Hybrid Muesli Sourdough
This recipe has been specifically adapted for our new bakers to use up discard that was created when making their new sourdough starters.
This recipe produces a wonderfully soft loaf with a crisp crust. The crumb is pillowy soft and scattered with fruits that burst with sweetness. The whole-wheat flour, oats and walnuts bring a warming complexity to the loaf.
Because the discard is quite sour I’ve balanced the flavour profile by using a poolish made with baker’s yeast. But, you can easily convert this recipe to 100% sourdough by switching the poolish for the same amount of active levain.
A huge thank you goes to Mary Sue and Becky, two of our Sourdough Unchained bakers. This recipe was originally designed by them and they deserve all of the credit. I’ve only tweaked the formula to include the discard.
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Recipe Vitals
This recipe produces a 900g dough that fits a 2.1L bread tin perfectly. You can see the equipment section for the exact tins I use.
The dough is 70% hydrated making it easy for beginners to work with. I use strong white bread flour with a protein content of 12%.
The wholewheat flour is 100% extracted, so nothing has been removed during milling. That makes it super healthy and tasty. Any good quality whole-wheat flour will work well in the recipe.
This recipe combines 20% sourdough discard and 30% poolish (yeasted pre-ferment) to produce a well-balanced, soft loaf packed full of flavour.
To improve the flavour of the loaf I use a very small quantity (0.5%) of instant dried yeast. I use a microscales to weigh in such small quantities. If you don’t have any you can guesstimate, I won’t tell anyone!
Baker’s Percentages
Strong white flour 80%
Wholewheat flour 20%
Water 70%
Salt 2%
Yeast 0.5%
Honey 5%
Raisins & sultanas 4%
Walnuts 4%
Pumpkin & sunflower seeds 4%
Rolled oats 8% (plus extra for coating the dough)
Sourdough Discard 20% (100% hydrated)
Poolish (yeasted pre-ferment) 30% (100% hydrated)
Equipment
I’d suggest using a set of scales that weigh in grams to measure the ingredients.
You’ll need a large mixing bowl with a cover (or a bag) and a bread tin for baking the loaf.
If you are serious about baking great bread you should invest in a set of microscales for weighing small quantities of dried yeast. They are pretty cheap and help cut back on any unwanted commercial yeast flavours by letting us weigh tiny quantities.
Timeline
Here is the timeline for the baking process.
My kitchen was 25°C/77°F. If your kitchen is warmer the process may go quicker and if your kitchen is cooler the process may take longer.
Use the timeline as a guide but make sure you pay attention to the way your dough is fermenting and proofing and adjust as necessary.
Day 1:
21:00 Mix the poolish (yeasted pre-fermentation)
Day 2:
09:00 Mix the dough
09:30 Final bench mix
11:00 Shape the dough
12:00 Bake
12:35 Leave to cool completely
Hands-on time: 30-45 minutes
Total timeline: 15.5 hours
Substitutions
I’d encourage you to use the ingredients you have available for this loaf. You don’t need to go out shopping for ingredients if you have alternatives in the cupboard.
Dried cherries or cranberries would make great substitutions for the raisins and the currants. Almonds or pecans will work just as well as the walnuts.
You can even switch up the honey for malted barley syrup or maple syrup.
Using strong bread flour isn’t super important for this recipe as the loaf is baked in a tin. So feel free to experiment with softer flour.
I chose 100% extracted wholewheat flour for the nutritional boost and awesome flavour profile but any good quality wholewheat flour will work just fine.
Make the recipe your own!
Recipe
The poolish (yeasted pre-fermentation)
75g strong white bread flour
75g water
0.3g instant dried yeast
1. Add all of the ingredients to a jar that is large enough to accommodate the mixture quadrupling in size.
2. Mix well with a spoon.
3. Place a lid on the jar and leave at room temperature to ferment for 12 hours overnight.
Baker’s tip: This recipe makes a little more poolish than is needed in the final dough. This allows for any weight loss during the fermentation process.
The muesli dough
251g strong white flour
91g wholewheat flour
205g water
9g salt
2g yeast
23g honey
91g sourdough Discard (100% hydrated)
137g poolish from above
18g raisins & sultanas
18g walnuts
18g pumpkin & sunflower seeds
36g rolled breakfast oats (plus extra for coating the dough)
Baker’s tip: I walk you step-by-step through the entire process in the video below.
1. Add the water and the salt to a large mixing bowl. Stir with a spoon until the salt has dissolved.
2. Add all of the other ingredients to the bowl.
3. Using a spoon bring the mixture together to form a rough dough. Finish by pinching the dough together with your fingers. The goal is to form a rough dough without any pockets of dry flour.
4. Cover the dough in the bowl and leave at room temperature to rest for 30 minutes.
5. Turn the dough out onto your worktop. Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes to complete the mixing process.
6. Shape the dough into a ball. Place it back into the bowl and cover. Leave at room temperature until doubled in size.
7. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and turn it out onto your bench with the floured surface facing down.
8. Gently ease the dough out into a circle and fold the sides into the centre. Roll the dough up creating tension as you go. Where the dough meets use your fingers to pinch the seam closed.
Baker’s tip: watch the video below to learn exactly how to shape the dough and place it into your tin.
9. Lightly mist the dough with water and then roll it in breakfast oats to coat the outside of the dough.
10. Lightly rub your bread tin with olive oil. Place the dough into the tin with the seam facing downwards.
11. Cover the dough and leave it to proof (increase in volume) until the dough reaches the lip of the tin.
12. Set your oven to bake mode and preheat to 230°C/446°F. Place the loaf tin on the bottom shelf and leave to bake for 30-35 minutes until the crust is golden and crisp.
13. Remove the loaf from the tin and leave it to cool completely before eating. Yes, it’s worth the wait!
