Growing up, I never really liked polenta. My grandmother would frequently cook the gritty yellow mash, and I’d eat it with this muted disdain, asking for something else after I finished eating. I remember her customarily cooking it in water and then serving a warm bowl fresh from the stove, but I’ve had it a variety of ways: boiled in water, simmered in chicken stock, cooled, and then pan-fried and, of course, cooled and topped merely with parmesan. Nowadays, I’ve somehow developed a deeper appreciation for the yellow stuff, and I find myself craving that deep, luxurious corn flavor that can readily be summed up as comforting. And this polenta and rosemary sourdough bread wraps that comforting flavor up in a neat, edible package.
Polenta is a typical Northern Italian dish that we’d have in some form or another just about every time we visited family. Maybe this is what slowly developed my admiration for the meal over the years. Or, perhaps, it was just my ever-developing palette as I was getting older (something I know all too well now with my young son—one week he loves chicken, the next week he’s moved on to something better), either way, you’re sure to find a bag of polenta in my pantry at all times.
Along those same lines, and a food that I find equally comforting and make regularly, is fresh ricotta cheese. It’s an uncomplicated task whose result customarily finds itself spread warm on a toasted slice of sourdough with just a modest drizzle of honey — yeah, it’s as good as it sounds (see the end of this post for what I mean). One of the by-products of making ricotta is whey, and I’ve been thinking about what to do with the leftovers from the process.
Some readers suggested using it to supplant some of the water in my sourdough formula, which is a fantastic idea, but given my recent inclination for polenta, I thought: why not boil the polenta in the leftover whey and then bake with it? The result is a soft, creamy consistency that translates directly into the crumb of this bread, but the flavor is not so stifling that it becomes too milky or densely creamy; it complements the delicate corn flavor and reinforces its silken texture.
I played with varying levels of polenta with this bread, and I’ve settled on the amount listed in the formula. A few of my family members loved the light corn flavor, and a few thought it could use a touch more—personal preference plays a role. After trying this out, adjust the amount to your liking, up or down, to either bring up the corn flavor or make it even more subdued.
Flour and Cornmeal Selection
I treated this bake much like my experience with an oatmeal porridge loaf: I reduced starting hydration and also used a little stronger flour to help support the porridge-like polenta. Adding in a small percentage of Central Milling High Mountain flour, which has high protein levels, helped quite a bit. A good substitute would be any “Bread Flour” (13-14% protein) found at the market, including King Arthur Bread Flour (blue bag) found in the States. Even though the dough might feel overly stiff and dry at the start of this bake, try to refrain from adding any more water, as the polenta will release more than enough during bulk fermentation.
A coarse grind gives a more firm, toothy polenta whereas a finer grind gives a more loose and liquid result.
When shopping for polenta, you can find varying levels of coarseness, ranging from very fine to very coarse. Finer options are sometimes labeled corn grits or corn flour, while coarse varieties are typically labeled polenta. I went with Bob’s Red Mill Polenta/Corn Grits because the consistency of the grind was more coarse (even though they label them corn grits, which are typically finer) than other options I had at the market. I prefer the coarse grind; it reminds me more of what I recall having in Italy, and it mixes well in the dough. You could certainly choose a fine grind if that is your preference.
Oh, and do not use any instant polenta varieties; the flavor and texture are not correct.
One thing to be aware of when working with polenta is that different bags (and possible weather changes) display different water absorption levels. The ground corn behaves much like flour in this regard. Therefore, you’ll have to adjust your process for each bake according to how the dough feels at the mix. I discuss this below during Bulk Fermentation.
Liquid Whey
In one of my previous posts, I went into the process of making fresh ricotta at home. If you’d like to cook the polenta for this recipe in whey, first make a batch of this fresh ricotta and save the resulting whey once it cools. I do this the day (or up to a week) before and store the cooled whey in a glass jar in the fridge.
The small percentage of whey added to this rosemary and polenta sourdough adds not only flavor but nutrition. If you have extra, try baking with it in your standard sourdough recipe; just replace a percentage of the water in the formula.
Polenta and Rosemary Sourdough Formula
Vitals
Total dough weight: 1800g Pre-fermented flour: 4.75% Hydration: 75% (this does not include the whey) Yield: 2 x 900g loaves
If you want to halve this recipe just take all ingredients and divide by 2 — including the polenta, whey, and rosemary.
Build the liquid levain described above in the morning and store it somewhere around 74-76°F (22-24°C) ambient.
2. Make Polenta & Chop Rosemary – 3:00 p.m.
This chopping and cooking can be done at any time, but be sure to let it cool completely for at least 1-2 hours before mixing.
Gather the raw polenta and liquid whey and prepare a medium-sized baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour the whey into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and set it over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Once boiling, pour the whey over the raw polenta in a bowl and stir until there are no lumps. Let it sit for 45 minutes (the longer you let this mixture soak, the more water the corn will absorb). After 45 minutes, dump the polenta mixture into a fine sieve and allow some of the liquid whey to drain. I didn’t press the polenta at this point; I just let any excess liquids drain freely for a minute or so.
You could also choose not to drain the whey, but this will depend on whether your flour can take on the added hydration. I tried this a few times, and the resulting bread is like a porridge loaf: super, super moist, lower rise, and very tender inside. This is something you can experiment with in the future.
Transfer the drained polenta to the prepared baking sheet and spread it out in a thin layer to cool until needed later.
3. Autolyse – 4:00 p.m.
Mix flour and water (reserve 50g water for the mix, later) in a bowl until all dry bits are hydrated. Cover bowl and store somewhere warm (around 75°F/24°C) until mix time.
4. Mix – 5:30 p.m.
Add the required levain and about half (25g) of the reserved water to the autolysed dough.
Porridge bread benefits from some strength created in the dough at mix time, especially since the polenta can hold on to quite a bit of hydration that later gets released during the bulk. For mixing, I chose to do slap and fold for about 4 minutes, just until the dough starts to show signs of a smooth surface and lightly holds its shape on the counter.
If you aren’t comfortable with the slap/fold method or don’t like it, you can stretch and fold in the bowl until your dough tightens up and becomes slightly hard to stretch out and fold over.
When finished, sprinkle the salt, rosemary, and polenta on top of the dough and use the remaining water to help moisten everything. Pinch through a few times and fold the dough over itself to help incorporate until all ingredients are well distributed.
In some books, authors like to mix in the add-ins (nuts, porridge, etc.) later in bulk fermentation, but I find it a little easier to fully incorporate them at this stage. Transfer the dough to a tub or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation.
5. Bulk Fermentation – 5:40 p.m. to 9:10 p.m.
At 78°F (25°C) ambient temperature, bulk fermentation should take about 3 hours and 30 minutes. Keep an eye on this dough because the corn, specifically its starches, speeds up fermentation significantly.
