Flaxseed sourdough

Ingredients

For the soaked flaxseeds

  • 260g flaxseeds
  • 260g water, at room temperature

For the liquid leaven

  • 155g strong white bread flour
  • 155g water
  • 35g sourdough starter (100% hydration)

For the sourdough

  • 430g strong white bread flour
  • 430g strong wholemeal flour
  • 650g water
  • 28g sea salt flakes

Method

Soak the flaxseed 12-24 hours before mixing the dough. To do this, mix the flaxseed with the room-temperature water in a container. Cover it with a lid and leave it on the counter.

Approximately seven to eight hours before mixing the dough, make the liquid leaven. It’s best to do it overnight or first thing in the morning so you can start mixing the dough in the afternoon. Mix together the bread flour, water and sourdough starter, cover with a tea towel and then leave for seven to eight hours.

When the leaven is bubbly, smells like yoghurt and has grown in volume two-and-half to three times, it’s good to go in the dough.

For the dough, mix the white bread flour, water and the leaven in a bowl. If mixing by hand, mix until homogenous and smooth; if using a stand mixer, mix on speed one until smooth.

Cover with a tea towel and leave for 40 minutes to 1.5 hours to rest.

Add the salt and the soaked flaxseeds and mix thoroughly using your hands or on speed one in the mixer. The dough will be quite wet and soft and will need to be mixed for a while to pass the windowpane test. (Take a small ball of dough and stretch it so that the dough is thin enough for light to pass through. If it can’t be stretched thin enough without tearing then it is not yet ready and should be kneaded further.)

After mixing, the dough’s temperature should be around 23-25C. Now your dough should rest at room temperature 2.5 to four hours, depending on your climate conditions and the initial temperature of the dough. During this time, you need to stretch and fold the dough approximately every 45 mins.

Divide the dough into 600g pieces; the batch should be just enough for four loaves. Shape the dough into a round, place on a tray and cover for 40 minutes.

Shape the dough into either a boule (round) or batard (oval) shape. Place, seam-side-up, into well-floured proofing baskets.

Place loaves into the refrigerator for at least 12 hours (I recommend up to 48 hours).

One hour before you bake your bread, preheat your oven to 250C with a Dutch oven or casserole dish inside.

Thirty to 60 minutes before you’re ready to bake, take the loaves out of the refrigerator.

Lightly flour several sheets of baking paper, then gently tip the loaves out of the proofing baskets on to the paper. Score with a very sharp knife. Carefully lower one loaf with the paper into the Dutch oven. Spray with water and place in the oven with the lid on.

Bake for 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 230C, remove the lid and bake for 15 more minutes. Repeat with the remaining three loaves.

When cooked, the bread will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Leave to cool on a wire rack.