Time for a nice sourdough bread with sesame and poppy seeds. We already had one with poppy seeds and one with sesame but none with both! Why? No idea, so here we go!

Seeds are super tasty and healthy, using them can provide a whole new flavour to your sourdough bread and change the texture. It is a nice way of playing around and we just like the taste of both seeds.

Things to know before you start

Time Schedule

After about 16 hours you will have a beautiful and tasty sourdough bread with sesame and poppy seeds.

Total ingredients

You will have a dough of about 880 g in total (sesame and poppy seeds not included).

Make sure to have a mature sourdough starter that is active and healthy. If you think your starter is not, then you can add 2 g of fresh yeast to help with the rise.

Difficulty

A simple recipe for a sourdough bread with sesame and poppy seeds.

Have a look at our sourdough bread for beginners recipe that contains a lot of details for the different steps you will be executing here.

Baking tools

A round banneton proofing basket is recommended for a nice round shape.

You can also have a look at our should have baking tools to find some more baking tools we are constantly using.

Steps

1. Mix

• Mix all of the mentioned ingredients in a stand mixer for 5 minutes on speed level one and 8 minutes on speed level two
• The dough should be smooth after mixing and not stick to the bowl a lot

2. Bulk Fermentation, Stretch & Fold

• Cover the dough and let it rest for a total of 2,5 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)
• During that time stretch & fold the dough every 30 minutes (3 times in total) and after the 3rd time, let it ferment further for 1 hour until 2,5 hours are reached in total
• After each stretch and fold put it back to the bowl and cover it again so it doesn’t dry out

3. Pre-shape

• Get the dough in shape by roughly rounding it
• Afterwards look for a dry spot on your surface and flour it
• Transfer the pre-shaped dough ball on the floured surface
• Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 15 minutes
• Tip: If you realize that the dough starts sticking to your hand or bench knife, just clean the bench knife of any dough and flour it a bit again

4. Shape

• Shape your dough by rounding it
• Afterwards dip your hands in water and damp the top and sides of the dough with them
• Now take the sesame and poppy seeds and sprinkle them all over the top and sides of the dough

5. Proof

• Dust your proofing basket with all-purpose flour
• Put your previously shaped dough seam-side-up in the dusted proofing basket
• Let it proof for 10 to 12 hours in the fridge at 5-8°C (41-46,4°F)

6. Proof

• Cover a pizza peel with parchment paper
• Take your proofed dough out of the fridge
• Gently take your dough out of the proofing basket by flipping it upside down on the pizza peel
• With a bread lame make a cross cut (about 2-3 cm deep) on top of the dough

7. Bake

• Preheat oven to 250°C (482°F) for ~45 minutes with the upper and lower heat function
• Put the loaf in the oven, create steam and bake for 40 minutes
• After 10 minutes lower the temperature to 220°C (428°F), let the steam out by opening the oven door for ~45 seconds and close it again

8. Cool

• Let your sourdough bread with sesame and poppy seeds cool for 2 hours on some kind of grid

Conclusion

Crust

Crumb

You can tell that this bread has a higher hydration of about 70% as the crumb is quite soft, smooth and a little moist.

Taste

To summarize the taste one could say it is mostly mild. The seeds on the crust are a nice addition to the soft and smooth crumb. The typical sourdough taste is very light. When chewing this bread or adding butter, it is almost creamy which is really nice.

Goes good with

This lovely mild sourdough bread can be combined with everything. It is very nice with cream cheese and a little marmalade (raspberry or strawberry) on top. Honey and butter is a great combination for this bread too.

Gallery

The title says it all: This is a very special recipe, the 100th we are sharing on this Mastering Baking with you! As this is a special occasion, we also wanted to do something special.

We already had the dough in different twisted shapes or cut in many different ways so we thought the 100th recipe is a reason to go big – and that’s what we did!

This beauty is a big sourdough bread of 2 kg in the shape of our logo! Of course it is not only looking good but also super delicious too!

Things to know before you start

Time Schedule

In about 11 hours you will have a tasty and very big sourdough bread.

Total ingredients

You will have a dough of about 2.018 g in total.

Make sure to have a mature sourdough starter that is active and healthy. If you think your starter is not, then you can add 3 g of fresh yeast to help with the rise.

Difficulty

A simple recipe for a big sourdough bread with about 60% hydration and therefore an easy to handle dough, even if it is so big.

Feel free to check out our sourdough bread for beginners recipe that contains a lot of details for the different steps you will be executing here.

Baking tools

A big oval banneton proofing basket is needed for this much dough to get it in a good oval shape.

You can also have a look at our should have baking tools to find some more baking tools we are constantly using.

