Roast Potato, Garlic and Herb Sourdough

Roast Potato, Garlic and Herb Sourdough

Once I had made a few loaves of Sourdough, I decided to use some additional ingredients to make a special loaf for a wedding last weekend. Dan had made a potato gratin the night before, so I used the extra raw potatoes and roasted them in the oven with rosemary and garlic till they were half cooked. This way of preparing the extra ingredients allows the potato to lose some moisture but since it isnt fully cooked it does not disintegrate when folded into the sourdough dough.

Ingredients

800g white sourdough dough

1/2 cup potato in 1.5cm cubes

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C

Combine the potato cubes, rosemary, garlic and olive oil in a small bowl and toss together.

Season with salt and pepper, then put in oven on a tray and roast for 10-15 minutes until cooked but still firm to the touch (not powdery). Allow to cool.

Fold the potato into the sourdough dough once it has finished its final prove before being placed in the fridge overnight. Shape the dough into a round loaf and place seam side up into a proving basket or colander or any round basket or bowl you have at hand. Put in fridge overnight for 8-10 hours.

The next morning, remove from fridge and place in a warm area to prove until the dough bounces back at a slight indentation with your finger. This took my dough 3.5 hours. The books say anywhere between 1-4 hours for typical sourdough prove out of the fridge, and this depends on the humidity and temperature of your room. Apparently about 22-24 degrees C is a good temperature to prove this dough. I check on the dough and if it is noticeably expanding after 30 minutes I preheat my oven to full because I anticipate it will be ready to bake within an hour.

Once ready to bake, upturn onto a peel or rimless baking tray, spray the top with water and place a parsley leaf on top, then dust with rye or plain flour. Slash the sides to create a square in the middle.

Slide onto a baking stone in the oven.

Spray the oven with water and add some icecubes to a tray in the bottom to let off more steam.

Bake for 20 minutes then check and turn if you have hotspots in the oven. Bake for approx 15 more minutes.

Allow to cool completely before slicing.