Easter time often means a household full of chocolate eggs, and what better way to eat them than hidden inside a loaf of colourful sourdough!!
Grab yourself a packet of our Butterfly Pea Powder and experiment with a purple swirl loaf over the Easter break. We guarantee it will be a hit with the kiddo's!
What you’ll need:
Ingredients
- 150g (⅔ cup) active sourdough starter
- 350g (1 ⅓ cup) room temperature water (filtered)
- 500g (3 ⅔ cup) bread flour
- 10g fine salt
- 1 Tbsp Butterfly Pea Powder
Tools
- Mixing bowl
- Dough whisk
- Plastic wrap, or bowl cover
- Dough scraper
- Banneton proofing basket
- Bread lame
- Dutch oven
Instructions
- Grab yourself 2x mixing bowls.
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In the first bowl, add 75 grams of your active sourdough starter (make sure it’s nice and bubbly) to 175 grams of room temperature water. Mix well so the sourdough starter is well distributed throughout the water. Add 250g of bread flour and 5g of salt. Mix dough with your dough whisk until there is no dry flour left in the bowl.
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In the second bowl, add 75 grams of your active sourdough starter to 175 grams of room temperature water and 1 tbsp of Butterfly Pea Powder. Mix well so the sourdough starter and purple powder are well distributed throughout the water. Add 250g of bread flour and 5g of salt. Mix dough with your dough whisk until there is no dry flour left in the bowl.
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Cover the both bowls with plastic wrap and leave for 30 minutes to 'autolyse'
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Now it’s time to perform your 'stretch and folds'. Every 30 minutes during the bulk fermentation time, you will grab one side of the dough and fold it back onto itself (while it's still in the bowl). Wet your hands first to stop the dough sticking, then fold the dough 4 times clockwise from top to bottom (handle gently to keep the bubbles inside the dough). Do this a total of 5 times (every 30 minutes, over 2 hours which includes the stretch and fold right after the autolyse stage). Each time you do this you’ll notice that it’s much easier to stretch, as the gluten is getting stronger and stronger. Watch this video for a great example of the stretch and fold technique. Complete this on bowls of dough.
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Complete the remainder of the bulk fermentation. Depending on the temperature in your kitchen, total bulk fermentation time (including the 2 hours for stretch and fold) could take anywhere from 3 to 8 hours. The ideal temperature for sourdough fermentation is somewhere between 25℃-28℃. Bulk fermentation is complete when the dough has risen by approximately 30-50%.
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The next step is to shape the dough. Stretch out your white dough into a large rectangle. Fill with mini easter eggs or chocolate chunks. Then, stretch out your purple dough into a rectangle and lay it on top of the white dough, ensure the sticky side is facing up. Fill again with easter eggs, then shape for an oval banneton and proof in the fridge overnight. If you need assistance with shaping your dough, check out this video
- Complete the secondary fermentation (proofing) of the dough. This can either be done at room temperature for 1-4 hours (depending on kitchen temperature), or overnight in the fridge (for more pronounced flavour). Your sourdough is ready to bake when it passes the poke test, which is where you poke a finger in and it springs back but leaves a small indent.
- Time to bake! Place a Dutch oven in your oven and preheat to 250℃. If you don’t have a Dutch oven you can use a normal baking tray with an additional tray on the rack below that you will pour boiling water in as you put your loaf in the oven. This helps to create steam which will give your bread a great oven spring. Turn the dough out of the banneton onto a piece of baking paper. Score the top of the dough with the bread lame (the tool with the razor blade) – one long slice down the middle should work well OR get creative with your scoring patterns!
- Place the loaf with the baking paper into the Dutch oven, turn the temperature down to 220℃ and bake with the lid on for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking for 25-30 minutes. The bread is cooked when the internal temperature reaches at least 97℃ or if it sounds hollow when tapped on the base. It should be a deep golden brown.
- Remove your sourdough loaf from the oven and leave it to fully cool for at least an hour. Resist the urge to slice it early! It will dry out and become gummy if you cut it too early, as it will let a lot of moisture escape.
- Enjoy your bread! Try it with a nice spread of good quality butter and a sprinkling of flaky salt. Have fun finding the chunks of hidden chocolate eggs throughout the loaf.
Don’t forget to tag us as @youkneadsourdough on Instagram, or use the hashtag #YouKneadSourdough so we can see your finished sourdough masterpieces.