This fig and walnut sourdough is comfortable and tender, with a scrumptious crunch of walnuts and candy figs. It’s the right bread to serve with a hunk of artisanal cheese!

The bread recipe base makes use of bread flour and 20% wholemeal wheat flour. It’s a terrific base to which I really like including totally different additions, like seeds, fruits, and nuts. On this case, it’s now a fig and walnut sourdough bread, however I’ve additionally used it to make flavors like cranberry and pecan, cherry and chocolate, or caraway seeds.

The bread undergoes a 3-hour interval wherein you’ll give the dough stretch and folds, and the nuts and fruit are folded in. After this, it bulk ferments till puffy. After this, it’s formed, cold-proofed, and baked within the morning. 

The Sourdough starter

I create a seperate levain for my breads. That is an offshoot of starters, the place I feed a little bit of my established starter individually. Then, this entire offshoot goes into the bread. I feed the offshoot at a 1:2:2 ratio; starter:flour: water, or 1:3:3 or 1:4:4 if I need to decelerate the expansion.

This retains the seed starter quantity smaller than the added flour and water, which helps scale back the starter’s acid content material and stop it from peaking too shortly.

In the event you feed your starter in a different way, that’s tremendous, however I like to recommend utilizing an energetic starter fed and refreshed repeatedly so the acid content material is low.

Methodology

1. Combine collectively the starter components in a bowl and stir effectively till totally combined. Add it to a clear jar and loosely cowl it. Depart it in a heat spot till it doubles in measurement.
2. Gently toast the walnuts in a dry pan over medium warmth for a 3-4 minutes till aromatic. Allow them to cool, then break them aside into tough items. Chop the figs into small items. Set these apart for now.
3. When the starter has nearly completed rising, mix the bread flour, entire wheat flour, and water in a big mixing bowl. Use a fork or picket spoon to carry it collectively, then swap to moist arms to combine it right into a shaggy dough ball with no dry bits of flour remaining.
4. Cowl the bowl and let it autolyze at room temperature till the starter is prepared.
5. Add the starter to the dough and squish it in utilizing moist arms. Add within the salt and blend it in. 

Bulk fermentation

1. Over the subsequent 3 hours, stretch and fold this dough each half-hour. Pull the dough up and over itself, flip the bowl 1 / 4 flip, and repeat.

1. Do that on all sides, and at all times use moist arms.

1. Because the folds go on, I prefer to tuck them beneath the dough ball to create a easy high.

1. After about 4 units of stretch and folds, add 1/2 of the mix-ins excessive of the dough. Fold them into the dough, then repeat with the remainder of the add-ins.

1. Cowl the dough and let it rise in a heat spot, ideally round 77°F/25°C, till bulked out by round 50%. The dough doesn’t have to double in measurement, however it ought to have an apparent rise and jiggle if you happen to shake the bowl. 
2. You’ll be able to create a heat proofing spot by inserting the bread dough in a turned-off oven and including a dish of boiled water on the backside. Exchange the water because it cools down. 

Shaping and cold-proof

1. Line a banneton basket with a kitchen towel and flour it effectively. 
2. Tip your dough fastidiously on a frivolously floured work floor and gently type it right into a rectangle.

1. Take the underside third of the dough and fold it up so it meets the center.

1. Take the suitable aspect of the dough and fold it to fulfill the center. 

1. Then, take the left aspect of the dough and fold it into the center.
2. Carry the highest third of the dough all the way down to the center to create a little bit dough packet.
3. Now add some stitches down the dough by grabbing some dough from the highest left and a little bit from the highest proper and bringing them collectively to fulfill within the center.
4. Keep it up doing this down the size of the dough. Once you attain the underside, seize the underside of the dough and carry it over the stitched dough to fulfill on the high. This may create a log. 

1. Now, gently seize this log and roll it gently in direction of you on the bench. This may create some floor stress. All of the whereas, take care to not de-gas your dough an excessive amount of. 

1. Place the formed dough within the floured bowl or basket, seam-side up.
2. Cowl the dough, or place it in a big ziplock bag and seal. Chilly-proof within the fridge for 8-16 hours.

Baking

1. The subsequent day, preheat the oven and a Dutch oven to 450°F/230°C for not less than half-hour till well-heated.
2. Take away the new Dutch oven and flour the underside effectively. Take the dough from the fridge and punctiliously flip it out of the basket, into the Dutch oven.
3. If baking this in a big pot, it’s finest to tip your dough onto a bit of parchment paper. This manner, you’ll be able to decrease it into the pot. 
4. Rating the dough utilizing a razor blade or sharp knife.
5. Bake coated with the lid for round 20 minutes.
6. Take away the lid and bake uncovered for 20 minutes extra, relying in your choice or your oven. Some ovens run hotter and may have much less time, whereas others want extra time.
7. Let the sourdough cool for not less than two hours earlier than slicing.

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