Honey Roasted Garlic Sourdough
Roasted garlic mixed with honey makes for a deliciously homey boule, perfect for all of your bread needs. This sourdough boule is 100% naturally-leavened and makes for a perfect dinner side.
Equipment
- 5 or 6 qt dutch oven
Ingredients
for the levain
- 120g water
- 50g mature sourdough starter
- 140g bread flour
for the dough
- all the levain
- 350g water
- 100g spelt flour
- 380g bread flour
- 2 roasted garlic heads
- 50g honey
- 12g salt
Instructions
- The night before, mix the levain thoroughly.
- In the morning, mix the levain, water, spelt flour, and bread flour for the dough. Let autolyze for 1 hour.
- In the meantime, roast the two garlic heads. Preheat the oven to 425F. To prepare the garlic heads, peel off any outer layers of skin. Slice off the top quarter inch of the garlic so the inner flesh peeks out. Set each head in their own square of aluminum foil and drizzle with a little olive oil. Wrap up the heads and set on a baking sheet in the oven to roast for 40 minutes. When done, the inner flesh will be browned and squishy. Scoop or squeeze out the flesh into a small bowl, in small or large clumps. Add the honey and salt to the bowl and stir until combined.
- After the dough has finished autolyzing, add the garlic mixture and squeeze and fold into the dough until thoroughly combined. Avoid breaking the dough strands as you work.
- Let the dough bulk ferment for 4-6 hours, stretching and folding every half hour for the first two hours. Your bulk fermentation may be longer or shorter if the dough environment runs hotter or colder/if it’s winter or summer. The optimal environment temperature for sourdough dough is around 75-82F. You can tell when bulk fermentation is done by seeing if there are little bubbles running throughout the bottom and sides of the dough, the dough is about 30% larger and domed.
- Sprinkle a round proofing basket with rice flour or line a medium-sized bowl with a rice-floured kitchen towel.
- Lightly flour a surface and dump the dough out onto it. If bulk fermentation went well, the dough should “burp” and deflate as you dump it out. Shape the dough into a boule and place it seam side-up in your proofing basket or bowl. Fully cover and set in the fridge overnight (14-16 hours) for cold proofing.
- In the morning, remove the dough from the fridge and set it out on the counter for an hour. Preheat your oven to 450F a half hour in, then let the oven and your dough sit for about 15-20 minutes after preheat is over.
- Sprinkle the bottom of a 5 or 6-quart Dutch oven with cornmeal. Gently flip the dough into it so the floured side is face-up. Score your boule how you wish, cover with the lid, and place in the oven to bake.
- After 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 425F. Then after 20 minutes, remove the lid from the oven. Bake for another 40 minutes. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and place the bread on a cooling rack for 2 hours before slicing. Enjoy! Let me know what you think below in the comments or on Instagram @higheralchemybaking!
Notes
To make this recipe vegan, replace the honey with agave syrup or maple syrup.