Keep a close eye on this dough during bulk, fermentation moves quick.
Perform four sets of stretches and folds during the bulk, spaced out by 30 minutes. Be gentle with your last set of stretches and folds. Lift just enough to fold the dough over itself, long before it feels like it would tear.
As I mentioned earlier, through my trials with this bread, I’ve noticed the polenta can absorb varying amounts of liquid (weather might also play a factor, as would each different bag of polenta). If your dough still feels very wet and soupy after your last set, add another set of stretch and folds. Be flexible here and be prepared to add/remove sets depending on how your dough feels.
6. Divide & Preshape – 9:10 p.m.
Divide the dough into two masses. Lightly shape each mass into a round and let rest for 20 minutes exposed to air. You don’t want each round to get so dry that it develops a skin on top, but I haven’t seen this happen. I find this exposure helps the next step, shaping, by slightly drying out the surface so it doesn’t stick to the work surface.
7. Shape – 9:30 p.m.
Lightly flour the tops of the dough rounds and the work surface. Flip each round and shape into either a batard or a boule. Try to get some good tension on the top of these loaves. After shaping, let rest on the bench for a few minutes and then place seam-side-up into a banneton or bowl that was dusted with white flour.
I prefer to use linen-lined bannetons for this extremely wet dough: they are easier to remove from the basket, and any liquid that escapes from the dough will go into the linen, which is far easier to clean.
8. Rest & Proof – 9:30 p.m.
Cover the bannetons with plastic and proof in a home refrigerator for 10 to 14 hours.
9. Bake – Next Morning: Preheat oven at 8:00 a.m., Bake at 9:00 a.m.
Bake for 20 minutes at 450°F (232°C) with steam. After 20 minutes, remove the lid if you’re using a Dutch oven or remove steaming pans and finish baking for about 25-30 minutes. Watch the dough in the last 10 minutes of this bake; it will color rather quickly. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.
Important: Let the finished loaves cool for a couple of hours before slicing to allow the interior to fully set. See my post on storing bread for information on how to store this bread to keep it fresh for longer.
Conclusion
Slice this loaf in half and take a big whiff. The smell is captivating. This smell, a mix of luscious, creamy corn and rosemary, permeates the entire kitchen when it’s still in the oven. Holding your hand away from the knife and the bread away from the cutting board until it cools is a real test of self-restraint.
Crust
This gritty, thin, speckled crust is what keeps me mulling over this bread even after I’ve devoured a slice—and you know I love the crust. But really, can I get this crust on all my bread? It looks dark, hard, and thick, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s splinter-thin with corn blemishes and deeply caramelized; it tastes like the entire loaf is wrapped in this thin, sweet cracker that only hints at the deeper flavors inside.
I found the bottom of these to get rather dark, so if you’re making these in a Dutch oven, be ready for this (I notice dough baked in a Dutch oven gets extra color on the bottom). You could sprinkle some raw wheat germ below the loaf before loading it into your Dutch oven. Similarly, you could do the same when baking directly on baking stones to help.
Crumb
Baking what is necessarily a porridge bread, the crumb can usually be on the dense side (I mean, polenta is dense in itself), but one of my goals for this formula was to lighten it up, to open the crumb enough for an airy bread that wasn’t like eating a brick. I love the results, and I find the mix of flour to be just right for supporting the wet polenta.
The polenta is visible in each slice and provides a striking contrast to the dark crust. The crumb for this bread was somewhat shaggy and incredibly moist.
Taste
An un-toasted slice of this polenta rosemary sourdough is exceptionally creamy (thanks to the whey) and tender, to be expected from a porridge bread. When toasted, however, it’s elevated to new heights—the entire thing takes on a crunch & crackle that reminds me of that old-time favorite cereal: Cornflakes.
I like this bread with only the slightest hint of rosemary flavor; I find it can be overpowering, and just the right amount grounds the corn. However, increase the percentage of rosemary if you discover it is too subtle or you like more of a punch.
A wonderful by-product of making this bread is that you not only have a wicked loaf of bread but also fresh ricotta sitting around… although probably not for long. Buon appetito!
Maurizio Leo is the creator of the independent sourdough baking website The Perfect Loaf. His cookbook, The Perfect Loaf — The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More, is a James Beard Award-winner and a New York Times bestseller. He lives in Albuquerque, NM, with his wife and two sons, where he's been baking sourdough for over a decade. He's been labeled "Bob Ross but for bread."
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Hi Maurizio – I’ve just made two extremely good loaves following your quantities exactly. The loaves are huge, and having checked the bakers’ percentages in your recipe, I can see that the maths need correcting. First, the ingredients without polenta, whey and rosemary, add up to 1800g, and the bakers’ percentages given for those first ingredients are correct. With the extra ingredients, the total dough weight is 2425g! I also found that the whey was fully absorbed by the polenta I used, and none drained away – so I have concluded that the whey fully contributed to the hydration. Anyway, I’ve just cut the first slice, and eating it as I type – stunning – one of the best loaves (after hundreds) I’ve made – so thank you so much! Lesson learnt, don’t worry about the maths, just trust and follow Maurizio’s recipes – ciao! Simon in London.
Do you notice a big difference when adding the polenta after an initial gluten development versus with the flour at the initial mix? Might the cooked polenta have the potential to interfere with proper gluten development if added too early? It’s been a while since I’ve used polenta in dough and I haven’t had the chance to do a side by side experiment yet, but I have certainly experienced this phenomenon when adding purple sweet potatoes at the first mix versus waiting till after a fermentolyse or autolyse stage. I recall being so bummed at the dough that it wasn’t coming together like normal, then realized what I did differently. Such a small change created such a big difference….possibly because of the sugars in the baked sweet potato? But what about other cooked starches, like potato? Would a yudane mixture also interfere with gluten development? Most people I see adding yudane with the initial mix, but could it be best to add it after some development? The problem I run into here is if the yudane is holding a lot of the water of the recipe….like if I’m using a large percentage of oatmeal porridge where the oats need a lot of water to be fully cooked. So I don’t know if I should be adding it early or later…..which road is best? One could also see this issue if using 100% (bakers percentage) or more of cooked potato.
Thank you so much for your time and thoughts! This question has been bugging me…..in addition to fats, what ingredients possibly interfere with proper development.
I have a mill and wondering it I can make polenta coarse Ground but will retain all the bran. How will that turn out you think? Maybe a bit more water to hydrate the corn
I had great luck with this bread — probably the best ear I’ve ever achieved, and delicious taste. I make yogurt frequently, and have been looking for a way to use the whey 😉 Thank you for a terrific recipe!
Oh, how sad – I just took the lid off and the bread didn’t spring up at all, it’s pretty flat. 🙁 I think it might be that even though I drained the polenta it was still pretty goopy. I would love a recipe for rosemary sourdough that didn’t involve polenta. Do you think I could modify your olive tartine or the walnut cranberry bread to be rosemary with olive oil? Those loaves generally succeed wonderfully for me. Thanks.
