Purple Sweet Potato Cranberry Sourdough

Oct

It almost feels like fall here on Long Island if you don’t count the 70 F-degree days we had this week. Well, anyway, here is a nice pre-Thanksgiving type of bread made with roasted purple sweet potatoes and cranberries along with fresh milled whole wheat, spelt, and KAF bread flour.

The sweet potatoes add quite a bit of moisture so the overall hydration came in around 83%. The crumb was relatively open for this many whole grains and was nice and moist. There were just enough cranberries for my taste to make this a delicious bread great for sandwiches, toast, or grilling.

The sweet potatoes were roasted ahead of time until they were nice and soft and caramelized.

I used one of my new favorite grains Stardust whole wheat from Barton Springs Mill which has a nice mild wheat flavor. The grains were milled twice using my MockMill 200 and sifted with a #30 and then #40 drum sieve. The spelt was only sifted once with a #30 and milled twice in total.

The dough was left to bulk at 80 F to 30% which took 4.25 hours. I’m finding that using a smaller amount of starter is really helping with the overproofing I used to get using so many fresh milled flours.

Formula

Levain Directions 

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.

Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled. I used my proofer set at 76 degrees so it took around 5 hours for me. Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

 Main Dough Procedure

Note: I use an Ankarsrum Mixer so my order of mixing is slightly different than if using a Kitchenaid or other mixer. Add all your liquid to your mixing bowl except 50-80 grams. Add all your flour to the bowl and mix on low for a minute until it forms a shaggy mass. Cover the mixing bowl and let it rest for 20 – 30 minutes.   Next add the levain, salt, mashed roasted sweet potatoes and remaining water as needed and mix on medium low (about speed 3) for 12- 24 minutes.  When the dough is almost completely developed add the cranberries and mix on low for a minute. Alternatively, you can laminate the dough and add the cranberries that way.

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl and do several stretch and folds.  Make sure the dough is as flat as possible in your bowl/container and measure the dough in millimeters and take the temperature of the dough as well. Based on the chart from www.thesourdoughjourney.com, determine what % rise you need and make a note. If you have a proofer decide what temperature you want to set it at and what rise you are aiming for. If the dough is fully developed you don’t need to do any stretch and folds, but if it’s not, do several sets 15-20 minutes apart.

Once the dough reaches the desired bulk rise, pre-shape and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Finish shaping place in your banneton, bowl or on your sheet pan and cover it so it is pretty airtight. You will then place it in your refrigerator so you don’t want the dough to get a crust on it. I usually don’t leave the dough in the refrigerator for more than 12 hours because of all the fresh milled flours but this time I left it for 17 hours and it was perfect.

When you are ready to bake, an hour beforehand pre-heat your oven to 540 F and prepare for steam. I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water into the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.  Remove your dough from the refrigerator and score immediately.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 450 degrees.  Bake for around 35-45 minutes or until the breads are nice and brown and have an internal temperature of around 200-210 F. 

Take the bread(s) out of the oven when done and let them cool on a baker’s rack for as long as you can resist.