Hot Honey Sourdough

 

My poor, long suffering sourdough...  I just fed it and looked at the date dial and it has been nearly two months since its last meal!  Muffins and pancakes are a great way to keep your sourdough fed more often.  But the temperatures will be going down soon and baking will occur more regularly.  

This sourdough was born of necessity (a desire to avoid wasting ingredients).  I had picked up a bottle of Mike's extra hot honey for some Detroit pizza and it was the only variety they had when I went shopping.  And whoooo buddy, that stuff is painfully spicy.  So I have been trying to look for recipes to use it up!  Well, sourdough and chilies and cheese are a phenomenal combination, so I cobbled together this recipe from a couple variations I had seen.  This time I used calabrian chilies, which have amazing flavor and very assertive heat, but together in the bread and with the cheese, this is not too spicy a bread.  Feel free to add more chilies if you want more zing though!

Hot Honey Sourdough 
makes 1 round loaf

350 grams water (1½ cups)
50 grams sourdough starter (¼ cup)
10 grams salt (½ tbsp)
40 grams hot honey (~2 tbsp) (I have Mike's extra hot honey, which to me is really hot!)
450 grams bread flour (3½ cups)
50g whole wheat flour (~6 tbsp)
2-3 tbsp roasted red peppers or calabrian chilies, chopped (former for more mild, latter for spicier)
125 grams shredded gouda cheese (~1 cup)

Mix together water, sourdough starter, hot honey, salt, and flours until a shaggy dough is formed. Cover the dough and let sit at room temperature for half an hour to autolyse.

Stretch and fold the dough and then cover again and let sit at room temperature for another 30 minutes.

Shred the cheese and add to the dough along with the chopped chilies during the second set of stretch and folds.

Perform 2 more sets of stretch and folds with about 30 minutes between each set.

Bulk ferment: Let the dough sit covered at room temperature for a total of 8-14 hours, until the dough is risen about 75%.  You may need to retard the dough in the refrigerator in a summer kitchen.

Turn out the dough onto an unfloured surface.  Flip the dough over and gently spread into a thick rectangle.  Fold over the edges like an envelope; start at the bottom and pull up to build tension and then fold over the top of the dough halfway.  Continue stretching each opposite side up and out and then folding slightly over the middle of the dough. Finally, pull the top of the dough out and up and fold it down on top of the dough, then roll the dough back over.  Cup your hands around the edge of the dough and slide toward you, rotating and sliding the dough all the way around to tighten the dough ball.  Once the loaf is nice and tightly formed, place the dough seam side up in a floured banneton basket or a floured bowl lined with a tea towel.  (Rice flour works best to prevent sticking).  Cover with plastic wrap or place in a food bag that will maintain the moisture.

Cover and let the dough proof overnight in the fridge for 8+ hours.

Preheat the oven and a dutch oven or multicooker to 450℉.

Remove the fully heated dutch oven carefully, turn out the dough onto a piece of parchment and score as desired.  Carefully tranfer the dough and parchment to the hot dutch oven.  Bake at 450℉ for 30 minutes covered then remove the lid and bake for another 12-15 minutes uncovered. The internal temperature should reach 205ºF and the loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Be sure to check out our other sourdough recipes this month:

• Copycat Sourdough Dave's Killer Bread:  Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fig Feta Serrano Ham Sourdough Focaccia:  Food Lust People Love
• Hot Honey Sourdough: A Messy Kitchen
• Sourdough Jewish Rye Bread:  Zesty South Indian Kitchen 
• Sourdough Multi-Grain Bread: A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Quick Sourdough Discard Burger Buns:  Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.