Sweet Potato Sourdough

 

It's getting close to the time when I don't want to turn on the oven, but we aren't quite there yet!  And so this month's BreadBakers challenge was to give a little love to our sourdough starters.  I hadn't fed my starter in almost two months, but I fed it really stiff last time, significantly less hydration than usual, so it perked up super fast with one feed the day before baking.  Then I used it for a few things the next day. Well, when I feed my sourdough three times in one day, it gets happy.  Really, really happy!  Even the fridge couldn't slow it down.  

I had some garnet sweet potatoes on hand and decided to make this lovely little sandwich loaf.  There isn't as much sweet potato in this as some other recipes I have made, so it's a little more forgiving on texture, relative to bake time.  Sometimes sweet potato can weigh down the dough just a touch and you can't slice it until perfectly cool.  I recommend that anyway, no better way to ruin a good crumb than to slice too early and make it gummy instead of fluffy.  Note that baking or microwaving sweet potatoes will give a drier puree than if they were steamed.  If steaming, it's possible a couple tbsp more flour might be needed.  I nuked them* because it was faster and this week was crazy busy.

I think the funniest thing about this bake was that my eldest saw fresh bread and wanted to try a piece, then wrinkled her nose when she found out it was sweet potato.  I knew it would be utterly fantastic because I had just started slicing it.  It was super soft and bouncy and had a wonderful spring to the crumb and I chided, 
    "you wouldn't even know there was sweet potato if I hadn't said anything".  
    More reluctance, so I added, "okay, it's 'carrot' sourdough, look at the lovely color from the 'carrots'..."  
    (Me using air quotes.)  
    "Fine, I'll try a piece," (with an eye roll).  
    "You're going to love it, it's amazing."  

She sighs, whispers "I don't like sweet potato", butters a slice, tries a tentative bite, pauses, gets a look on her face, and I just start laughing as she quietly takes her slice to the table with that sheepish little smile, sits down, demolishes it, then comes back for a second slice.  She good naturedly put up with my ribbing her.  I mean, I knew she would love it.  Really good bread.  Soft and chewy, thin crust with a little chew to it, a wonderful sourdough sandwich loaf!

Sweet Potato Sourdough Sandwich Loaf
makes one 8x4" loaf

325 g strong white bread flour
80 g sweet potato flesh (baked/microwaved)* 
100 g fed starter (100% hydrated)
9 g sea salt
1 tbsp sugar
10 g avocado oil 
200 ml water  

rolled oats, optional for decoration 

Pierce and bake or microwave the potato and remove the flesh.  (2-3 minutes per side in the nuke box, 20-40 minutes in the air fryer at 375ºF depending on size, 35-55 minutes in the oven at 375-400ºF) Weigh out 80g and mash with a fork.  

Blend with 200ml water (I used a stick blender, or you can mix by hand and pass through a sieve to remove or refine larger bits and pieces.)

Mix in the oil, starter, and sugar, then add in the flour.

Let rest, covered, for about an hour.

Thoroughly mix in the salt either with a stand mixer or by stretching and folding a good dozen times or so using wet hands.

Cover and let the dough rest for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes give the dough a coil fold, lifting up from the center and letting the dough collapse in below itself from top to bottom, then rotate 90º and repeat so that all four edges are folded under.

The dough should be smooth at this stage.  If it's still a bit rough, rest 20 minutes and repeat the coil fold. 

Cover and leave in a warm area until doubled in size.  (4-5 hours depending on the vigor of the starter.)  The dough should be smooth, puffed, and jiggly.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and deflate the dough.  Form into a tight ball, place in an air-tight container, and refrigerate for 12-16 hours.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface, and shape into a loaf form.  If desired, dip or roll the top in rolled oats and place in a greased 8x4-inch loaf pan.

Press down gently to even out the dough.  Cover and place in a warm place until the dough is risen about 1 inch above the rim.  This may take 2 to 4 hours depending on the ambient temperature.

Once the loaf is mostly risen, preheat the oven to 425°F.  Mist the loaf with a little water or toss a couple ice cubes in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.  Reduce the temperature to 375°F and bake for another 30 minutes.  The loaf should reach around 200ºF internal temp and have a golden crust.

Turn off the oven and remove and unmold the bread.  Place the loaf back directly on the oven rack for 5 more minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.  Do not cut this bread warm or the crumb will be gummy.  The loaf may be rewarmed after cooling if warm bread is desired.

* Note that because of the moisture loss, baked and nuked potatoes will require close to double or more of the starting weight compared to steaming to get the requisite 80g of puree.  With steaming, you come out really close to the weight it went in, especially when pre-peeled. 

Nice subtle color with the orange sweet potato.

 

Nice and smooth next morning and well risen already.

Almost straight to the fridge with the starter, but
it still popped its lid after three feeds in one day!

Perfect little small family sized loaf.

And a nice little oven spring too!

Be sure to check out the rest of our sourdough bakes: 

• Overnight Sourdough Sandwich Bread: Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Small Sourdough Bread: Sneha's Recipe (our host)
• Sourdough Oat Waffles: A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sprouted Spelt Sourdough Boule: Food Lust People Love
• Sweet Potato Sourdough: A Messy Kitchen 

#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.