Posted on 21 Comments

Coffee Sourdough Loaf

Do you like coffee? How about making a sourdough loaf with coffee instead of water as a hydrating agent?

I baked the first loaf for my friend, she loves coffee.

While I was baking this loaf, my entire house de smelled like a coffee shop. So of course I wanted to bake another loaf for myself. And oh em gee… I loved it. So much loved it!

Ingredients

Sourdough starter 

Dough

  • 270g bread flour (90%)
  • 30g whole wheat flour (10%)
  • 207g brewed coffee, cold(69%)
  • 21g (7%) cold brewed coffee, added along with salt. Total hydration 76%
  • 60g levain (20%)
  • 6g salt (2%)
  • 10g honey (3%)
  • 100 g of coffee grinds (for coating, optional if you would like extra coffee flavor)

Directions 

Starter

  • 7 am add starter to the water and whisk together, add flour, mix well, cover loosely, let it sit at room temperature 74-78F until in about 8-10 hours starter reaches its peak (triples or more in volume). Learn how to make starter from scratch here.

Dough

  • 5 pm mix all flour with brewed cold coffee and cover, let it rest for 1 hour to complete the autolyse.
  • During the autolyse process the flour will become fully hydrated. This activates gluten development.
  • 6 pm add sourdough starter.
  • Mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 minutes, or KitchenAid on speed 3 for 3-4 minutes until well incorporated. 
  • Also if for some reason you don’t have a mixing machine, you can incorporate starter into the dough by hands. Using Rubaud method or slap and fold method (about 5-7 min).
  • Cover, let it rest for 30 minutes.
  • 6:30 pm add salt, honey and extra brewed coffee. 
  • The process of adding extra liquid is called bassinage, it helps to tighten up gluten. Mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 min, or with KitchenAid on speed 3 for 5-6 minutes until well incorporated. The dough should come up together, but still be sticky on the bottom.
  • Please note, if you perform mixing by hands, using Rubaud method or slap and fold method, that takes about 10 minutes. Do a couple of stops in between kneading, it helps tightening up gluten.
  • Continue gluten development and structure building by performing stretches and folds during the warm fermentation period.
  • Leave to rest 30 min. At 74-78F /23-26C.
  • 7 pm wet your hands and perform 1st stretch and fold.
  • 7:45pm 2nd stretch and fold.
  • 8:30 pm 3rd stretch and fold.
  • 9:15 pm 4th stretch and fold.

Performing stretches and folds helps with gluten development. Keep monitoring the dough, if it rises too fast, you can shorten the time between stretches to 40 minutes or less.

  • After the final stretch let the dough proof for 30 minutes at 76-80F/ 23-26C. You should see some bubbles on the surface, the dough has to become lighter. We are looking for 50-60% rise. 

Preshaping Sourdough

  • 9:45 pm Transfer the dough on to a work surface and dust its top with flour. Flip the dough over so the floured side faces down. 
  • Fold the dough onto itself so the flour on the surface remains entirely on the outside of the loaf. This will become the crust. 
  • Place the dough round on a work surface and let it rest for 30 minutes uncovered.

Shaping Sourdough

  • 10:15 pm dust the dough with flour. Use a dough scraper to flip it over on to a work surface so the floured side faces down. 
  • Starting at the side closest to you, pull the right 2 corners of the dough to the left, then fold them up into half of the dough. Repeat this action on the left side too.
  • Finally, roll the dough. Shape it into a smooth, taut roll.
  • Spray it generously with water and roll it in the fine grind coffee (optional, if you would like extra coffee flavor).
  • Transfer the roll, seam side up, into a prepared proofing basket (loaf pan with kitchen towel).
  • Cover it with plastic and return the dough to the 80F (27C) environment for 15 minutes. 
  • Then transfer the dough to rise for 14-24 hours in refrigerator.

Baking

  • Preheat your oven to 500 F, place an iron pan with the lid inside for 45 minutes – 1 hour.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge. 
  • Flip it over on a parchment paper, score it with a sharp knife or a scoring lame
  • Transfer it on to the hot cast iron pan, cover with lid (to create steam for a beautiful and crusty crumb).
  • Bake at 500F for 15 minutes with lid on.
  • Remove the lid, lower the temperature to 450F. 
  • Bake for 20 more minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy your coffee sourdough loaf.