Yes, that would absolutely work, Ariela! I’d start with 1-2% rosemary added to either of those loaves—they’ll be delicious! Sorry to hear about the polenta here. It can be a bit tricky working with the porridge and working it in.
Thanks Mauricio. Turns out, it was the starter! After baking successfully for more than a year, I had somehow killed it. Mold got on the edge. I ended up tossing that starter and taking a new one from my friend Beth. Since then I’ve made your seeded semolina, which came out incredible, and your olive tartine, which came out amazing. I’m going to try making a plain rosemary tartine with a drop of olive oil in it. Wish me luck.
Ah, yikes! Sorry to hear that. Glad you’re back on track now and have been working out some great loaves! Have fun, rosemary + OO is classic—it’s going to be delicious.
Confirmed, it’s delicious!
Super glad to hear that, Ariela! I had a feeling 🙂 Enjoy!
Quite often I have questions while I’m in the middle of mixing and don’t take the time to read all the comments. That’s said I don’t see my question asked yet. I drained my polenta a little longer and quite a bit of liquid came out so my dough wasn’t as soupy as some bakers have mentioned. I’m in the fermenting stage right now so I don’t know how it will turn out but I’m wondering what will happen if my bread didn’t have enough hydration (and how to tell if that is the case). I used all the water called for and poured a little of the milk/water drained from the polenta during the salt & polenta mix in stage. If you see this soon should I do anything different during the stretch and fold stage… I will bake tomorrow morning, should I alter the baking time if there is less hydration than you recommended?
I’ve never liked the texture of cooked polenta, but I love the taste, so this bread intrigues me. My dough was very smooth and strong before I added the corn (I used medium-grind cornmeal), but then it completely fell apart and no amount of mixing could get it to come back together. I was pretty disappointed, but I absolutely did not want to throw away the dough, so I figured that I should just leave it and see if I could make some sort of focaccia. I came back to it about 20 minutes later, and somehow, that bowl of chunky soup turned itself into a smooth, manageable dough. It’s still a high hydration dough, but it’s definitely something I can work with. Now I’m really excited to see how this turns out!
Yes, that’s very typical! That corn holds a lot of water and can make things difficult. That’s why I like to start with a drier dough, to be on the safe side. Glad it came back together! I hope it turned out delicious 🙂
Hi there, I made the tartine version of this loaf and followed it to a tea along with your recommendations as well. Bulk fermentation lasted 3 hours In the oven with the light on with folds in the first two hours. I let it rest in the banneton for 4 hours on my counter and I baked it the same day. When I came to transfer it to my challenger bread pan, it flattened out. This has been happening a lot lately, regardless of the recipe I use. I’ve even done a side by side comparison using a ceramic pan with high sides and get a great rise, but I haven’t yet achieved it with the challenger. Any idea where I’m going wrong?
Hey there! Could be many things… Could be over hydrated and/or under strengthened dough, or it could be over proofing. It could even be a dough that isn’t shaped tightly enough!
Wish I came across this recipe earlier! I’ve taken 5 swings at the polenta-rosemary-toasted pumpkin seeds recipe from Tartine. My first attempt came out great, but since I’ve switched flours, to my dismay I end up with near-soup at the end of every attempt. It’s surprising because I was using KAF bread flour before, and now I’m using a local half-white bread flour, which I’d expect to be at least as strong.
This recipe sounds promising, and I appreciate the callout on how the polenta releases its water during bulk (makes so much sense now). Regarding the flours used here — I don’t typically have such a variety of flours lying around. Instead of using the Central Milling ones, can I substitute the bread + whole wheat recommendation for the T85, and whole wheat for the High Mountain?
Thank you again for sharing!
Yes, that’ll work well! Yea, it sounds like your dough was likely over hydrated. Definitely hold back some of the liquid in mixing and only add in if the dough looks like it can handle it!
Hi Maurizio! We were able to grow some corn this summer. Many of the ears were not filled out, so I dried them. I like to roast the whole kernels, cool them and then grind for porridge. I can’t wait to try this for this loaf! Thanks for such great recipes.
That’s just amazing, Jay! I was going to grow some corn this year but I got a late start. Planning to give it a shot next year, and I’ll likely follow your lead here, this is one of my favorite breads! Happy baking 🙂
I’ve got leftover cooked polenta. Anybody know the weight of the cooked polenta in the mix? I assume it’s not just 170 g + 445 g as some of the liquid cooks off and some is sieved away.
I’ve challenged myself to bake something different each week, and today’s choice was the Polenta and Rosemary sourdough. The rosemary and polenta are both subtle flavors and the loaf is a yummy combination of creamy crumb and crispy crust. I was so excited to use the ricotta whey instead of tossing it, and can’t wait for tomorrow’s breakfast of the toasted bread with fresh ricotta and a bit of honey. I only had KA bread flour, but it worked well. Brought one loaf to my granddaughter and am making her guess what ingredients she’s tasting. This is a winner!
Curious about something. I used the total weight/total percentage to adjust the size of the loaf, but then realized that the total weight you have here is 2425 (weight of the ingredients) rather than 1800 (weight of the loaf). Is that because you’re draining out the whey? Is that the way it usually is? I’ve been using the total weight of the bread – maybe I should be adding up total weight of ingredients instead?
Some of the whey is drained, yes, but the total weight of the dough should be 1800g. The weights of the ingredients in the Total Formula table should all add up to 1800g.
Hmm – at the moment, the recipe as published adds up to 1800 g without the polenta, whey and rosemary. If it’s supposed to yield two 900g loaves prebake, something seems to have gotten lost in translation.
I am going to make the Polenta Rosemary bread and have a question about the flour. Due to the Covid-19 situation, all I have available right now is: King Arthur AP flour, King Arthur bread flour, King Arthur Whole Wheat and Some dark ry, and a very small amount of spelt, and small amount of Einkorn flour. Can you recommend a combination of any of these that you would think would work in this recipe? Thanks!
Hi, I tried baking this recipe and found that it needed more time to bake then indicated in the recipe. I baked it for about 45 min after removing the lid on my stoneware container. (I preheated the stoneware in the oven at 450F for an hour, baked it for 20 min with the lid on first). I checked the internal temp of the bread when I took it out and it registered at about 99C, so I assumed it was done. After letting it cool for several hours and slicing into it, the bread seemed a bit dense and wet. There are some air bubbles in the dough but they’re quite small. The dough texture isn’t necessarily gummy but it’s definitely softer, chewier, and more dense compared to your Beginner’s Sourdough Loaf recipe which I’ve also made with success.
Did I do something wrong? Could using a stoneware container with lid (this is the one I used) versus a Dutch oven have affected the bake? Should I have baked it for longer?
