Turmeric Sourdough Bread

We all know how important turmeric is for our health. So what can be better than a turmeric loaf made with some sourdough starter and love. This is a simple sourdough bread and all you need to have are time and patience. It takes around a day to make (depends on the climate in your country) but it is worth it, especially since you don't need to be hands on the entire time. Just a little time here and there and you have a lovely homemade loaf ready to eat.

Ingredients:

• 270g bread flour
• 30g whole wheat flour
• 207g water
• 21g cold water added along with salt
• 6g turmeric powder
• 60g levain
• 6g salt

Method:

Mix water with flour and turmeric powder, cover, let it rest 1 hour for autolyse. During the autolyse process flour absorbs water, becoming fully hydrated. This activates gluten development.

After an hour, add sourdough starter. Mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 minutes. You can also use your hand to mix the dough. Cover, let it rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes up, add salt and extra water. The process of adding extra water is called bassinage, it helps to tighten up gluten. Mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 minutes, or mix well with your hand. The dough should come up together, but still be sticky on the bottom.

Continue gluten development and structure building by performing stretches and folds during the warm fermentation period. Leave to rest 30 minutes.

Spray your worktop with water, wet your hands to perform lamination. Lamination is the process of stretching the dough as thin as you can without ripping it. Spread the pumpkin seeds all over the dough, fold and let it rest for 45 minutes.

Perform 3 stretches and folds every 45 minutes. Performing stretches and folds will help with gluten development. Keep monitoring the dough, if it rises too fast, you can shorten the time between stretches to 40 minutes or less.

After the final stretch, let the dough proof for 30 minutes. You should see some bubbles on the surface, the dough has to become lighter. We are looking for 40%-5-% rise.

After 30 minutes of proofing, transfer the dough onto a worktop and dust the worktop with flour. Flip the dough over so the floured side faces down. Fold the dough onto itself so the flour on the surface remains entirely on the outside of the loaf. This will become the crust.

Place the dough round on a worktop and let it rest for 30 minutes uncovered.

Dust the dough with flour. Use a dough scraper to flip it over on to a worktop so the floured sides face down.  Starting with the side closest to you, pull the right 2 corners of the dough to the left, then fold them up into half of the dough. Repeat this action with the other sides too.

Finally, roll the dough. Shape it into a smooth, taut roll. Transfer the roll, seam side up, to a prepared proofing basket.

Cover it with plastic and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Then transfer the dough to rise for 14-24 hours in the refrigerator.

Preheat your oven to 220ºC, place the dutch oven with lid inside for 20 minutes. Remove the dough from the fridge.

Flip it over on a baking paper, score it with a sharp knife or blade or a scoring lame. Transfer on to the dutch oven, cover with lid and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the lid  and reduce the oven temperature to 200ºC. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!