Steps

1. Mix

• Mix all of the mentioned ingredients in a stand mixer for 5 minutes on speed level one and 7 minutes on speed level two
• The dough should be smooth after mixing and not stick to the bowl a lot

2. Bulk Fermentation, Stretch & Fold

• Cover the dough and let it rest for a total of 2,5 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)
• During that time stretch & fold the dough every 30 minutes (3 times in total) and after the 3rd time, let it ferment further for 1 hour until 2,5 hours are reached in total
• After each stretch and fold put it back to the bowl and cover it again so it doesn’t dry out

3. Pre-shape

• Get the dough in shape by roughly rounding it:

1. Place the dough on a very lightly floured surface
2. Pull the edges from the sides in the air and then in the middle of the dough to create a smooth outer skin on all sides of the dough ball
3. Place the dough ball seam-side down on a non floured surface
4. Put both of your hands with the ball of your hand on the surface behind the dough ball
5. Pull your hands just a bit towards you, very slowly, while keeping the ball of your hand on the surface
6. Turn the dough ball 180° and do the same thing again
7. Repeat these steps about 4 to 6 more times

• Afterwards look for a dry spot on your surface and flour it lightly
• Transfer the pre-shaped dough ball on the floured surface
• Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 15 minutes
• Tip: If you realize that the dough starts sticking to your hand or bench knife, just clean the bench knife of any dough and flour it a bit again

4. Shape

• Get the dough in the final shape by long moulding it:

1. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface
2. Flour your hands a bit
3. Spread it gently out to a rectangle
4. Fold the bottom side halfway to the top so the edge is in the middle and press the edge down gently
5. Fold the left side about 1/4 to the middle and press the edge down gently
6. Fold the right side about 1/4 to the middle and press the edge down gently
7. Fold the top side about 3/4 to the bottom so this edge is past the edge you previously pressed down in the middle
8. Flip the dough over so the seam-side is on the surface
9. Gently roll the dough back and forth until you get a nice tight surface on the top and the sides

5. Proof

• Dust your proofing basket with all-purpose flour
• Put your previously shaped dough seam-side-up in the dusted proofing basket
• Cover it with a towel or with a plastic bag
• Let it proof for 2,5 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)

6. SCORE

• Cover a pizza peel with parchment paper

• Gently take your dough out of the proofing basket by flipping it upside down on the pizza peel
• With a bread lame make 3 quick cuts (about 2 cm deep) on top of the dough from top to bottom

7. Bake

• Preheat oven to 270°C (518°F) for ~45 minutes with the upper and lower heat function
• Put the loaf in the oven, create steam and bake for 60 minutes
• After 10 minutes lower the temperature to 220°C (428°F), let the steam out by opening the oven door for ~45 seconds and close it again
• Tip: If you think your loaf gets too dark midway, you can place tinfoil on top of it for 15-20 minutes

8. Cool

• Let your big sourdough bread cool for 4 hours on some kind of grid

Conclusion

Crust

Crumb

Taste

Goes good with

Gallery

This super delicious sourdough bread with 60% hydration doesn’t only look good, it also tastes fantastic. As you can see from the pictures, we played around a little with the look this time.

Rather than cutting it in the middle, we went for a spiral shape this time.

The result reminds of a rose so you don’t only have a very delicious bread but also a good looking one too!

Things to know before you start

Time Schedule

After about 16 to 18 hours you will have a super tasty sourdough bread with 60% hydration just made of flour, water and salt.

Total ingredients

You will have a dough of about 870 g in total.

Make sure to have a mature sourdough starter that is active and healthy. If you think your starter is not, then you can add 1 g of fresh yeast to help with the rise.

Difficulty

As the hydration level is at 60% only, the dough is very easy to handle and process. Therefore it can be categorized as a simple recipe.

You can have a look at our sourdough bread for beginners recipe that contains a lot of details for the different steps used here.

Baking tools

A round banneton proofing basket is needed in order to get the sourdough bread in a good round shape and a dutch oven. You can also have a look at our should have baking tools to find some more baking tools we are constantly using.

Steps

1. Mix

• Mix all of the mentioned ingredients in a stand mixer for 5 minutes on speed level one and 7 minutes on speed level two
• The dough should be smooth and elastic after mixing and not stick to the bowl a lot

2. Bulk Fermentation, Stretch & Fold

• Cover the dough and let it rest for a total of 2,5 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)
• During that time stretch & fold the dough every 30 minutes (3 times in total) and after the 3rd time, let it ferment further for 1 hour until 2,5 hours are reached in total
• After each stretch and fold put it back to the bowl and cover it again so it doesn’t dry out