As usual, remove the lid after 20 minutes (you can leave it in the oven next to the pan with dough, or take out to cool). I’ll make sure this is clear in the post!
What a great loaf! Followed most of the recipe, except: used whole wheat instead of high mountain, only added half the reserve water. Dough seemed wet, was a sticky mess during slap and fold but improved. DIdn’t seem to have much tension during fold. Did and extra fold. Was loose but held shape a little. Was really worried it would not turn out, but it was great!
i often just add the polenta [or cornmeal] dry into my flour combination [wheat, rye, oats] which yeilds a tasty loaf. usually at about 5-7%–total nonwheat=@12-15%].
if i use cooked polenta in my dough it was a leftover, which there seldom is [we use it like mashed potatoes as a side].
This might be a bit cumbersome, but I’m having some confusion about baker’s percentages as I’m looking to understand inoculation rates. I was always of the understanding that the flour in the levain counts towards the total flour used in the baker’s percentage. But I’m noticing with your calculations that I’ve been doing it wrong.
Ex. I’ve been calculating the total flour for this as 527g+277g+150g+(119/2g)= 1013.5g. But I can see you don’t include the (119/2g) for the levain.
1. Can you explain why the levain flour isn’t included in baker’s percentages?
2. How does that come into play when calculating inoculation rates? I would think that you’d want to include the levain flour because that would show how much flour is pre-fermented.
Megan,
You’re right, in this post I don’t have the “overall formula” table I’ve started including in my more recent posts. I’ve started including this table because it is more clear this way. I need to come back to this post and update it with the full table — I’ll do this sometime soon. Have a look at my website and some of my more recent posts, they now have 3 tables (overall formula which includes everything, the levain build table, and finally, the dough mix table).
Regarding your second question: you certainly do want to include the flour in the levain against the total formula, and I always do, I just didn’t display that in these older posts.
Im making this dough now but I don’t have a strong gluten flour. Every time I try build the gluten, slapping and folding it looks to have the opposite effect, any ideas? Thank you for your blog, its amazing!
Hey, Ana! It might be that your dough is slightly over-hydrated. If you’re still mixing I’d say try adding in just a small bit of flour to see if it helps come together. Don’t add too much, just a little.
If you’re past this point, just give your dough a few more sets of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation. Instead of waiting the first 30 minutes, give it a set 15 minutes after you finish mixing, then 15 minutes after that, then on track with the rest of the schedule. If the dough is still slack after your last set, do one more set after 30 minutes. Essentially we’re adding strength at this point to “make up” for the lack of strengthening upfront.
Next time you try this formula (or any, really) hold back more of the water during mixing. This way you can do some slap/fold in the beginning to strengthen things, then add it in slowly after you return the dough to the bowl, mixing it in with your hands as it looks like it can handle it.
Good Saturday evening! I have this dough bulk fermenting now. I didn’t have the strength for slap and folds so I did a lot of stretch and folds. I let the polenta stay in the water for well over 2 hours and very little water drained off so I held back the last 25 g of water and it’s still a really wet dough. I’ve added one additional stretch and fold so far and may add one more. Holding its shape will be a challenge but I’m so excited to smell it baking and then of course, tasting. Stay tuned.
Update: That is some really wet and hard to manage dough! It’s in the bannetons now and I hope it releases ok tomorrow for the bake, and I also hope they have decent rise as I expect them to completely flatten out when they are turned out. Fingers crossed.
Final Update: Yum! I was so happy that the dough didn’t stick to my bannetons at all. That being said, they spread a lot and didn’t have quite the spring I’d like, but I think that has everything to do with the difficulty I had getting good tension in the dough. For me, it is the perfect amount of rosemary. And I might be in he camp of “a little more corn flavor would be wonderful!” I’m also going to play with this a bit to make a lower hydration and just the tiniest bit of honey.
I used water and not whey this batch, so I can’t speak to that. But this is such a lovely, almost custardy bread with delicate flavors. Delicious! Thank you for the blog post and recipe!
I made the bread with our Maine-grown colorful Abenaki Flint Corn, using all the water from the polenta, and it turned out great. Certainly not for the faint-hearted to handle, it spread like a flounder when I turned it out from the banneton, but developed a very good ovenspring in the Dutch oven. Happy Thanksgiving!
Fantastic to hear that! I wish I had a source for local corn like this, and perhaps I do — I need to take a second look! This bread can be a bit challenging but it’s so, so delicious it’s become a staple bread, especially when I’m baking for others or family meals. Thanks for the feedback and happy Thanksgiving!
Thank so much for this recipe. Living in the U.K, I don’t have access to these flours but made with a high proteins flour. (13.3). I also make my own kefir, so I used that to soak the polenta. I was concerned that the rosemary would over power the other flavours , but found your amounts to be on the subtle side and will increase slightly next time. (Love it so much, I’m making it today). If only I could sort out my oven spring then it would be perfect.
You’re very welcome and I really like your modifications, kefir is a great idea. I do tend to be pretty light handed with the spice additions, rosemary in particular. One other thing with rosemary is that some plants seem to produce more or less potent spice and I find it always needs adjustments.
Hi! Maurizio
The Polenta and Sourdough Rosemary bread was wonderful! What a wonderful, flexible, forgiving recipe! I used my starter made with Bob’s Organic Dark Rye. For the Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour I substituted King Arthur APF 80%, 10% Bob’s Organic Dark Rye, 10% King Arthur Bread Flour.
•For the Central Milling Type 85, I used Bob’s Whole Wheat and King Arthur Bread Flour 50:50
•For the Central Milling High Mountain I substituted King Arthur Bread Flour.
•Autolysis was an hour and I used 3 tsp of Kosher salt and “Farmer Ground” Organic Polenta (New York State grown).
I too was worried that my dough was too wet. ( I usually make my bread and pizza dough with 90% hydration)
•It was in the fridge for about 22 hours before baking.
•The raw wheat germ worked perfectly in my Dutch Oven.
Initially the crust was not very crispy and the bread very flavorful but after 24 hours sitting out it was! Toasted this bread is amazing; the thin crust did taste like cornflakes! .AND with fresh Basil it tastes out of this world. Thank you! I’ve posted on Instagram @roberts19 a photo of the bread on a ceramic plate that I made. Again thank you!
Frances, really glad to hear that this bake went so well! Your flour substitution sound spot on, really nice work. I’ve heard of Farmer Ground, I didn’t know they had polenta for sale as well, that’s fantastic to have a local source! I saw your photo on Instagram — love it (nice plate, too)!
