My Sourdough Sweet Bread Journey Today
Alright, so I decided to tackle a sourdough sweet bread this time. Felt like something a bit richer than my usual loaf.
First thing, like always, was dealing with my starter. Pulled it out of the fridge the night before, gave it a good feed. This morning it was looking pretty happy and bubbly, so knew it was ready to go.
I gathered all my stuff. You know, the usual suspects:
- Flour – just my regular bread flour
- Water
- My active starter
- Some sugar – gotta make it sweet, right?
- A bit of butter for richness
- An egg
- Pinch of salt, of course
Dumped everything into my big mixing bowl. Got my hands in there and mixed it all up until it just came together. Wasn’t going for a perfectly smooth dough yet, just wanted everything combined. Covered it up and let it sit for maybe half an hour. Let the flour soak up the water a bit.
Then, I did a few sets of stretch and folds. Every 30-45 minutes or so, I’d go back, wet my hands slightly, and gently stretch the dough up and fold it over itself. Did this maybe 3 or 4 times. You could feel it getting stronger and smoother each time.
After the folds, I just let it sit on the counter, covered, for the main rise. This took a good few hours. My kitchen was reasonably warm today, so maybe 4-5 hours? I just watched the dough, not the clock. Waited until it looked puffy and had grown quite a bit.
Shaping and Proofing Time
Once it looked ready, I gently eased the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. It felt nice and airy. I carefully shaped it into a sort of rough log shape, trying not to knock out too much air. Placed it into a loaf pan that I’d greased up earlier.
Covered the pan loosely and let it sit for its final proof. This step always tests my patience. Left it on the counter again. Took another couple of hours, maybe a bit longer. Just wanted it to look noticeably puffier in the pan.
Baking the Bread
While it was proofing, I got my oven heating up. Cranked it up pretty high initially, around 400F (that’s about 200C). Put my Dutch oven inside to heat up too, though for this sweet bread, I sometimes just bake straight in the loaf pan after the initial heat blast.
Okay, baking time! Carefully scored the top of the loaf with a blade – just a simple slash down the middle. Put the loaf pan into the hot oven. I baked it at the higher temp for about 20 minutes, then turned the oven down to maybe 375F (190C) for the rest of the time, probably another 25-30 minutes. I look for that deep golden-brown color.
The smell filling the kitchen was fantastic. Sweet, buttery, yeasty goodness.
Pulled it out of the oven and immediately took the bread out of the pan to cool on a wire rack. This part is crucial – gotta let it cool completely before slicing, otherwise, the texture gets gummy. Waiting is the hardest part!
Finally got to slice into it after it cooled down. The crumb was softer than my usual lean sourdough, exactly what I wanted. Had a slice with a bit of butter. Yeah, that hit the spot. A good day’s bake.
