28 Aug Matcha & Black Sesame Spelt Sourdough (Vegan, Oil-free, Refined Sugar-free)
Why I Make This Recipe?
If you follow my Instagram account (@thefloralvegan), you may already noticed that I am obsessed with sourdough baking the past few months. I have been experimenting with making sourdough with 100% spelt flour as I really love the nutty flavor of spelt. What’s more, this ancient grain has a lower level of gluten. Hence some people with milder gluten sensitivity may be able to enjoy it! Also, people who know me well will know that I love making matcha version of everything! 😆 So that’s how this Matcha & Black Sesame Spelt Sourdough was born 👶🏻🍵
Baking Sourdough Is A Challenging Experience
Baking sourdough bread containing gluten was a completely new challenge for me and I love new challenges. I failed a number of times at the beginning due to poor shaping techniques, wrong hydration level, as well as leaving the dough too long for fermentation (as whole grain flour acts so much quicker than white bread flour).
Trial & Error
Spelt flour of different brands differ in absorbing water. So you may need to adjust if you are not using the same brand as me in this recipe. Here I used Bob’s Red Mill’s light spelt and whole spelt flour.
This matcha and black sesame sourdough is by far one of the favorite sourdough bread I’ve ever made, besides my signature chocolate hazelnut and blood orange spelt sourdough ☺️If you love matcha bread, you should definitely check out my sourdough matcha vegan milk bread. 🍵😝It’s a sweeter and fluffier version of this sourdough 💚
Matcha & Black Sesame Spelt Sourdough (Vegan, Oil-free, Refined Sugar-free)
Course: MainCuisine: SourdoughDifficulty: High6
servings30
minutes1
hourIngredients
- Levain
25g spelt sourdough starter
50g water
- Dough
150g whole spelt flour
180g water
105g Levain (from above)
10g Matcha powder
- Sesame
30g Toasted black sesame seeds
15g Hot water
28g agave syrup
5g salt
Directions
- About 6-8 hours before you wish to make your sourdough bread, mix the ingredients of the levain in a clean glass jar. Leave it at the counter for 6-8 hours (depending on the temperature), or until double in size. I usually make the levain at around 11am-12nn so I can make this at night and bake in the morning.
- When the levain is almost double in size, in a large mixing bowl, mix together whole spelt flour, light spelt flour and water. Autolyse the dough for at least one hour. While the dough is autolysing, soak the toasted sesame seeds in 15g of hot water to hydrate the seeds. This is to prevent the sesame seeds from drawing out water when added to the dough.
- When the dough is ready, evenly sprinkle the salt on the dough, add the matcha powder, agave syrup and 105g of the levain you’ve prepared.
Mix using pincer method for around 10 minutes, until the dough is feeling strong and extensible. - Leave the dough on the counter, covering with a plastic wrap. Bulk ferment for 3.5 to 4 hours, while performing 4 sets of stretch and fold at 30-min intervals (i.e. at 30 min, 60 min, 90 min and 120 min after mixing the dough). Add the hydrated sesame seeds after the second set of stretch and fold.
- After the bulk fermentation is done, carefully remove the dough from the bowl using wet hands and place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pre-shape the dough and leave it for 15-20 mins.
- Shape it into a batard, carefully transfer to a floured banneton. Place the banneton in an air-tight plastic bag and retard in the fridge overnight (I usually leave them in the fridge for 9-10 hours)
- In the next morning, pre-heat your dutch oven in an oven at 250 degrees Celsius for an hour. Depending on the fermentation status of your dough (by performing finger poke test), place the dough at the counter 30-45mins before baking. Or you can bake it straight from the fridge if it’s already ready.
- Score and bake in a Dutch oven at 250 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, turn down the heat to 220 degrees Celsius and bake for another 15 minutes.
Now you made yourself a delicious sourdough, but you better wait until it was cooled completely before slicing it for better texture (I know it’s hard!). Serve it with some vegan butter, jam, fresh fruits, vegan yogurt (recipe here), avocado or nut butter. Happy baking! 🙌🏻