I made this yesterday. Was a bit worried because my dough was super wet, but the loaves came out beautifully! I didn’t have time to make my own ricotta, but bought a good, whole milk alternative and am going to strain out some of the liquid and bring it, the bread and some of my raw honey to a dinner party tonight for a delicious appetizer. I might not want dinner! I cracked open a loaf yesterday and it was the softest, spongiest interior with chewy crumb. I didn’t have fresh rosemary (my plant died after 10 years when we got Winter in Spring…after having Summer in Winter) so i used a very small amount of finely chopped dry. There’s just a slight background taste of it that is very pleasing. Another hit! Thanks Maurizio!
That’s awesome, Gina! The polenta can add quite a bit of water/milk/whey depending on how much it absorbs and how much was cooked off — adjustments can be tough to make at the beginning but with some experimentation some consistency can be had. Dried rosemary would work just fine! My little rosemary-in-a-pot has been a strong grower for some time now and I continue to use it for all things cooking and bread 🙂
Thanks for your wonderful, detailed info and tremendous enthusiasm. I have two quick questions. What alternatives are there to “Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour”? I use King Arthur and flours bought from the local Green Market which are locally sourced. Also have you kept the dough in the refrigerator longer, say 24 hours or 48 hours? Thank you! Frances
I would go with King Arthur All Purpose (or a mix of like 80% ap and 20% KA Bread Flour) as a substitute for Giusto’s ABF. That should work really well.
I’ve never kept my dough longer than 24 hours, but it’s very possible. It all depends on how much fermentation is in the dough by the time you place it into the cold fridge, if there’s still enough “food” for the yeast/bacteria to last for 48 hours then it’ll bake up just fine. The best way to test initially is just try it out and see! Back the proof time off if you see the loaves really struggle to rise in the oven.
This was excellent! Possibly even better than the oatmeal bread (which I made even tastier last time by toasting my oatmeal!) The rosemary was definitely subtle but with strongly seasoned breads it makes it less versatile so I was fine with it
Maurizio, I loved the flavor of this bread, though if I make it again, I would add much more rosemary! Although it didn’t rise the way I would have liked, it was still delicious – always a learning experience. And slap and fold method, boy did that help me work out some issues! 😉 Thanks again for a great recipe.
So glad to hear that, thank ya! I find that sometimes the potency of rosemary can be different depending on the variety and the actual plant, but you’re right, this could definitely be increased. Happy to hear it’s still delicious, I love this one as well 🙂 Happy baking!
I’m relatively new to sourdough (started my starter in August). I’ve made your beginner loaf a number of times now and have made your “favorite” sourdough once too. All with good results. I decided to try this loaf this weekend and OH MY it is fantastic. Took your advice and made the ricotta first and used the whey to make the polenta. Everything about this was fantastic. And I’m so happy to put my rosemary bush to good use! Thank you for this recipe. It is fantastic!
Ha ha, your comments make me so happy, thank you! I’m really glad you took the extra step and made the ricotta too, such a simply thing that adds so much flavor (plus you have awesome cheese to use :)).
thanks. That is what I did, but added no extra water. the dough looks and feels great. In my fridge waiting for the am hot oven! I did add garlic and black pepper. 😉
Get the best heavy cream (whipping cream) you can–preferably pasture-raised (grass-fed), organic. Not ultra pasturized–just pasturized (ultra won’t work). I usually do one quart of that and a big heaping soupspoon (guessing 2-3 tbsp) of my favorite plain yogurt. Put cream in a glass bowl, stir in yogurt, and leave it someplace for 24-36 hours. I’ve made it in warm and cold outside temps but my house is generally around 70-72 and it just sits on a counter during this time with a tea towel on top.
When it tastes more like the yogurt and has thickened, put it in the fridge to chill. Once chilled, churn (easiest done in a food processor with the usual blade–takes no time at all). You’ll know when it’s ready–it breaks and there is butter sitting in buttermilk! Now the weird part: pour off the buttermilk (save it for other things) and then put the solids in a big bowl and wash the butter. You wash the butter by pouring cold water into the bowl and smacking the butter with a wooden or silicon spatula/spoon. Pour off the cloudy water and do it again (force the water through the butter as much as possible). When the water runs clear, you’re ready to salt and shape. I add maybe .25 tsp fine sea salt when I do salt, then I roll it into sticks in parchment paper (put about a third onto parchment, fold it over, and push with the edge of a cutting board and it “self-rolls”).
Thanks for posting that recipe! I’ve never made it but have always wanted to. Now that’s on my to-do list 🙂
Least I can do for all the bread tutoring you’ve given!
Btw, if you have kids, you can put the cultured cream into jars with tight lids and let them shake to churn. I hear they love doing that.
88 Comments
Hi Maurizio – I’ve just made two extremely good loaves following your quantities exactly. The loaves are huge, and having checked the bakers’ percentages in your recipe, I can see that the maths need correcting. First, the ingredients without polenta, whey and rosemary, add up to 1800g, and the bakers’ percentages given for those first ingredients are correct. With the extra ingredients, the total dough weight is 2425g! I also found that the whey was fully absorbed by the polenta I used, and none drained away – so I have concluded that the whey fully contributed to the hydration. Anyway, I’ve just cut the first slice, and eating it as I type – stunning – one of the best loaves (after hundreds) I’ve made – so thank you so much! Lesson learnt, don’t worry about the maths, just trust and follow Maurizio’s recipes – ciao! Simon in London.
Yes, I need to go back and revamp the printout for this recipe. Will work on this soon! So glad they worked out for you, though. Cheers, mate!
Do you notice a big difference when adding the polenta after an initial gluten development versus with the flour at the initial mix? Might the cooked polenta have the potential to interfere with proper gluten development if added too early? It’s been a while since I’ve used polenta in dough and I haven’t had the chance to do a side by side experiment yet, but I have certainly experienced this phenomenon when adding purple sweet potatoes at the first mix versus waiting till after a fermentolyse or autolyse stage. I recall being so bummed at the dough that it wasn’t coming together like normal, then realized what I did differently. Such a small change created such a big difference….possibly because of the sugars in the baked sweet potato? But what about other cooked starches, like potato? Would a yudane mixture also interfere with gluten development? Most people I see adding yudane with the initial mix, but could it be best to add it after some development? The problem I run into here is if the yudane is holding a lot of the water of the recipe….like if I’m using a large percentage of oatmeal porridge where the oats need a lot of water to be fully cooked. So I don’t know if I should be adding it early or later…..which road is best? One could also see this issue if using 100% (bakers percentage) or more of cooked potato.
Thank you so much for your time and thoughts! This question has been bugging me…..in addition to fats, what ingredients possibly interfere with proper development.
Yea, I definitely like to add ingredients like this after the gluten has been developed, it will interfere to a degree.
I have a mill and wondering it I can make polenta coarse Ground but will retain all the bran. How will that turn out you think? Maybe a bit more water to hydrate the corn
I think it would be awesome, Robin!
