Sourdough Carrot Cake Bread

This carrot flavoured sourdough bread recipe is packed with freshly grated carrots, raisins and chopped walnuts. It is sweetened with brown sugar, golden syrup and cinnamon  and it the perfect spring dessert loaf!!. If you are looking for a fun carrot bread recipe, this it is! 

Found this recipe by https://www.pantrymama.com 

Ingredients:

Bread Dough:

• 100g active sourdough starter
• 350g water
• 40g golden syrup
• 500g bread flour
• 10g salt

Added during stretch and folds:

• 100g raisins
• 70g walnuts, chopped (or pecan)
• 100g carrots ( raw, grated)

Added during shaping:

• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp ginger
• 40g brown sugar
• 20g plain flour

Method:

Premix & Autolyse:

Weigh out the active starter, water and golden syrup in a mixing bowl. Mix them together so that the golden syrup is dissolved in the water.

Then add the bread flour and salt and mix together with a spatula. The dough will be fairly shaggy and only just brought together.

Cover the bowl with a cling film and let it sit for an hour

Forming up the dough:

Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from outside, stretching it up and over itself until a smooth ball is formed. You shouldn't need more than about 20-25 folds to form a ball.

Once the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the cling film back on and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch & fold-Creating structure:

You need to add the raisins, chopped walnuts and shredded carrot to your dough during the stretch and fold phase. It is very easy to do!.

Try to add them around the second or third set of stretch and folds. So do your first set of stretch and folds with the dough as it is and then add the inclusions on the second or third set depending on how your dough is behaving.

Try to do around 4-5 sets of stretch & folds with around 30 mins between each set.

Bulk ferment:

Once you have finished your stretch & folds, place the cling film back over your dough and let it rest and bulk ferment at room temperature. This can happen quite quickly with golden syrup in the dough and all the inclusions, so keep an eye on the dough.

While your dough is fermenting, take a small bowl and mix the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, brown sugar and plain flour together. Set this aside until you are ready to shape the dough.

Shaping the dough:

 

Once the dough has finished it's first ferment, it is time to give it some shape and surface tension and add the spices that you have kept aside.

Stretch the dough out into a rough rectangle and sprinkle over a generous amount of the spice mixture. Fold the top down and sprinkle on some more. Fold the sides in, sprinkle some more. It is really up to you as how much of the mixture you want to use.

Roll up the dough like a burrito and pull it towards you to create some surface tension and ensure all of those spices are tucked  up inside.

Place the shaped dough into your banneton with the seam side up. Stitch the base together if you need to.

Cold ferment:

Now your dough is in it's shaping container, cover it loosely with a plastic bag and place into the fridge to cold ferment.

Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum of 5 hours. Don't leave the dough too long as the carrot can cause moisture issues.

Preparing to bake the dough:

Once you are ready to bake, you need to preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Place your Dutch oven into the oven when you turn it on so it gets hot. Try to preheat for around 30 minutes.

Baking your sourdough:

Now it is time to bake!

Take the sourdough out the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of baking paper.

Gently score your bread.

Carefully take your Dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the baking paper as a handle. Add 3-4 cubes of ice around the bread. Place the ice outside the baking paper. This will create some moist to the bread. Put the lid on and place into the hot oven.

Bake time:

30 minutes with the lid on

25 minutes with the lid off

When you remove the dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the Dutch oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool before slicing.