Wild garlic loves this damp, shady corner of our garden. We keep the majority of it contained within an old galvanised wash tub, but if you look closely, you can see that it’s managed to escape and grow in the cracks of the flags!
I harvested a few of the leaves to go in a wild garlic sourdough focaccia; wild garlic and wild yeast!
In less than a minute, I blitzed the leaves with some olive oil into a liquid about the consistency of a vinaigrette.
The dough took a little longer to be ready… about 12 hours in a cool cloakroom.
Depending on the size of your baking tray(s), the recipe makes 2 small or one large loaf. I used a large tray – 39cm x 27cm (15″ x 10½”).
It’s absolutely delicious – moist yet airy – and full of intense flavour. Perfect for accompanying pasta dishes, salads, antipasti and cheeses.
Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest for later
- 190g/7⅔oz sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- 310g/11oz tepid water
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 1tsp runny honey
- 500g/17⅔oz 00 flour
- 4g/⅛oz salt
- 6 leaves of wild garlic
- 5tbsp olive oil
- 1tbsp coarse salt crystals or flakes
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the starter with the water, olive oil and honey
- With the dough hook attached and on a low speed, slowly add the flour and knead for around 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Leave to rest for 10 minutes
- Add the salt, kneading until it's fully combined
- Allow to prove until doubled in size (depending on the temperature, this could be anywhere from 2 hours in a warm kitchen to overnight in the fridge. Make it fit in with your plans and schedule)
- Once sufficiently proved, preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6. If you have one, put your baking stone on a shelf in the bottom ⅓rd of your oven
- Coat a baking tray(s) liberally with olive oil, making sure you include up the sides
- Gently pour the dough into the centre of the oiled tray and carefully ease it towards the corners. You don't want to deflate the air pockets
- Cover with greased clingfilm and allow to prove again in a warm place for about an hour
- Make rows of indentations across and down into the dough, drizzle with more olive oil, sprinkle with the coarse salt and bake for 15 minutes
- Remove from the oven and spread the wild garlic oil over the top.
- Turn the tray 180º (to ensure even browning) and return it to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown
- Remove from the oven, take the loaf off the baking tray(s) and allow to cool on a wire rack for a couple of minutes
- Slice and serve
- This bread is perfect for mopping up tomatoey or cheesy pasta sauces!
Cakes & Bakes: Sourdough burger buns
I’ve been wanting to treat myself to some mini bannetons since I saw them on Amazon a while ago. They’re the perfect size for making bread rolls or sourdough burger buns. I came across a seller offering a set of ten for £48.50 with free P&P which I thought was good value.
They’re 13cm/5″ in diameter and can hold around 225g/8oz of sourdough – enough to make an extra-small boule. On this occasion, I only put 140g/5oz of dough in each – a perfect amount for sourdough burger buns.
Prior to use, give each a wipe with a clean, dry cloth or tea towel and sprinkle with flour to stop the dough from sticking. For this, I’ve used plain flour and semolina; however, I’ve found that rice flour is by far the most successful option.
I’ve tweaked and speeded up my favourite 24-hour sourdough loaf recipe to make half a dozen rolls.
The addition of a sprinkling of black sesame seeds makes them look pretty and adds a lovely nutty flavour.
They may be burger buns – however, they’re also perfect for bacon sandwiches, sausage sandwiches, fried egg sandwiches… or a combo of them all!
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest
- 290ml/10¼fl oz water at 27ºC
- 90g/3oz 1:1 (100% hydrated) fresh, active sourdough starter
- 450g/15½oz strong white bread flour
- 4g/⅛oz fine sea salt
- 1tbsp sesame seeds (I used black sesame seeds)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the warm water and starter and mix well
- Add the flour and, using the dough hook, mix until all the ingredients just about come together into a ragged ball shape. Cover with a damp tea towel or large plastic bag/cling film and allow the dough to rest in a warm place for an hour
- Sprinkle over the salt and knead until it is evenly distributed. Cover again with a damp tea towel or large plastic bag/cling film and allow the dough to rest in a warm place for about 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size
- Dust each bun banneton generously with rice flour
- Lightly sprinkle a work surface with bread flour, pour out the dough and divide it into 6 equal portions (you can weigh them out) - each piece should be about 140g/5oz)
- Carefully form each piece of dough into a ball and place them into the bun bannetons
- Sprinkle with rice flour and cover the bannetons with a damp tea towel. Allow to prove in a warm place for an hour or two, or until the dough has doubled in size
- Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas mark 7 (put your baking stone in now, if you have one)
- Once the oven (and baking stone) has reached the correct temperature, dust a peel with rice flour, turn the buns out on to it and slide them onto the baking stone. If you don't have a peel, dust the baking tray with the rice flour before turning the buns out on to it
- Using a spray bottle on the fine mist setting, dampen the tops of the buns and sprinkle with sesame seeds
- Carefully slide the buns off the peel (if using) on to the baking stone (if using) or slide the baking tray into the hot oven
- Bake for 5 minutes before turning the heat down to 200ºC/375ºF/Gas mark 5. Bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the tops are golden brown and they sound hollow when knocked on the bottom
Cakes & Bakes: 24-hour sourdough loaf
Someone over on our Instagram feed asked when I was going to share the recipe for the 24-hour sourdough loaf that I’d photographed. I forgot that I’d never actually blogged about it, so here it is!
