Malted Sourdough with Dried Cranberries

This incredible recipe was shared with me by a talented baker Zabavnikov Ivan.

Malted sourdough turned out so good, I absolutely had to share the recipe with you my friends.

It is lightly sweet from malt and cranberries and has a fragrant and elegant flavor.

Ingredients

Sourdough starter 

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

Soaker

• 25g rye malt 
• 25g  rye flour 
• 75g hot boiling water

Main Dough 

• 120g soaker
• 70g sourdough starter
• 280g bread flour
• 20g whole wheat flour
• 180g water + 25g water added along with salt
• 8g salt
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions 

Day 1

• 10 pm 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 (doubles or triples in volume). You can learn how to make starter from scratch here.

Soaker 

• 10 pm add hot boiling water to the rye flour and malt and whisk together. You should get a thick paste consistency. If you feel there is a need for more water, go for it. 
• Soaker has to stay at 149F/65С temperature for 9-12 hours. This process will make starches break into sugar, which will give a nice and deep color as well as special sweetness to rye bread.

Note: in order to keep soaker warm for extended period of time I used a small lunch thermos. If you don’t have a thermos, mix soaker in a regular bowl, preheat the oven to 350F, turn it off, cover the soaker with plastic wrap, place it into warm oven with light on and keep it there overnight.

• 

• 

• 

Dough

• 6 am mix soaker, water and flour, cover, let it rest 1 hour for autolyse.
• During the autolyse the flour absorbs the water, becoming fully hydrated. This will activate gluten development.
• 7 am add sourdough starter. 
• Mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 min, or KitchenAid on speed 3 for 3-4 min until well incorporated.
• Cover, let rest for 30 min.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 7:30 am add salt and extra water. 
• The process of adding extra water 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 min until well incorporated. The dough should come up together, but still be sticky on the bottom.
• We will 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.
• 8 am spray your work surface with water, wet your hands to perform lamination.

• 

• 

• Lamination is the process of stretching the dough as thin as you can without ripping it.
• Spread dried cranberries all over the dough, fold and it let rest for 45 minutes.
• 8:45 am 1st stretch and fold.
• 9:30 am 2nd stretch and fold.
• 10:15 am 3rd stretch and fold.

Performing stretches and folds will help 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% rise. 

• 

• 

Preshaping sourdough 

• 10:45 am 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 

• 11:15 am dust the dough with flour. Use a dough scraper to flip it over on to a work surface so the floured sides face down.
• Starting with 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 with the other side too.
• Finally, roll the dough. Shape it into a smooth, taut roll.
• Transfer the roll, seam side up, to 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 the refrigerator.

• 

• 

Baking

Next morning

• Preheat your oven to 500 F, place a cast 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 on to the hot cast iron pan, cover with the lid (to create steam for a beautiful and crusty crumb).
• Bake at 500F for 15 minutes with lid on.
• Remove the lid, lower temperature to 450F. 
• Bake for 20 more minutes until golden brown.

• 

• 

• 

Enjoy