Max’s 100% Triple Levain Bread with Onions

           It’s been a few weeks since my last post.  I’ve been very busy, traveling to Costa Rica on vacation which was amazing and upon my return we added another family member to our pack.  I am happy to introduce Max who is our new 9 month mixed breed puppy.

We had a great time in Costa Rica trekking through the rain forest and hanging out in the pool and in the ocean.  It’s a beautiful country and worth visiting if you get the chance. 

Rain Forest in Costa Rica

To welcome Max into our lives I decided to name my latest experiment in his honor.  I have been wanting to try making a sourdough where all the flour comes from the levain so I decided to build 3 different starters and incorporate all of the flour and most of the water for the dough as part of the preferment’s.I used mostly whole grain type flours and tried using a combination I though would create a nice nutty flavor.  I also couldn’t help but add some barbecued onions in the mix since I love the flavor of onions in bread.

I let the dough over-proof slightly before placing the loaves in the oven which lead to a more flat loaf than I wanted, but the taste was fantastic with a nice moist open crumb full of flavor and more than enough sour to go around.

Directions

 Starters

Mix ingredients in a bowl for each starter until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 8 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.  (I used my proofing box set at 83 degrees and the starter were ready to use after about 5 hours.)

 Main Dough

Mix the starter together in your bowl along with the salt, oil and water for 2 minutes.  Next mix the onions in and mix for another 4-5 minutes.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover.  Let it sit at room temperature or in my case at 80 degrees in my proofer for 1.5 to 2 hours.  Do a total of 3 stretch and folds or more if you like until the dough starts to come together and develop sufficient gluten strength.

Next place it in your bowl covered in your refrigerator over night for at least 12 hours.  Since this dough has so much levain you don’t want to keep it in the refrigerator too long so I suggest no more than 12 hours.

The next day, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for around 1.5 to 2 hours.  Form the dough into loaves or your preferred shape and let it rise for about 1.5 hours or more depending on your ambient temperature.

When the dough is ready to bake, score as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 45 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.   When the loaves are nice and brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove it from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 3 hours or so before eating as desired.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

Max’s Fortress of Solitude

Amazing Pool at Westin Resort

Swim-up Bar at Resort….Life is Good!

Costa Rican Lake Leading up to Volcano

It’s Nice Being Green