Fig And Brie Sourdough Bread
The sharp, bright notes of sourdough provide the perfect counterpoint to the fig's mild sweetness and the brie's rich, buttery flavor. It's like your favorite cheese board decided to become a loaf of bread!
Ingredients
- 340 g water room temperature
- 100 g sourdough starter active
- 500 g unbleached bread flour
- 12 g sea salt
- 70 g dried mission figs chopped
- 80 g double cream brie peeled and cubed
Instructions
Make The Dough:
- In a large bowl, combine 340g of room temperature water and whisk in 100g of active sourdough starter until milky.
- Add 500g unbleached bread flour on top of the sourdough starter blend and mix until a shaggy dough forms. If required, knead the dough with your hands until all the dry bits are incorporated. Sprinkle 12g of salt across the surface of the dough.
- Cover the bowl and set aside for 60 minutes.
Stretch + Fold:
- Prior to the first stretch and fold, sprinkle 80g peeled and cubed brie and 70g of chopped dried figs over the dough.
- Using damp hands, gently stretch a flap of dough over the center, rotate the bowl 90°, and repeat 3 more times to complete one set of stretch-and-folds. Recover the bowl, and set it aside for 60 minutes.
- Perform 4 total sets of stretch and folds, spaced 60 minutes apart.
Bulk Ferment:
- After the final stretch and fold then cover the bowl and set aside for 3 hours to finish the bulk ferment. It is important to keep the dough bowl somewhere warm to encourage the microbes to work quickly!
Pre-Shape + Shape:
- Observe your dough, at this point, the dough should have risen in the bowl, and have a smooth surface with visible bubbles. If the dough is domed in the bowl it is ready to work with, if the dough is flat it may need more time in the bulk ferment.
- Uncover the dough and transfer to a work surface or countertop. Gently press and spread the dough into a large rectangle. Fold up the bottom third of the dough as though you were folding a letter. Fold in the right side about a third of the way across width wise then repeat with the left. Roll from the folded bottom to the top creating a log. Cover with a clean tea towel and rest for 30 minutes.
- After the rest, pick up the dough with a dough scraper and flip it over, gently press the dough flat then roll it again. Pinch the ends if you’re making a batard or tuck them in if your making a boule. Dust the dough with rice flour then tuck seam side up into a banneton.
Prove + Cold Retard:
- Prove your sourdough loaf in the banneton for 2-3 hours in a warm place. The dough should have risen in the banneton by around 50% before covering and placing in fridge to cold retard for up to 3 days.
Bake:
- Place your dutch oven, cloche, or desired baking dish in the oven and preheat to 450f.
- Once the oven is preheated, invert the banneton onto a sheet of parchment paper. Use a lame, sharp knife, or clean razor blade to score the dough, I usually like to make one deep curved slash, but you can get as fancy as you like!
- Carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven, and using the parchment paper as a sling, transfer the sourdough loaf from the counter into the dutch oven.
- Bake the dough at 450f covered for 30 minutes and uncovered at 450f for 10-15 minutes, or until the loaf is cooked through and the crust is nicely browned.
Cool:
- Remove baked bread from the dutch oven and transfer it to a wire mesh cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