3. Pre-shape

• Get the dough in shape by roughly rounding it
• Afterwards look for a dry spot on your surface and flour it lightly
• Transfer the pre-shaped dough ball on the floured surface
• Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 15 minutes
• Tip: If you realize that the dough starts sticking to your hand or bench knife, just clean the bench knife of any dough and flour it a bit again

4. Shape

• Get the dough in the final shape by rounding it again

5. Proof

• Dust your proofing basket with all-purpose flour
• Put your previously shaped dough seam-side-up in the dusted proofing basket and cover it

• Let it proof for 10 to 12 hours in the fridge at 5°C (41°F)

6. SCORE

• Cover a pizza peel with parchment paper
• Take your proofed dough out of the fridge
• Gently take your dough out of the proofing basket by flipping it upside down on the pizza peel
• This time we are going for a spiral-shaped cut
• Place your bread lame on top of the dough starting in the center and then cutting outwardly (about 2 cm deep) creating a spiral shape
• In the following images you can see the difference between making a narrow and a wide spiral

7. Bake

• Place your dutch oven with the lid on top in the oven and preheat to 260°C (500°F) for ~45 minutes with the upper and lower heat function
• Remove the lid of the dutch oven (use oven mitts so you don’t burn your hands!), place the dough inside and seal it again with the lid and bake for 40 to 45 minutes
• After 20 minutes, lower the temperature to 220°C (428°F) and remove the lid from the dutch oven so you get a nice crust on top

8. Cool

• Let your sourdough bread cool for 2 hours on some kind of grid

Conclusion

Crust

Crumb

Taste

Goes good with

Gallery

This white sourdough sandwich bread, for us, is an absolute winner! Really? Yes, really! Why? Here we go:

It is not only delicious and looks really nice (look at the shiny crust!) but it is also very versatile. It’s actually 2 breads in 1 – like those jackets you can flip around and have a totally different look. Only that this bread is prettier than any jacket 😉

It comes very close to what you may know as „butter sandwich bread“, the ones you can buy in the supermarkets. Only difference is that this one is tastier, saltier and it doesn’t contain all these preservatives.

When just taking it out of the oven and eating it while still warm, it reminds of milk bread rolls and the taste is more sweetish.

See, very versatile and absolutely worth trying out this recipe! Enjoy and let us know how you like it in the comments below. We would love to read your opinion!

Things to know before you start

Time Schedule

In under 16 hours you will have a shiny white sourdough sandwich bread on the table.

Total ingredients

You will have a dough of about 917 g in total. If you have 2 loaf pans you can also just double all ingredients and make 2 sandwich breads at the time like we did.

Make sure to have a mature sourdough starter that is active and healthy. If you think your starter is not, then you can add 2 g of fresh yeast to help with the rise.

Difficulty

This is another simple recipe for a white sourdough sandwich bread that everyone will like.

Feel free to check out our sourdough bread for beginners recipe that contains a lot of details for the different steps you will be executing here.

Baking tools

You will need one loaf pan of 23 x 10 cm. Also have a look at our should have baking tools to find some more baking tools we are constantly using for baking breads.

Steps

1. Mix

Total ingredients

• Mix all of the mentioned ingredients except the butter in a stand mixer for 5 minutes on speed level one and 7 minutes on speed level two
• Add the butter after 5 minutes of mixing
• The dough shouldn’t stick too much to the bowl after mixing

2. Bulk Fermentation, Stretch & Fold

• Cover the dough and let it rest for a total of 3,5 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)
• During that time stretch & fold the dough every 30 minutes (3 times in total) and after the 3rd time, let it ferment further for 2 hours until 3,5 hours are reached in total
• The dough should rise about 25-50% after the final 2 hour bulk fermentation
• After each stretch and fold put it back to the bowl and cover it again so it doesn’t dry out

3. Pre-shape

• Get the dough in shape by roughly rounding it
• Afterwards look for a dry spot on your surface and flour it
• Transfer the pre-shaped dough ball on the floured surface
• Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes
• Tip: If you realize that the dough starts sticking to your hand or bench knife, just clean the bench knife of any dough and flour it a bit again

4. Shape

• Get the dough in the final shape by long moulding it again

5. Proof

• Grease your loaf pan with a bit of butter on the bottom and all sides
• Put your previously shaped dough seam-side-down in the loaf pan and cover it with a towel
• Let it proof for 8 to 10 hours in the fridge at 5°C (41°F)

6. Bake & Coat

• Preheat oven to 220°C (428°F) for ~35 minutes with the upper and lower heat function
• Separate the egg white and yolk of 1 egg (unfortunately the egg white is not needed for anything)
• Whisk egg yolk and coat the dough with it
• Put the loaf pan in the oven and bake for 40 minutes
• After 30 minutes lower the temperature to 190°C (374°F)

7. Cool

• Tip the sandwich bread out of the loaf pan immediately after baking and allow to cool down on a grid for about 2 hours

Conclusion

Crust

Firm and shiny but not crunchy.

