Chocolate Sourdough Beer Bread

reviewer4you.com

30 March 2024

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This sourdough bread, adapted from tastecooking, is made with plain wheat flour, freshly milled kamut and Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Like any sourdough bread, this one takes time too. Plan to make it over two days, mixing the dough on day one, letting it ferment overnight, then baking it the following morning. The combo of beer and chocolate might sound a little strange, but the bitterness in the two play well off each other. I used lager beer, but you can use whatever beer you like. If you prefer it bitterer, richer, use stout or other dark beer. It is perfect for grilled cheeses, nut butters, homemade jam and pate. Use rice flour to dust the banneton if you it on hand as it’s less sticky and won’t burn easily.

320 g Plain flour (I used German #550 white bread flour)
50 g Kamut, milled into flour (or use regular wholewheat flour)
50 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
330 ml Heineken lager beer
100 g Active sourdough starter (rye or wheat)
1 tsp Sea salt

How to stretch and fold sourdough	The best way to shape a bâtard

Feed your sourdough starter the night before or up to 10 hours prior to mixing the dough.
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the plain flour, freshly milled kamut flour, cocoa powder, beer, starter, and salt with a wooden spoon until there are no sight of dry ingredients. The mixture is quite sticky and wet.
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 1 hour. Wet your hands with some water. Stretch one side of the dough and fold it over itselft. Repeat with another 3 sides. That’s one set of stretch and fold. (check video above) Repeat the proces of stretch and fold set two more times.
Lightly dust your work surface. Using a dough scraper, gather the dough together in the bowl and scoop the dough up with the dough scraper and flip it onto the table. Gently pat the dough into a rectangle and shape into an oval / batard. (check video above)
Place it in your floured banneton, seam-side up. Cover with a clean tea towel or a shower cap. Place your dough in the refrigerator and proof overnight from 8-24 hours or proof the dough in a draft-free spot at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.
Preheat your oven to 250C/480F with a Dutch oven inside. This will take about an hour.
Turn your dough out on a piece of parchment paper. Cut a long slash lengthwise along the top of the bread with a sharp knife or a lame. Place the dough with the parchment paper into the Dutch oven. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and lower the oven temperature to 220C/430F and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the loaf is deeply browned. It should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Carefully remove the bread from the Dutch oven and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.