Earthy and lightly floral, she’s a saffron and purple sweet potato marbled sourdough (and the perfect pairing to your avocado toast).
Saffron & Purple Sweet Potato Marbled Sourdough
ultra soft ‘n bright!
A gorgeous floral play on my purple sweet potato sourdough, comes in courtesy of the marbled saffron layer.
p.s. she makes for a beautiful summery avocado toast (or fancy egg toast)(or is divine simply all buttered up)(but she can go sweet too with a tart berry jam) 🙂
the deets
If you’ve ever cooked with saffron then you already know that seeping it in cold water (or even iced) is key to extracting it to the max. That said, it does take a little bit more time than taking the easy route with some warm water (but never use hot or boiling please as it is a delicate ingredient).
So if you can, allow your spring water to seep with the saffron strands overnight for an extra concentrated mix. Otherwise just add your strands directly into your sourdough and the color (and taste!) will seep into the sourdough during the long fermentation- then just give it a good ‘n gentle mix by doing a round of stretch ‘n folds to get the color even throughout before shaping.
my top tip: saffron is quite literally worth its weight in gold, so start by soaking a small pinch of strands (say 4-5) in a couple tablespoons of room temp/tepid water (for hot water alters its taste). It’s potency varies significantly from source to source, but allow the dough to rest for at least thirty minutes before adding more as it’s a flavor that can easily become “too much”.
cut a few corners
and make your life a little easier: whip up a 75% hydration dough, divide into two and add 25g of purple sweet potato powder to one half and little saffron slurry to the second half (start with 1 pinch of saffron strands + 2 tablespoons water + 25g honey). Yes, the doughs will be slightly different hydrations… but it’ll be ok!
(Saffron & Purple Sweet Potato) Marbled Sourdough
Equipment
- cast iron bread oven (or pot) (yup, I linked mine!)
Ingredients
- 400 g spring water
- 100 g active starter
- 500 g unbleached bread flour *
- 10 g sea salt
- 25 g purple sweet potato powder
- 5 threads saffron
- 2 tablespoons spring water to soak the saffron threads in
- 25 g honey
Instructions
make your dough
- Add the water (preferably at room temp) and active starter to a large bowl. Using your hands (though some peeps favor a danish hook) mix until thoroughly dissolved.
- Add in the flour and salt and mix with your hands until just combined and the dough is all shaggy (and sticky).
- Divide dough into two and mix in the purple sweet potato into one half and the saffron and water slurry and honey into the second half.
- Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
30 mins later: bulk rise (plus stretch ‘n folds)
- Thirty minutes in you’ll want to do a set of “stretch ‘n folds”: grab a hold of the dough, stretch it upwards and fold it down towards the center of the bowl. Rotate and repeat four times.
- Repeat three more times every thirty minutes.
- Allow to rest for until at least doubled in size (remember that time here is directly influenced by temperature so it’ll vary greatly- anywhere from 5-10 hours)(p.s. I generally let mine go until it almost tripes as I’ve pushed it just until the point that it begins to recede back and it still comes out superb)(and I personally find it easiest to digest).
4-8 hours later: shape
- See video for guidance on assembling a marbled loaf! Lightly flour your working surface, turn the doughs out and stretch them out gently (allow them to rest for 10 minutes if it “feels” like it’s resisting)(you’ll know, trust me!). Stretch out the first layer (purple sweet potato), layer the second dough on top (saffron), fold the sides in, and roll it gently but tightly. You then want to roll it gently against the counter towards you a few times (this creates surface tension, making for a better crust!).
- Transfer to a (very well floured or lined) banneton or small-ish bowl and cover with a paper towel, place inside a plastic bag and refrigerate for 12-72 hours (depending on how long you want to proof it for).Or allow to proof at room temperature for about 2 more hours, until it springs back to touch (you literally want to poke it gently, and if it springs back you know you’re golden)(though if it springs back too quickly it’s actually under-proofed)(and, you may’ve guessed it, if it doesn’t spring back at all you’re now over-proofed). i.e. this is why baking a few loafs and poking them around throughout it’s stages is highly suggested.
2 hours later: bake away!
- Preheat oven to 450°F/230°C with your Dutch oven inside for 20 minutes (some peeps bake at a lower temperature, say 420°F, it depends a bit on your oven).
- Score your loaf and place it in the dutch oven.
- Bake lid on for 20 minutes, remove lid and bake for 20 more minutes or until deeply golden brown (if you tap it on the bottom it’ll also sound hollow).
- Allow to cool completely if you want it at its best– but 20 minutes will do if you simply can’t hold your horses (and you don’t want to wreck your crumb).p.s. my best suggestion for storing your sourdough is to simply keep it in your bread or Dutch oven (what I do). But investing in a bread tin is neat too!
Video
