date, sesame and walnut sourdough

This bread kind of has it all – it’s sweet, nutty, savoury and filling. If you’d like, add a couple teaspoons of toasted fennel seeds too for more mallow-y sweetness, though I left them out in this time since the dates were enough sweetness for me. Once you get the hang of the basic dough, though, you can really add anything you want. With so many options, this bread can be made for any time and anybody.

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Ingredients

for the levain

• 17g wholegrain bread flour
• 18g strong white bread flour
• 35g filtered or bottled water
• 18g active sourdough starter (last fed around 12 hours ago)

for the main dough

• 200g wholegrain bread flour
• 250g strong white bread flour
• around 300g filtered or bottled water
• the levain
• salt to taste (I used 2 tsp)
• around 100g filtered or bottled water
• 3-4 tsp sesame seeds
• a couple of handfuls of dates
• a couple of handfuls of walnuts

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the levain in a jar and leave loosely covered in a warm place until they’ve almost tripled in size, which will take around 5 hours.
2. An hour before the levain is ready, in a large bowl whisk together the the wholegrain and strong white flour for the main dough, then add 300g of water (heated to about 30ºC) and mix with your hand until no dry patches remain. Add a splash or two of more water if needed. Let sit, covered using cling film or a damp cloth (without touching the dough) in the same place as the levain.
3. Once ready, add the levain to the main dough and squeeze through using your fingers, ensuring that it’s thoroughly incorporated. Leave to rest for around half an hour.
4. Next, sprinkle on top the salt and around 100g of water and again squeeze through the dough to incorporate, until all of the water is absorbed. Let sit for another half hour.
5. Roughly chop the dates and toast the sesame seeds and walnuts in a pan. Allow to cool to room temperature before crushing and sprinkling over the dough, along with the dates.
6. Grab one side of the dough and stretch it up, though not enough to tear it, then fold it across to the other side of the dough. Repeat six times, going in a circle around the dough. Let rest for 30-40 mins and repeat, until the dough has ben through 3-4 sets of folds and looks more jiggly and larger in volume. After the final set of folds, let the dough rest for at least 1 hour.
7. Tip the dough onto a clean work surface. Using a dough scarper, shape the dough into a boule and let rest for 20 mins. While the dough is resting, dust a banneton with rice flour.
8. Dust the boule of dough with rice flour and flip so the floured side is on the surface. Stretch and fold the top of the dough just past the middle. Next, stretch the left side and fold it past the middle. Repeat with the right side, then the bottom. Once all four sides have been folded in, flip the dough over again and use the dough scraper to once more shape the dough into a boule. Dust with extra rice flour if any patches of wet dough are visible, then place floured side down into the banneton.
9. Cover the banneton and let rest in the fridge for at least 12 hours overnight.
10. When ready to bake, dust the bottom of the loaf with more rice flour and turn out onto baking paper lined tray. Score the top then place into a preheated oven at 176ºC with a tray of water underneath for 30 mins. Then, remove the tray of water and increase the temperature to 225ºC and bake for around 20 mins or until browned to your liking.
11. Once done, take the load from the oven and place on a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 1 hour before cutting.