Sourdough Bread - with mostly white flour

After making sourdough bread using different recipes with various tweaks and iterations, I think I have finally arrived at a recipe that produces a loaf that I like.  It tastes good, has nice large holes, a crisp crust that stays crisp for a few days, and keeps for at least a week at room temperature. Since this bread is only flour, water and salt, you can eat it with anything - butter, Marmite, jam, avocado, sambal, etc.  It is also good for making croutons and crumbs.  The croutons made with this bread are perfect for making Ribollita.

80 g spelt flour

320 g bread flour

270 ml water

240 g sourdough starter (1:1 flour/water)

8 g salt 

2 ml (1/2 tsp) water

Mix the two flours with 270 ml water, in a large bowl, until all the water is absorbed. Cover with a plastic produce bag and set aside for 1 to 2 hours.

Mix the starter into the dough, by pinching and folding, until the dough looks uniform. Let the dough rest for 30 mins, covered.

Sprinkle the salt and 1/2 tsp water over the dough and mix until combined. Cover and rest for 1 hour.

Stretch and fold the dough, rotate bowl, and repeat, 6-8 times total.  Cover and rest for 30 minutes.  Repeat this process two more times.  After the third stretch & fold, let the cough rest for about 90 - 120 mins.  Here is a stretch & fold demo.

Get a banneton ready by sprinkling some flour. (I use a mixture of 1:1 all purpose flour & rice flour)

Tip the dough onto counter/board and flatten it slightly.  Shape into a ball or oblong shape depending on the shape of your banneton and baking vessel.  Use just your hands or one hand plus the other hand holding a dough scraper.

Transfer the dough to the banneton.  Place the banneton in a plastic produce bag, keep the bag somewhat taught so that the bag doesn't touch the dough.  Fold the bag under, and place the banneton in the fridge for 12 - 18 hours.

Pre heat the oven to 500 deg F. When the oven has reached 500, transfer the dough to a heavy cast iron pan (If you are worried about the bread sticking to the pan, you can line just the bottom of the pan with parchment first). Score the dough down the middle with a sharp blade.  Cover the pan and place in the oven.  Bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, turn the oven temp to 450 deg F, and remove the cover of the baking vessel.  Bake for 20 more minutes.  

Remove the pan with the bread from the oven, and carefully turn out the loaf on to a cooling rack.  Try not to slice the bread until it cools down to room temperature.

Sri Lankan Fruitcake

Yield: One 13" x 18" x 1" (310mm x 430mm x 30 mm) cake, about 80 servings

(The picture shows two trays, because I made a double batch)

You have to start the process at least 4-6 weeks before you want to serve the cake.

I use t for teaspoon and T for tablespoon.

Fruit blend:

250g Raisins

200g Golden Raisins

200g Currants

125g Dried apricots

75g Dried sweet cherries

75g Dried sour cherries

65g Candied orange peel

50g Candied lemon peel

100g Maraschino cherries

80g Candied Melon

30g Crystalized ginger

200g cashew nuts

Soaking liquid:

100ml(3/8 c) Brandy

12ml (1 T) Rosewater

20ml (1 T + 1 t) Golden syrup

25ml (1 T + 2 t ) Vanilla

25ml (1 T + 2 t ) Almond liquor (or 1 t almond extract)

20ml (1 T + 1 t) syrup from the Maraschino cherries

Spice blend:

2g cardamom

2g Cinnamon

1g Nutmeg

1g Cloves

1g  Mace (optional)

Cake batter:

300g Butter

340g Light brown sugar

6 Egg yolks

210g  Fine semolina

1/4 t Salt

4 Egg whites

Finely grated rind from one orange

1T Rosewater

1T Vanilla

1/2 t Almond extract

More brandy or rum to feed the cake

2 rolls (7 oz/198g each) of Marzipan or Almond paste, optional

About 5 to 7 days before you plan to bake, chop all the dried fruits finely, except the currants. Add them to a large bowl or container with lid. Don't add the cashews at this time.  Mix all the ingredients in the soaking liquid well together, and pour them over the fruit mixture.  Stir well to combine.  Cover and leave on the counter.  Every 12 hours or so, give the mixture a good stir, bringing up the stuff in the bottom to the top.  Add the finely chopped cashews to the mix about 24 hours before you plan to mix the batter.

Line a half sheet pan(13" x 18" or 310mm x 430mm) with parchment paper and grease the parchment well with butter.

Grind the spices (cardamom etc.) together to a fine powder. Combine the semolina, salt and the spices together.  

Beat the butter, sugar and orange rind well until light and fluffy.  Add the yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add rosewater, etc. and beat well. Add the semolina, etc. and mix well, but gently. Stir in the fruit mixture. 

Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peaks form.  Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. 

Pour into prepared pan, using a spatula to spread the mixture and level.  Bake at 300 F for 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 275 F and bake 60 to 80 minutes longer, rotating after 30 minutes.

Cool the cake, while still in the pan on a wire rack.  Once it is completely cool, brush the top with 2 T brandy or dark rum.  Wrap that cake well with plastic/cling wrap, in the pan.  Repeat the brushing after two days, then five days later, and then once a week 2 or 3 more times.  

Optional almond paste layer: About a week after the last time you fed the cake, roll one of the rolls of almond paste between two sheets of wax paper/parchment to 9"x13" and cover half the cake. Repeat with the second roll. 

Cut the cake into desired size (about 1.5" squares) and wrap in parchment paper.

Notes:

1. Amount of fruit: The total weight of fruit in this recipe is 1250g (a little under 3 lbs).  If you can't find a particular dried/candied fruit, substitute with equal weight of raisins.  Except for the orange and lemon peel and the ginger.  Ginger is a must, and you can use all orange peel instead of orange+lemon.

2. If the apricots and currants are too old and dry, (mine are always dry because they are always from last year :-) it helps to soak them in simmering water before chopping: Cover the apricots with (about 100 ml) water in a small sauce pan, and bring to simmer.  Simmer for about 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat, cover and let it cool.  Remove the apricots, and now add the currants to the same water, adding more water if the currants are not almost covered with water. Simmer for 5 minutes, and then cool and drain. You can do this a day or two ahead.  The apricot will turn quite soft and will be easier to chop. 

3. Chopping the fruit:  Its important to chop the fruit and the cashews finely.  Otherwise, it will be difficult to cut the cake evenly, and the cut sides of the cake will be very irregular.

4. Maraschino cherries:  I have used the bright red supermarket Maraschino cherries that you can find in the ice cream toppings section, and the more expensive Luxardo Maraschino cherries that I found at Costco.  Couldn't tell the difference in the final product.  I didn't use the red liquid of the ice cream topping as part of the soaking liquid though. Use more golden syrup if you are using the cheap cherries.

5. Try not to use pre-ground spices. I store whole spices in the freezer section, and grind them in a small coffee/spice grinder when I need.  If you have any ground spices left over, you can make your own pumpkin-spice latte!

6. Traditional Sri Lankan recipes call for lining the baking pan with multiple layers of brown paper, to prevent the bottom and edges from burning before the middle is done.  I think they did that because many years ago they didn't have access to slow ovens.  (When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, most people would send their cakes to be baked at the local bakery.  The bakers there would bake these cakes after they'd finished baking their bread and after their ovens had cooled a bit)

7. Brandy, rum: Any brandy would work for the soaking, regular or fruit ones like Kirsch. Couple of years ago, I didn't have any brandy left after adding to the fruit. But I had plenty of dark rum.  So I used the rum to brush on the cake. That's what I've been using ever since.