I had great luck with this bread — probably the best ear I’ve ever achieved, and delicious taste. I make yogurt frequently, and have been looking for a way to use the whey 😉 Thank you for a terrific recipe!
So glad to hear this, Janet!
Hi Maurizio,
What’s a good substitute for the Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour? Is there a combination of All Purpose and Bread Flour I could use?
Thanks,
Abby
Hey, Abby! I’d probably go with 20% high protein bread flour, 80% medium protein.
Oh, how sad – I just took the lid off and the bread didn’t spring up at all, it’s pretty flat. 🙁 I think it might be that even though I drained the polenta it was still pretty goopy. I would love a recipe for rosemary sourdough that didn’t involve polenta. Do you think I could modify your olive tartine or the walnut cranberry bread to be rosemary with olive oil? Those loaves generally succeed wonderfully for me. Thanks.
Yes, that would absolutely work, Ariela! I’d start with 1-2% rosemary added to either of those loaves—they’ll be delicious! Sorry to hear about the polenta here. It can be a bit tricky working with the porridge and working it in.
Thanks Mauricio. Turns out, it was the starter! After baking successfully for more than a year, I had somehow killed it. Mold got on the edge. I ended up tossing that starter and taking a new one from my friend Beth. Since then I’ve made your seeded semolina, which came out incredible, and your olive tartine, which came out amazing. I’m going to try making a plain rosemary tartine with a drop of olive oil in it. Wish me luck.
Ah, yikes! Sorry to hear that. Glad you’re back on track now and have been working out some great loaves! Have fun, rosemary + OO is classic—it’s going to be delicious.
Confirmed, it’s delicious!
Super glad to hear that, Ariela! I had a feeling 🙂 Enjoy!
Quite often I have questions while I’m in the middle of mixing and don’t take the time to read all the comments. That’s said I don’t see my question asked yet. I drained my polenta a little longer and quite a bit of liquid came out so my dough wasn’t as soupy as some bakers have mentioned. I’m in the fermenting stage right now so I don’t know how it will turn out but I’m wondering what will happen if my bread didn’t have enough hydration (and how to tell if that is the case). I used all the water called for and poured a little of the milk/water drained from the polenta during the salt & polenta mix in stage. If you see this soon should I do anything different during the stretch and fold stage… I will bake tomorrow morning, should I alter the baking time if there is less hydration than you recommended?
I’ve never liked the texture of cooked polenta, but I love the taste, so this bread intrigues me. My dough was very smooth and strong before I added the corn (I used medium-grind cornmeal), but then it completely fell apart and no amount of mixing could get it to come back together. I was pretty disappointed, but I absolutely did not want to throw away the dough, so I figured that I should just leave it and see if I could make some sort of focaccia. I came back to it about 20 minutes later, and somehow, that bowl of chunky soup turned itself into a smooth, manageable dough. It’s still a high hydration dough, but it’s definitely something I can work with. Now I’m really excited to see how this turns out!
Yes, that’s very typical! That corn holds a lot of water and can make things difficult. That’s why I like to start with a drier dough, to be on the safe side. Glad it came back together! I hope it turned out delicious 🙂
Is it possible to print this recipe?
I’m currently going through my recipes adding in the function—sorry for the delay!
Hi there, I made the tartine version of this loaf and followed it to a tea along with your recommendations as well. Bulk fermentation lasted 3 hours In the oven with the light on with folds in the first two hours. I let it rest in the banneton for 4 hours on my counter and I baked it the same day. When I came to transfer it to my challenger bread pan, it flattened out. This has been happening a lot lately, regardless of the recipe I use. I’ve even done a side by side comparison using a ceramic pan with high sides and get a great rise, but I haven’t yet achieved it with the challenger. Any idea where I’m going wrong?
Hey there! Could be many things… Could be over hydrated and/or under strengthened dough, or it could be over proofing. It could even be a dough that isn’t shaped tightly enough!
That might contribute to a lack of initial oven spring. My feeling is either it wasn’t shaped tightly enough, or the dough slightly over proofed.
Wish I came across this recipe earlier! I’ve taken 5 swings at the polenta-rosemary-toasted pumpkin seeds recipe from Tartine. My first attempt came out great, but since I’ve switched flours, to my dismay I end up with near-soup at the end of every attempt. It’s surprising because I was using KAF bread flour before, and now I’m using a local half-white bread flour, which I’d expect to be at least as strong.
This recipe sounds promising, and I appreciate the callout on how the polenta releases its water during bulk (makes so much sense now). Regarding the flours used here — I don’t typically have such a variety of flours lying around. Instead of using the Central Milling ones, can I substitute the bread + whole wheat recommendation for the T85, and whole wheat for the High Mountain?
Thank you again for sharing!
Yes, that’ll work well! Yea, it sounds like your dough was likely over hydrated. Definitely hold back some of the liquid in mixing and only add in if the dough looks like it can handle it!
Hi Maurizio! We were able to grow some corn this summer. Many of the ears were not filled out, so I dried them. I like to roast the whole kernels, cool them and then grind for porridge. I can’t wait to try this for this loaf! Thanks for such great recipes.
That’s just amazing, Jay! I was going to grow some corn this year but I got a late start. Planning to give it a shot next year, and I’ll likely follow your lead here, this is one of my favorite breads! Happy baking 🙂
I’ve got leftover cooked polenta. Anybody know the weight of the cooked polenta in the mix? I assume it’s not just 170 g + 445 g as some of the liquid cooks off and some is sieved away.
I’ve challenged myself to bake something different each week, and today’s choice was the Polenta and Rosemary sourdough. The rosemary and polenta are both subtle flavors and the loaf is a yummy combination of creamy crumb and crispy crust. I was so excited to use the ricotta whey instead of tossing it, and can’t wait for tomorrow’s breakfast of the toasted bread with fresh ricotta and a bit of honey. I only had KA bread flour, but it worked well. Brought one loaf to my granddaughter and am making her guess what ingredients she’s tasting. This is a winner!
So happy to hear this loaf worked out well for you, Susan! It’s wonderful reusing the whey when making ricotta, and healthy too! Enjoy 🙂
Curious about something. I used the total weight/total percentage to adjust the size of the loaf, but then realized that the total weight you have here is 2425 (weight of the ingredients) rather than 1800 (weight of the loaf). Is that because you’re draining out the whey? Is that the way it usually is? I’ve been using the total weight of the bread – maybe I should be adding up total weight of ingredients instead?
Some of the whey is drained, yes, but the total weight of the dough should be 1800g. The weights of the ingredients in the Total Formula table should all add up to 1800g.
Hmm – at the moment, the recipe as published adds up to 1800 g without the polenta, whey and rosemary. If it’s supposed to yield two 900g loaves prebake, something seems to have gotten lost in translation.
