Root Sourdough

root_sourdough

This recipe is for an old-style, firm, healthy, and nutty sourdough bread.

This makes a small loaf; consider tripling the recipe.

Baked Root Vegetable

Obtain root vegetables and/or sweet potato. For best results, use japanese or korean sweet potato. To identify the correct type:

if the skin is scratched, underneath is more red than purple
the flesh is off-white / faintly yellow

root_sourdough_japanese_sweetpotato

However most root vegetables which are moist and can be baked then easily mashed would work:

any sweet potato or yam
squash (buttercup, butternut, …)
absolutely DO NOT use normal potatoes

Place the vegetables on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake at 400f for 1hr or longer. After baking, the skin can be pulled off and discarded. Let it cool to near room temperature before mixing with other ingredients. Otherwise the heat will kill the starter. But not too cold (e.g. fridge) or else it will be more difficult to mix later on.

The final weight of this ingredient should be 200g. Add it to a mixing bowl.

Bread Components

Add to the mixing bowl:

20g of active starter
50g whole wheat flour
40g gluten flour

Assorted Nuts & Seeds

Add to the mixing bowl:

35g crushed walnut
20g sunflower seeds
20g flax seeds
10g pumpkin seeds

Mix

Mix the contents of the mixing bowl.

While initially daunting, the water content of the baked root vegetables is sufficient to allow the ingredients to mix into a dough. Only if desperate, add water or cashew milk (but not almond milk) sparingly to assist with conglomeration.

Consider lining your hands with a thin layer of oil to help prevent sticking flour.

If the dough is too wet (dependent on the type of sweet potato and how it was prepared), add a small amount of flour until it isn’t overly sticky.

root_sourdough_dough

Delay

Place the dough on parchment paper in a loaf pan.

Let the dough sit for 12-16 hours at room temperature in a sheltered area: for example, an oven that is turned off, with the oven light on.

Bake

Bake uncovered @ 400f for 1hr. If needed, bake for longer; it is difficult to burn this recipe due to the root vegetable content - it instead caramelizes into a nice crust.

If the bread is made daily, consider baking the yam for tomorrow at the same time as the loaf for today.

Leave the bread in the oven after baking and only take it out when convenient. Consider using the automatic start and stop time functionality found in modern ovens. For example, the bread can start baking over night and cool somewhat before breakfast.

Here’s an end result that used half japanese sweet potato and half normal sweet potato:

root_sourdough