Cheddar Cheese & Raisin Sourdough Bread
I love having raisin bread with cheddar cheese, so why not put them both in the sourdough.. less fuss in the morning trying to find the cheese and raisins!
This is the sourdough recipe I make every other day.. for us, it tastes best and is really never fail. Trust me when I say I had lots of fails on my sourdough journey.
I start the process at noon. I take my starter out of the fridge. Let it come to room temperature. (about 15 minutes)
Then I feed it. I take 100 grams of the starter, which is all I typically keep in the fridge, add to that, 50 grams of water, mix, and then 50 grams of flour. Mix. Set aside, loosely covered until 4pm
Then it’s time to make the bread. Keep 50 grams to make the bread, and put the rest in the fridge, covered. Always make sure your container isn’t totally full of starter and it will blow the lid off and you will find yourself cleaning the fridge!! That stuff hardens like cement!
For the bread:
50 grams starter
Add 350 grams water. Mix lightly.
Add 500 grams unbleached flour. I have started using about 100 grams of multi grain, 400 grams unbleached. (This raisin, cheese recipe has no multigrain flour, just unbleached.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Weigh the ingredients, it’s so much more accurate. I find now I weigh everything, especially the morning coffee!! It’s the same every day. You have to love that!!
Once the dough is mixed, I leave it covered with plastic wrap (I actually use a plastic shower cap, it fits my huge bowl perfectly. Let it sit for an hour. Do stretch and folds right in the bowl… about 15-25 depending on the dough.
In the next 4 hours or so, you can do more stretch and folds… each hour, but you’ll only have to do about 6 folds, not like at first when you did 15-25.
Stretch and folds are simply using your hands to gather the edge of the dough, and stretch it out and fold it over on itself, turn the bowl as you do it, grab the next edge, stretch it out and fold it over itself, keep going. You should end up with a nice ball. The seam side will be facing you, so gather it up, turn the ball over and cover for the next S & F.
Leave the dough on the counter over night covered with plastic. In the morning I gently push it down to remove the air, it will be bubbly!! Keep it in the bowl and shape your loaf. Round is obviously easier to do. I do mine in a loaf shape. Seem side will be facing you when you’re done, (and it doesn’t take a lot of handling to form the shape you want, so don’t over work it.) pick it up out of the bowl with two hands on top only and place it in a floured vessel to finish rising. I use rice flour and I use a banaton. Lift the edges slightly to sprinkle flour around so it doesn’t stick to the walls and flour the top. Rice flour won’t burn and you can brush it off once it’s baked if you like. So don’t be afraid to use it, it’s better than having your bread stick to the sides when you turn it out to bake.
I use a clay baker. Some use cast iron or roasting pans, but I have tried them all and like my clay baker the best. I put a clay pizza stone on the bottom shelf of my oven and leave it there. It evens out the heat and you won’t get a hard bottom crust. I don’t soak the clay baker in water before I use it for bread (I do for all meat I cook). Place it in the oven and then set your temp to 450 degrees. Never put a cold clay baker in a hot oven it will crack.
Once it’s almost to temperature, take dough out of the fridge. I use a razor blade to score the dough. Keep the blade at a 45 degree angle to get a nice ear. More instructions below under each picture.
I made open face roast beef sandwiches on this bread! Melted cheese on top and dipped in au jus. Very good, though next time I’d use buns and make sliders.
Caramelize onions and green peppers in butter, olive oil and after 15 minutes with the lid on, add tsp white sugar. Continue to cook. We used left over roast beef, I added it to the au jus to heat it up.
Brush bread with melted butter that you add minced garlic and a bit of salt too. Toast slightly under the broiler. Add onions and peppers, meat, top with cheese and broil. For the au jus, simmer a tbsp garlic butter from the bread, beef stock, thyme, w. sauce, a bit of gravy thickener. Server on the side for dipping.