I am going to make the Polenta Rosemary bread and have a question about the flour. Due to the Covid-19 situation, all I have available right now is: King Arthur AP flour, King Arthur bread flour, King Arthur Whole Wheat and Some dark ry, and a very small amount of spelt, and small amount of Einkorn flour. Can you recommend a combination of any of these that you would think would work in this recipe? Thanks!
My oven doesn’t provide such high temeperatures. How will a lower temp (max 240 celsius), impact the preheating am baking? Thanks!
That temp should be jsut fine!
Hi, I tried baking this recipe and found that it needed more time to bake then indicated in the recipe. I baked it for about 45 min after removing the lid on my stoneware container. (I preheated the stoneware in the oven at 450F for an hour, baked it for 20 min with the lid on first). I checked the internal temp of the bread when I took it out and it registered at about 99C, so I assumed it was done. After letting it cool for several hours and slicing into it, the bread seemed a bit dense and wet. There are some air bubbles in the dough but they’re quite small. The dough texture isn’t necessarily gummy but it’s definitely softer, chewier, and more dense compared to your Beginner’s Sourdough Loaf recipe which I’ve also made with success.
Did I do something wrong? Could using a stoneware container with lid (this is the one I used) versus a Dutch oven have affected the bake? Should I have baked it for longer?
Hi, do you remove the lid after the first 20 mins? Or bake the entire time with lid on? Thanks!
As usual, remove the lid after 20 minutes (you can leave it in the oven next to the pan with dough, or take out to cool). I’ll make sure this is clear in the post!
What a great loaf! Followed most of the recipe, except: used whole wheat instead of high mountain, only added half the reserve water. Dough seemed wet, was a sticky mess during slap and fold but improved. DIdn’t seem to have much tension during fold. Did and extra fold. Was loose but held shape a little. Was really worried it would not turn out, but it was great!
Glad to hear that, John! Thanks so much for that feedback 🙂
i often just add the polenta [or cornmeal] dry into my flour combination [wheat, rye, oats] which yeilds a tasty loaf. usually at about 5-7%–total nonwheat=@12-15%].
if i use cooked polenta in my dough it was a leftover, which there seldom is [we use it like mashed potatoes as a side].
That’s another way to go!
This might be a bit cumbersome, but I’m having some confusion about baker’s percentages as I’m looking to understand inoculation rates. I was always of the understanding that the flour in the levain counts towards the total flour used in the baker’s percentage. But I’m noticing with your calculations that I’ve been doing it wrong.
Ex. I’ve been calculating the total flour for this as 527g+277g+150g+(119/2g)= 1013.5g. But I can see you don’t include the (119/2g) for the levain.
1. Can you explain why the levain flour isn’t included in baker’s percentages?
2. How does that come into play when calculating inoculation rates? I would think that you’d want to include the levain flour because that would show how much flour is pre-fermented.
Thank you for your help!
Megan,
You’re right, in this post I don’t have the “overall formula” table I’ve started including in my more recent posts. I’ve started including this table because it is more clear this way. I need to come back to this post and update it with the full table — I’ll do this sometime soon. Have a look at my website and some of my more recent posts, they now have 3 tables (overall formula which includes everything, the levain build table, and finally, the dough mix table).
Regarding your second question: you certainly do want to include the flour in the levain against the total formula, and I always do, I just didn’t display that in these older posts.
Sorry for the confusion!
Thank you so much for explaining that!
Im making this dough now but I don’t have a strong gluten flour. Every time I try build the gluten, slapping and folding it looks to have the opposite effect, any ideas? Thank you for your blog, its amazing!
Hey, Ana! It might be that your dough is slightly over-hydrated. If you’re still mixing I’d say try adding in just a small bit of flour to see if it helps come together. Don’t add too much, just a little.
If you’re past this point, just give your dough a few more sets of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation. Instead of waiting the first 30 minutes, give it a set 15 minutes after you finish mixing, then 15 minutes after that, then on track with the rest of the schedule. If the dough is still slack after your last set, do one more set after 30 minutes. Essentially we’re adding strength at this point to “make up” for the lack of strengthening upfront.
Next time you try this formula (or any, really) hold back more of the water during mixing. This way you can do some slap/fold in the beginning to strengthen things, then add it in slowly after you return the dough to the bowl, mixing it in with your hands as it looks like it can handle it.
Keep me posted!
Good Saturday evening! I have this dough bulk fermenting now. I didn’t have the strength for slap and folds so I did a lot of stretch and folds. I let the polenta stay in the water for well over 2 hours and very little water drained off so I held back the last 25 g of water and it’s still a really wet dough. I’ve added one additional stretch and fold so far and may add one more. Holding its shape will be a challenge but I’m so excited to smell it baking and then of course, tasting. Stay tuned.
Update: That is some really wet and hard to manage dough! It’s in the bannetons now and I hope it releases ok tomorrow for the bake, and I also hope they have decent rise as I expect them to completely flatten out when they are turned out. Fingers crossed.
Final Update: Yum! I was so happy that the dough didn’t stick to my bannetons at all. That being said, they spread a lot and didn’t have quite the spring I’d like, but I think that has everything to do with the difficulty I had getting good tension in the dough. For me, it is the perfect amount of rosemary. And I might be in he camp of “a little more corn flavor would be wonderful!” I’m also going to play with this a bit to make a lower hydration and just the tiniest bit of honey.
I used water and not whey this batch, so I can’t speak to that. But this is such a lovely, almost custardy bread with delicate flavors. Delicious! Thank you for the blog post and recipe!
I made the bread with our Maine-grown colorful Abenaki Flint Corn, using all the water from the polenta, and it turned out great. Certainly not for the faint-hearted to handle, it spread like a flounder when I turned it out from the banneton, but developed a very good ovenspring in the Dutch oven. Happy Thanksgiving!
Fantastic to hear that! I wish I had a source for local corn like this, and perhaps I do — I need to take a second look! This bread can be a bit challenging but it’s so, so delicious it’s become a staple bread, especially when I’m baking for others or family meals. Thanks for the feedback and happy Thanksgiving!
My husband and I love your breads 🙂
Thank you!
Thank so much for this recipe. Living in the U.K, I don’t have access to these flours but made with a high proteins flour. (13.3). I also make my own kefir, so I used that to soak the polenta. I was concerned that the rosemary would over power the other flavours , but found your amounts to be on the subtle side and will increase slightly next time. (Love it so much, I’m making it today). If only I could sort out my oven spring then it would be perfect.
P
You’re very welcome and I really like your modifications, kefir is a great idea. I do tend to be pretty light handed with the spice additions, rosemary in particular. One other thing with rosemary is that some plants seem to produce more or less potent spice and I find it always needs adjustments.
Happy baking!
Hi! Maurizio
The Polenta and Sourdough Rosemary bread was wonderful! What a wonderful, flexible, forgiving recipe! I used my starter made with Bob’s Organic Dark Rye. For the Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour I substituted King Arthur APF 80%, 10% Bob’s Organic Dark Rye, 10% King Arthur Bread Flour.