21 thoughts on “Coffee Sourdough Loaf

  1. Наташа, спасибо большое за рецепт. У меня вопрос: сегодня испекла буханочку по рецепту «идеальная формула». Корочка получилась толстая и очень твёрдая. И ещё на полбуханки одна большая дырка :))) Я допустила ошибки: в холодильнике хлеб стоял 8 Часов всего, и замес делала на 4 буханочки сразу ( увеличила формулу в 4 раза) . Что, возможно, ещё я сделала не так? Спасибо вам за ваш журнал и рецепты. Жду с нетерпением моей самой вкусной буханочки:)))

  2. I was thrilled to try this as soon as you posted it. Fed my starter last night to get her nice and lively, and then made the levain this morning with the 5g starter as indicated above. But it’s incredibly dry, I had to add a bit of extra water juts to get it to ball up, now I have no reason to doubt you after the success of the pretzel bites, but I can’t say I’m not dubious that the 5g+30g+5g will be enough to feed this whole loaf.

    Am I doing it right?

    thanks,
    Brneo

    1. Where is 35g of water in your formula? Here is the recipe:

      Sourdough starter
      5g sourdough starter
      35g water
      30g all purpose flour or bread flour
      5g rye flour

      1. I see 35g water in the formula

    2. Hi!
      Sorry it didn’t work out for you.
      My starter is super active that’s why I’m sharing ratio 1:7:7
      For the starter proportions you have to follow your starter’s regular ratio. Then it definitely will work.

  3. Hi Natasha.. I’ve got my coffee sourdough started right now! Just waiting for my autolyse to complete.. Looks like a fun loaf to try and I love your recipes. I had to laugh at the one notation about mixing in the starter.. “If for some reason you don’t have a mixer”… That’s me! I don’t have a mixer.. and I really don’t have any reason not to have one! hahaha

    1. Judy, hi!
      I didn’t have mixer for a long time. And sometimes it’s even better to mix the dough by hands, then you can feel it better 🙏 good luck 🙏

  4. Hi..
    I made this yesterday. Its looks and tastes amazing… cant believe you come up with such amazing bread ideas.. I have tried your chocolate, turmeric, semolina and now this..
    Will tag you on insta once I post it..
    Thank you so much

    1. Thank you so much! Really appreciate your feedback 🙏

  5. Thanks for the great recipe Natalya! It worked out great with a Swiss Bread flour („Ruchmehl“) which is a bit darker but with a slightly higher amount of gluten than normal flour.

    1. Thank you for sharing! Glad you liked it 🙏

  6. Can I do this without the rye flour? My starter is just regular flour and water. Do I have to alter the amount of flour if I don’t use rye? Thank you!

    1. Sure, replace it with regular flour

  7. Dear Natalya, thanks for sharing this awesome recipe. After baking your rye bread ( on your Instagram highlights) that was perfect I tried this one step by step and it turned out beautiful and perfect which made me intrigued to bake again without getting disappointed. Thank you 🙏🏻.

  8. Wonder how it would affect things if the coffee grounds were mixed into the dough instead of on the surface?

    1. I think it’s a brilliant idea.
      I have to try it .
      Thank you 🙏

  9. Hi Natasha! Love your site! Here’s a question: when baking in a Dutch oven, do you have a suggestion as to how to achieve an edible bottom crust? Despite trying things such as slight underbaking and putting a baking steel on the shelf under the Dutch oven, and the bottom crust looks like it’s not burned, it’s still very hard to cut and very chewy.

    1. Carol, hi!
      Try to put foil under parchment paper.
      It might help.

  10. Do you think that it would work out if I let the dough rise at room temperature for eight hours rather than in the refrigerator for 14 to 24 hours?

    1. After shaping let it proof in a basket for 2-3 hours, then bake.

  11. I weighed all my flour water coffee and it was like soup. I did use my regular starter which is 1:1:1 ratio. What did I do wrong?

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