Maris Wigeon Blend Sourdough

This loaf is made using our Traditional Organic White Flour, which is created from a blend of an English heritage grain called Maris Widgeon with a little organic wheat from the continent to produce a creamy coloured flour with a beautiful delicate flavour. It’s a great all round bread flour, and makes lovely sourdough.

The heritage grain’s gluten is more delicate than some modern wheat varieties so make sure your starter is nice and fresh and not too acidic. A very acidic starter will start to break the gluten structure down too early.

For Chris’s method in this recipe you will need a casserole pot / Dutch oven and some baking parchment.

Makes 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS

•  500g Organic Traditional White Flour
• 100g sourdough starter
• 340g water, around 40°C
• 10g salt

METHOD

Place all your ingredients except the salt into a mixing bowl.

Mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are well incorporated, cover, and leave for 30 minutes to autolyse. Leave the dough in a warm place to try and maintain a dough temperature which is in the mid to high 20s°C.

Next, add the salt and work this well into the dough and then cover and leave for 3-4 hours. Fold the dough every 30 minutes – be gentle when folding as you don’t want to tear the dough too much. To do this, imagine 4 sides. Fold the right side to the left, the left to the right, top to bottom, bottom to top.

Make sure you don’t fold the dough just before shaping, so, at hour 3 check the dough and if it still isn’t pillowy enough fold it and leave for another 30 minutes to an hour. Once ready, the dough should feel nice and light and have increased in volume by about a third.

Tip it out on to a lightly floured work surface and shape to fit your basket.

Place into a well-floured basket (a mix of white flour and rice flour is great for preventing sticking) and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour, before placing in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, preheat the oven and your casserole pot/ Dutch oven to 250°C for at least 30 minutes.

Flip the loaf out of the basket on to some parchment paper and score.

Lift it into your hot casserole pot using the parchment and place in the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove the lid and continue to bake for 15-20 minutes at 220 – 230°C until you get the desired colour for your crust. Place on a wire rack to cool.