•For the Central Milling Type 85, I used Bob’s Whole Wheat and King Arthur Bread Flour 50:50
•For the Central Milling High Mountain I substituted King Arthur Bread Flour.
•Autolysis was an hour and I used 3 tsp of Kosher salt and “Farmer Ground” Organic Polenta (New York State grown).
I too was worried that my dough was too wet. ( I usually make my bread and pizza dough with 90% hydration)
•It was in the fridge for about 22 hours before baking.
•The raw wheat germ worked perfectly in my Dutch Oven.
Initially the crust was not very crispy and the bread very flavorful but after 24 hours sitting out it was! Toasted this bread is amazing; the thin crust did taste like cornflakes! .AND with fresh Basil it tastes out of this world. Thank you! I’ve posted on Instagram @roberts19 a photo of the bread on a ceramic plate that I made. Again thank you!
Frances, really glad to hear that this bake went so well! Your flour substitution sound spot on, really nice work. I’ve heard of Farmer Ground, I didn’t know they had polenta for sale as well, that’s fantastic to have a local source! I saw your photo on Instagram — love it (nice plate, too)!
Happy baking!
I made this yesterday. Was a bit worried because my dough was super wet, but the loaves came out beautifully! I didn’t have time to make my own ricotta, but bought a good, whole milk alternative and am going to strain out some of the liquid and bring it, the bread and some of my raw honey to a dinner party tonight for a delicious appetizer. I might not want dinner! I cracked open a loaf yesterday and it was the softest, spongiest interior with chewy crumb. I didn’t have fresh rosemary (my plant died after 10 years when we got Winter in Spring…after having Summer in Winter) so i used a very small amount of finely chopped dry. There’s just a slight background taste of it that is very pleasing. Another hit! Thanks Maurizio!
That’s awesome, Gina! The polenta can add quite a bit of water/milk/whey depending on how much it absorbs and how much was cooked off — adjustments can be tough to make at the beginning but with some experimentation some consistency can be had. Dried rosemary would work just fine! My little rosemary-in-a-pot has been a strong grower for some time now and I continue to use it for all things cooking and bread 🙂
Thanks for the update and happy baking!
Hi! Maurizio,
Thank you! That’s kind of what I was thinking regarding the Giusto ABF and the refrige time. I hope to try baking this weekend.
Cheers!
Hope the bake went well!
HI! Maurizio
Thanks for your wonderful, detailed info and tremendous enthusiasm. I have two quick questions. What alternatives are there to “Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour”? I use King Arthur and flours bought from the local Green Market which are locally sourced. Also have you kept the dough in the refrigerator longer, say 24 hours or 48 hours? Thank you! Frances
I would go with King Arthur All Purpose (or a mix of like 80% ap and 20% KA Bread Flour) as a substitute for Giusto’s ABF. That should work really well.
I’ve never kept my dough longer than 24 hours, but it’s very possible. It all depends on how much fermentation is in the dough by the time you place it into the cold fridge, if there’s still enough “food” for the yeast/bacteria to last for 48 hours then it’ll bake up just fine. The best way to test initially is just try it out and see! Back the proof time off if you see the loaves really struggle to rise in the oven.
Hope that helps and happy baking!
This was excellent! Possibly even better than the oatmeal bread (which I made even tastier last time by toasting my oatmeal!) The rosemary was definitely subtle but with strongly seasoned breads it makes it less versatile so I was fine with it
Thanks for the feedback, Alexis! Really glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe. I agree, to me this is just the right amount of rosemary 🙂 Happy baking!
Maurizio, I loved the flavor of this bread, though if I make it again, I would add much more rosemary! Although it didn’t rise the way I would have liked, it was still delicious – always a learning experience. And slap and fold method, boy did that help me work out some issues! 😉 Thanks again for a great recipe.
So glad to hear that, thank ya! I find that sometimes the potency of rosemary can be different depending on the variety and the actual plant, but you’re right, this could definitely be increased. Happy to hear it’s still delicious, I love this one as well 🙂 Happy baking!
I’m relatively new to sourdough (started my starter in August). I’ve made your beginner loaf a number of times now and have made your “favorite” sourdough once too. All with good results. I decided to try this loaf this weekend and OH MY it is fantastic. Took your advice and made the ricotta first and used the whey to make the polenta. Everything about this was fantastic. And I’m so happy to put my rosemary bush to good use! Thank you for this recipe. It is fantastic!
Ha ha, your comments make me so happy, thank you! I’m really glad you took the extra step and made the ricotta too, such a simply thing that adds so much flavor (plus you have awesome cheese to use :)).
Love it, thanks Rebecca and happy baking!
Ok I just don`t see when to add the Levain? Is it added to the dough before the slap and fold?
Sorry about the typo! I’ve updated the post but add the levain in at the beginning of the Mix step.
thanks. That is what I did, but added no extra water. the dough looks and feels great. In my fridge waiting for the am hot oven! I did add garlic and black pepper. 😉
thank you!
Do you ever make cultured butter? Incredibly easy and so much more flavorful. If you like buttermilk, you get that too.
Do you have a recipe to follow for this? Very curious to start culturing butter.
Get the best heavy cream (whipping cream) you can–preferably pasture-raised (grass-fed), organic. Not ultra pasturized–just pasturized (ultra won’t work). I usually do one quart of that and a big heaping soupspoon (guessing 2-3 tbsp) of my favorite plain yogurt. Put cream in a glass bowl, stir in yogurt, and leave it someplace for 24-36 hours. I’ve made it in warm and cold outside temps but my house is generally around 70-72 and it just sits on a counter during this time with a tea towel on top.
When it tastes more like the yogurt and has thickened, put it in the fridge to chill. Once chilled, churn (easiest done in a food processor with the usual blade–takes no time at all). You’ll know when it’s ready–it breaks and there is butter sitting in buttermilk! Now the weird part: pour off the buttermilk (save it for other things) and then put the solids in a big bowl and wash the butter. You wash the butter by pouring cold water into the bowl and smacking the butter with a wooden or silicon spatula/spoon. Pour off the cloudy water and do it again (force the water through the butter as much as possible). When the water runs clear, you’re ready to salt and shape. I add maybe .25 tsp fine sea salt when I do salt, then I roll it into sticks in parchment paper (put about a third onto parchment, fold it over, and push with the edge of a cutting board and it “self-rolls”).
Thanks for posting that recipe! I’ve never made it but have always wanted to. Now that’s on my to-do list 🙂
Least I can do for all the bread tutoring you’ve given!
Btw, if you have kids, you can put the cultured cream into jars with tight lids and let them shake to churn. I hear they love doing that.
I do have a young son and this is a great idea!