Baking sourdough bread takes planning and some essential ingredients - namely an active sourdough starter. If you have never baked sourdough bread before, read more about getting started here. Otherwise, enjoy this recipe that uses dark red beets from the garden for an intriguing and beautiful sourdough creation!
Ingredients
1 1/3 pounds fresh red beets (about 4 large)
1 3/4 cups water
3/4 cup active sourdough starter (leaven)
5 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 tablespoon sea salt
Extra white flour and rice flour for dusting
Required Equipment:
Large mixing bowl
1 large kitchen towel (such as a flour sack towel)
4 hand towels
Half-sheet pan or other large pan
Pizza stone/hearth stone (recommended) or baking sheet
Flat cookie sheet or peel
Parchment paper
Instructions
Create beet purée: Wash beets and place on a lined baking sheet. Roast in 450F oven for 45-60 minutes or until tender. Remove, allow to cool. Cut off ends, peel off skin and dice into cubes. Measure 2 1/4 cups of the diced beets (firmly packed) and put into blender with the 1 3/4 cups of water. Blend until smooth.
Beet dough - check out that color!
Make the dough: In a very large bowl, mix the beet purée and the leaven. Add the flours and combine with your hand until mixture is completely smooth. Cover with plastic or a large plate and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Then sprinkle in the salt and again mix with your hand, until salt is completely incorporated. Cover the dough and allow it to sit at room temperature (choose a warmer spot if your kitchen is cold) for 3-4 hours. During this time, visit your dough every half hour or so - reach into the bowl with your hand and scoop the dough from the bottom, stretch it up, and fold it over on itself, doing this several times per “visit.”
Create a mold to hold your baguettes’ shape as they rise. Please note, towel is not floured in the above photo. Be sure to liberally flour yours with a 50/50 all-purpose flour/rice flour mixture.
Shape the dough: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 3 equal parts, loosely mounding each pile of dough. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.
While the dough is resting, prepare a large sheet pan (a half-sheet pan at 18”x13” works well) where you will place the baguettes for the next step. First, roll up 4 hand towels and line them up equally spaced on the sheet pan. Next, rub flour into a large flour sack kitchen towel or other kitchen towel liberally. If you can use a 50/50 mixture of white flour and rice four, this will work best at preventing sticking. Lay these towels flour side up over your rolled up hand towels. This creates the “frame” that will support the shape of your baguettes as they rise.
Return to do a final shape of the dough (this is where a Youtube video will come in handy if you’ve never shaped a baguette before!). Place shaped baguettes into the three spaces you created in your “frame.” Cover them loosely with a kitchen towel, place the whole tray into a plastic bag, and refrigerate for 8-12 hours.
Preparing to bake: Place your oven racks so one is at the bottom and one is in the middle. Preheat the oven to 550F or its highest setting with the stone inside on the middle rack. Let the oven heat for at least 30 minutes to ensure stone gets nice and hot. During this time, bring the baguettes out of the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temp. About 5 minutes before you are ready to bake, tear off a large piece of parchment paper and place on your cookie sheet/peel. Carefully transfer your shaped baguettes onto the peel, spaced at least an inch or two apart. Dust the tops of the baguettes with rice flour and score the dough in a pattern of your choice with a sharp blade, such as a razor blade or bread lame. Alternatively, you can use a sharp scissors to snip the dough.
Baking the bread: Take your half-sheet pan that the dough was previously on and put it on the bottom rack of the oven. Shut the door quickly to retain heat. Prepare a measuring cup with 1/2 cup of water in it - set near the oven. Retrieve your baguettes, open the oven, slide the baguettes with the parchment paper off the cookie sheet/peel onto the stone, grab the 1/2 cup of water, pour in into the sheet pan on the bottom rack, and quickly shut the oven door to trap the steam. Be careful and wear and oven glove. Set the timer for 7 minutes. After 7 minutes, reduce the heat of the oven to 450F and bake another 25-35 minutes, until the crust is a deep reddish brown. Remove the bread and allow to cool on a cooling rack, enjoying the crackling sounds of your artisan crust as it cools!