Create a recipe for a loaf of bread this often requires a series of tests, each test bringing you closer to your ideal. It’s your job, like baker, determine the inputs (flour, water, mixes, salt, preference) and the process (mixing, bulk fermentation, molding, fermentation) to get there. And for me that is maybe the most exciting part of bake sourdough breadIt’s like looking at a picture of a beautiful finished puzzle, then receiving a box of scattered pieces to assemble yourself.
Development of my recent sourdough recipe of roasted beets, which required overcoming a few challenges to effectively incorporate the added beet puree. And while this article focuses on the most practical way to create and add this delicious blend, it also goes over some of the hurdles you may run into when planning and bake a loaf of bread: Adjust hydration, autolize or not, when to add mixes and how to effectively mix and strengthen the dough.
Creation of the beetroot puree
I decided it would be best to mix the roasted beets into a smooth mash and add it to the batter at the end of the mix for easy incorporation. Before settling into the blender, I had considered grating the root into small pieces and then adding them to the dough a bit later while stretching and bending them during bulk fermentation. I quickly gave up on the idea of grating once I peeled the cooked vegetable – the beets were too soft to grate effectively. Plus, grating a juicy red vegetable would make a big mess, and no one wants their counter to be covered in bright red juice (even during Halloween).
My first stop was to add the roasted root, skin removed and then roughly chopped, into the blender. I opened it and quickly realized that it was necessary to add a little liquid in the blender to make the mixture move in the blender. I started adding water, one drop at a time, until the blender gracefully blended everything into a smooth puree.
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But the following question arose: how long should I let the blender run? Do I want a watery consistency to make it easier to incorporate the mixture, or just a thick bombardment that leaves larger chunks of beets for more presence on the end bar? Of course, the longer you leave the blender on, the smoother and more watery the resulting mash will be. But in testing, I found there was a sweet spot to be discovered.
When I mixed the beet until I completely pulverized it to a water-like consistency, it mixed very quickly with the paste; after all, he was essentially adding liquid. But what I gained in ease of incorporation, I lost in color. Although it appeared prominently in the dough, the dark red color of the beets seemed to disappear completely in the final baked bread (both the crust and the crumb).
For the middle, I chose to mix the beets and water just until the chunks in the blender were small but not completely pulverized like short grain rice. This way it was easy to mix and stir in the mash, but the resulting bread still had dark red streaks on the crust and a slight color on the inner crumb. Also, the smaller pieces of rice were completely gone when I baked the bread, but I didn’t want beet chunks strewn on the bread either.
Now that I had determined the consistency of the mash, the next step was to figure out how to handle the water used to mix the root.
Move the water from the mixture to the mash
The water that was added to the blender to make the mash was water extracted from the general liquid components of the bread recipe. Of the total water required in the recipe (563 grams), about 10 percent of that weight (50 grams) was taken from the total to be added to the blender with the roots. It is essential to take into account the water that is added to the bread dough, whether it is water added directly to the mixture, water locked in fruits or vegetables (such as a watery, juicy beet). ) or water used to prepare mixtures (like soaking seeds or beet mix).
The last thing to note is that the amount of water drawn from the dough mixture cannot be excessive and I usually land between 5-10% of the total water weight. This water is essential for you to effectively mix the main dough; If not enough water is added to the flour, you will not be able to combine the dough effectively because the flour cannot hydrate sufficiently.
Mix settings
Add the mash
As I mentioned in my article on how to add mixes into any dough recipe, with small, very soft elements you have a wide window when you can incorporate the mixes. You can add the mixtures during mixing or even wait for bulk fermentation to incorporate them into the dough. And the same with this mash, because it is so similar to water, it shouldn’t have been a problem to add it at many points during mixing.
With the small and bland foods and this watery mash, it is easy to add them at any time as they will not significantly interfere with the development of gluten; after all, it’s almost like water. But because I added a relatively large percentage of the mash, I noticed that when it was added to the dough, the consistency loosened and started to fall apart. For this reason, I decided to add the mash later in the mix, towards the end. This way, I first developed the gluten in the dough, thus increasing its strength and elasticity, then I added the mash and mixed everything until everything came together into a smooth, cohesive dough.
If I had added the mash very early in the mixing process, it could have meant extra mixing time for the dough to come together and become strong enough. Delaying the addition meant a shorter mixing time, and this is always beneficial when mixing by hand.
Take advantage of the autolysis technique
I knew I was going to include a short 30 minute autolysis period for this mass early on. Autolysis, which simply involves mixing the flour and water and letting the mixture sit for a while, starts the gluten development process before mixing. This technique allows mixing by hand reducing the time required to knead and strengthen the dough.
Additionally, autolysis helps add extensibility to the dough, allowing it to stretch and fill with gas during fermentation. The spreading factor is helpful with this recipe as I used a moderate amount of strong bread flour to help support the added beet puree. Autolysis helps soften this dough firm enough to relax during the long fermentation process.
Use other vegetables
You can use the tips and techniques I present in this article to incorporate beetroot puree into a number of other fruits or vegetables. When experimenting, be sure to always consider the moisture content and texture of the vegetable. If the vegetable is juicy like a beet or very smooth in texture like a sweet potato, the resulting paste may require less hydration to avoid ending up with a soft, weak paste.
With proper preparation and maybe a few trial bakes, almost any veg can appear on a loaf of bread. I know my goal is to try roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes and even carrots!
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