Recipes

Tart Cherry Seeded Sourdough Bread

Recipe Details

Prep time	Cook time	Total time
10 mins	45 mins	8 hrs 55 mins

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

55 grams sourdough starter, at its peak
370 grams slightly warmer than room temperature water
15 grams honey
360 grams bread flour
90 grams all-purpose flour
50 grams whole-wheat flour
90 grams dried Montmorency tart cherries
9 grams sea salt
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix starter, water, and honey with a fork, until starter is dispersed.
Add flours mixing with a spatula first. Then with your hand until a shaggy dough is formed, just enough so that flour is not visible.
Cover with a damp cloth and let sit for 45 minutes.
Then perform your first set of stretch and folds. Wait 30 minutes, do another set. Wait 30 minutes, and add the Montmorency tart cherries. Wait 30 minutes, complete your final set of stretch and folds.
After those stretch and folds are completed over a 2 hour time frame, you will let the dough finish its bulk ferment. This means letting the dough rise on the counter for around 4-5 hours if your house is at 72 degrees. It will take more time if it is cooler, or less time if it warmer.
By the end of your bulk fermentation, the dough should look a bit puffy and jiggly with an increase of 50%. Little bubbles around the sides and top all show signs of good fermentation.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Let the dough rest there for 10-15 minutes. The, shape the dough
Have your seeds ready on a flat plate. Brush the top and sides of your dough with water.
Gently put the top side of dough down onto the seeds, and roll back and forth to adhere seeds.
Once shaped, use a bench scraper to put the dough into a flour dusted banneton, seam side of the dough facing up. (In other words, the seeded top with be on the bottom of the banneton).
Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise for a final time, on the counter. This will take about 2 hours, if your house is around 70 degrees. OR you can put it in the refrigerator inside a plastic shopping bag, and let the final rise happen overnight. The dough can be in the refrigerator for 10ish hours at this stage.
Once your dough has gone through its final rise and has risen slightly and is puffy on top, preheat your oven and dutch oven to 500 degrees F. You can test to see if your dough is ready by doing gently pressing a floured thumb into the dough.
Wait until oven is preheated, then place parchment over the top of your dough and flip over, so that the seam side is now on the parchment paper and you are able to score the top of the dough.
Score the dough with a bread lame, making sure to go at least 1/2 inch deep in a few spots so that dough can release gases. Otherwise your bread will not rise.
Place dough on the parchment paper, into a dutch oven, and put cover on it. Turn oven down to 450 degrees F. Bake for 20 minutes, covered at 450 degrees F.
Then remove cover, turn oven down to 430 degrees F, and bake for 25 more minutes, until bread is golden brown and crackly.
Remove from oven and place load on a cooling rack. Let cool for AT LEAST ONE HOUR before slicing. Otherwise the crumb will be squished and the texture will be gummy.