy with that.