It’s my new favourite sourdough bread recipe because it helps me plan my baking time to a tee. No more hanging around at bedtime for my bread to be ready to take out of the oven. You start at “zero hour” with a refresh of the starter and end with taking it out of the oven.
The 24-hour duration is a fairly loose timing. You can stretch or shorten the timeline to suit by warming or cooling the environment of the starter and the rising dough. I like to time it so that my final proof takes place overnight. The recipe suggests refrigerating the dough for this 8-12 hour stage however, our downstairs cloakroom gets really cold at night – and the banneton takes up a lot of space – so I do the rise in there.
It means I can get up in the morning, pre-heat the oven and La Cloche and enjoy lovely, fresh sourdough for breakfast!
Save the recipe to Pinterest for later!
24-hour sourdough loaf
Equipment
- Reusable food cover
- 1.5kg round banneton
- Grignette/lame for slashing dough
- La Cloche baking dome
Ingredients
- 585 ml/20½fl oz water at 27ºC
- 180 g/6⅓oz 1:1 100% hydrated, fresh sourdough starter that's been refreshed the night before and again in the morning (Hour 0)
- 900 g/31¾oz strong white bread flour
- 9 g/⅓oz fine sea salt
- a little rice flour for dusting your banneton I can't recommend this enough!!
Instructions
Hour 6
- In a bowl, whisk the warm water and starter and mix well
- Add the flour and salt (combined well) and mix until all the ingredients come together into a large ball
- Cover with a reusable food cover / cling film and let the dough rest in a cool environment for 1½ hours
Hour 8½
- Lift and fold your dough over, do a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat three more times. Repeat hourly 3 more times
Hour 12½
- Shape your dough lightly and place into a dusted banneton
- Cover with the reusable food cover or damp tea-towel and leave to prove on the side until the dough has risen by about 50%. This normally takes about 2 hours in a kitchen that is about 18-20 degrees, then transfer to the fridge for 8-12 hours
Hour 24
- In the morning, preheat the oven to 220ºC for 30 minutes to 1 hour before you are ready to bake with your La Cloche in the oven. The dish or La Cloche must be very hot
- Take the dish out of the oven and sprinkle a little flour over the bottom
- Put your dough into the La Cloche and slash the top of your bread using a grignette (or lame) then place the lid back on top and return to the oven as quickly as possible. Bake for 45 minutes
- Turn the heat down to 190ºC, remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes
Cakes & Bakes: Caramelised onion sourdough loaf
It’s still Sourdough September, and it was also GBBO‘s bread week, so today’s bake celebrates them both; I’ve made a caramelised onion sourdough loaf.
The sweet caramelised onion is a wonderful addition – and you can intensify the flavour further with the substitution of onion salt (instead of ‘plain’) to the dough.
I often find timing sourdough bread proofing stages challenging. So, although I specify rises in this recipe at room temperature, I sometimes have to put my loaf in the coldest room (believe me, it can get really chilly!) in the house for an overnight rise. Then, first thing next morning, I switch the oven on to pre-heat and get baking. This long, slow prove makes the taste of the loaf even more delicious!
We’ve had this loaf as an accompaniment to a tomato pasta dish – it makes a great mopper-upper! The following day we had what was left with goats cheese and salad.
Click here to save my caramelised onion sourdough recipe to Pinterest.
- 2 medium-sized red or brown onions, finely sliced
- knob of butter
- pinch of salt
- 450g/1lb sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- 175ml/6⅛fl oz water
- 450g/1lb strong white flour
- 7g/¼ salt
- On a medium heat, cook off the onions in the knob of butter adding a pinch of salt. Allow to brown before setting aside to cool
- Mix together the starter, water and salt
- Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the starter mixture
- Combine until everything is thoroughly mixed together and the dough begins to feel smooth
- Cover the mixing bowl and allow to sit for about an hour
- Fold the dough 8 times (8 single folds)
- Re-cover the mixing bowl and allow to sit for about 12 hours at room temperature or until the volume of dough doubles
- Turn out the dough out on to a lightly-floured work surface and stretch it out into a rectangle
- Spread the cooled caramelised onion mixture evenly on to the rectangle of dough
- With the short side facing you, fold the dough on to itself in four, equal lengths ensuring that the mixture runs throughout the dough
- Shape the filled dough into your preferred loaf shape (boule, batard, etc.) trying not to have any of the onion mixture poking through the top
- Place it into a well-floured (rice flour is preferred) proofing basket/banneton; cover and allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour or until doubled in size
- Preheat the oven to 260ºC/500ºF
- Once the dough is fully risen and the oven pre-heated, gently transfer the dough from the proofing basket to the baking tray, score the top of the loaf and bake at 260ºC/500ºF/Gas mark 10 for 10 minutes
- Turn the oven temperature down to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6 and bake for another 30 minutes
- Remove the loaf from the oven and put it on a wire rack to cool for at least an hour before slicing