Calabrian Chili and Honey Sourdough Bread

Build the Levain:
In a clean jar, mix the sourdough starter, bread flour, and water for the levain.
Cover and set in a warm location (between 75-80ºF) for about five hours until it doubles in size. The ripe levain should be full of bubbles and gases.
Alternatively, skip this step and use 90g of active sourdough starter.
30 grams Sourdough Starter, 30 grams Bread Flour, 30 grams Water
Autolyse:
About an hour before the levain is ripe, begin autolyse. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the flours. Create a well in the center of the bowl and pour in the water.
Mix together the flour and water just until it comes together and there are minimal dry bits of flour left. The dough will be very sticky during mixing.
Cover and rest an hour or more until the levain is ripe.
350 grams Bread Flour, 40 grams White Whole Wheat Flour, 300 grams Water, 10 grams Rye Flour
Add Levain, Salt, and Mix:
Add all the levain and honey to the mixing bowl. Dimple the levain and honey into the dough and stretch and fold the dough upon itself for a few minutes to combine.
Cover and rest 30 minutes.
Sprinkle sea salt on top of the dough along with a few grams of water. Dimple the salt and water into the dough. Stretch and fold the dough upon itself for 5 minutes or more until thoroughly mixed. At the end of mixing, the dough will be smooth, you should not feel any individual salt granules between your fingers, and the dough will be much stronger.
Cover and rest 15 minutes.
Levain, 7 grams Sea Salt, 30 grams Honey
Bulk Fermentation:
At 78ºF (26ºC), bulk fermentation typically takes about 3.5-4 hours.
After 30 minutes, gently stretch and fold the Calabrian chilis into the dough in four divisions. Stretch and fold the dough once in between each addition for a total of four stretch and folds. Cover the dough and place in a warm location.
Perform a coil fold in 30-minutes and the next two coil folds spaced one hour apart. Add more coil folds if the dough is still very slack after the last fold. The dough rests in bulk fermentation for the remainder of the time.
At the end of bulk fermentation, the dough should be smooth and rounded, feel full of air, have visible bubbles, and should wobble/jiggle if shaken. The dough should rise about 50%.
60 grams Calabrian Chilis
Shaping:
Lightly flour the top of the dough in the mixing bowl and the bench/counter. Gently loosen the dough from the sides of the mixing bowl to turn the dough out onto the counter.
With the help of a bench scraper, shape the dough into a batard (oval) or boule (round) and place it seam side down into a floured banneton.
Stitch the dough in the banneton if it is still loose or lost any shape.
Cold Overnight Proof:
Cover the banneton and place in a cold refrigerator to proof overnight and up to 48 hours.
Bake:
Place the empty dutch oven with lid in the oven and preheat for an hour at 500°F (260ºC).
When the dutch oven has preheated for an hour, remove the banneton from the refrigerator. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper.
Using a bread lame or sharp knife, score the dough with one slash down the middle for a batard (oval) or a cross section for a boule (round). The score should be ¼-½" deep.
Transfer the scored dough to the baking vessel and cover it with the lid.
Bake at 500°F (260ºC) for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, lower the oven temperature to 450ºF (232ºC) and bake for 15 minutes with the lid off.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.
Slice and enjoy!

Calabrian Chili and Honey Sourdough Bread

Equipment

Ingredients

Levain:

Calabrian Chili and Honey Sourdough Bread:

Instructions

Notes