Crumb

Taste

As already mentioned in the introduction, this white sourdough sandwich bread actually has 2 tastes. A toasted and an untoasted one. The toasted one really reminds of toast and has this slightly salty flavour. The untoasted reminds a lot of milk bread rolls with that specific sweetish and soft taste. Both are very good.

Goes good with

Gallery

With autumn already in full swing and Halloween around the corner, we felt like it was time to play around with shapes and spices a little more and came up with this pumpkin spice sourdough bread.

So rather than baking another sourdough bread with pumpkin seeds, we wanted to integrate this kind of autumn feeling using a different approach – and spices.

If you scroll further down in our recipe, you will see how we created the “pumpkin-like” shape.

It was a test but it worked really well and see how beautiful this bread turned out. Also thanks to the pumpkin spice, the taste is quite unique as well.

Things to know before you start

Time Schedule

In about 20 to 22 hours you will have a pumpkin spice sourdough bread that looks like an actual pumpkin.

Total ingredients

You will have a dough of about 932 g in total.

Make sure to have a mature sourdough starter that is active and healthy. If you think your starter is not, then you can add 1 g of fresh yeast to help with the rise.

Difficulty

As the hydration level is at about 70% the dough is easy to handle and which makes this sourdough bread a simple one to make. Wrapping the dough with twine is a step we never did before, but it is also simple.

You can have a look at our sourdough bread for beginners recipe that contains a lot of details for the different steps used here.

Baking tools

A round banneton proofing basket is needed in order to get the bread in a good round shape and 3 to 6 meters of twine. You can also have a look at our should have baking tools to find some more baking tools we are constantly using.

Regarding the twine: If you have thick twine (the thicker, the better) you will need about 3 meters. If you only have thin twine (like we did), you will need to have 6 meters so you can make the twine thicker by doubling.

Steps

1. Mix

• Mix all of the mentioned ingredients in a stand mixer for 5 minutes on speed level one and 7 minutes on speed level two
• The dough should be smooth after mixing and not stick to the bowl a lot

2. Bulk Fermentation, Stretch & Fold

• Cover the dough and let it rest for a total of 3 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)
• During that time stretch & fold the dough every 30 minutes (4 times in total) and after the 4th time, let it ferment further for 1 hour until 3 hours are reached in total
• After each stretch and fold put it back to the bowl and cover it again so it doesn’t dry out

3. Pre-shape

• Get the dough in shape by roughly rounding it
• Afterwards look for a dry spot on your surface and flour it
• Transfer the pre-shaped dough ball on the floured surface
• Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes
• Tip: If you realize that the dough starts sticking to your hand or bench knife, just clean the bench knife of any dough and flour it a bit again

4. Shape

• Get the dough in the final shape by rounding it again

5. Proof

• Dust your proofing basket with all-purpose flour
• Put your previously shaped dough seam-side-up in the dusted proofing basket
• Add flour on top and cover it with a towel
• Let it proof for 12 to 14 hours in the fridge at 5°C (41°F)

6. Wrapping The Dough With Twine

• Take your proofed dough out of the fridge and place it on the counter
• Cut the twine into 4 pieces of 75 cm length
• If you only have thin twine, cut the twine into 4 pieces of 150 cm length and fold each one in the middle so you create thicker ones
• Fill a small bowl with about 10 g of canola or sunflower oil
• Pull each twine through the oil and press some of the oil out so the twine is not too soggy

• Now we are going to create a pattern like we would prepare a pizza or cake to be divide into eight even parts
• To do this place the first twine horizontally, the second one vertically, the third one diagonally from bottom left to top right and the fourth one diagonally from top left to bottom right on top of the dough so the middle of the twine is in the center

• Place parchment paper on top of the dough and the pizza peel on top of that
• Gently take your dough out of the proofing basket by flipping it upside down on the pizza peel

• Dust the top and sides of the dough with all-purpose flour
• Take each twine and tie it on top so it pushes in the dough a bit to the center creating a pumpkin shape
• Be careful not to push too much as you only want to create a little dent and don’t want your dough to break down
• Cut of any loose ends

7. Score

• If is up to you what cuts you want to make, but they should not be too deep (max 1 cm)
• In every eighth make either one cut from top to bottom or several small cuts so it looks like the strands of a small leaf

8. Bake

• Preheat oven to 260°C (500°F) for ~45 minutes with the upper and lower heat function
• Put the loaf in the oven, create steam and bake for 40 to 45 minutes
• After 10 minutes lower the temperature to 220°C (428°F), let the steam out by opening the oven door for ~45 seconds and close it again

9. Cool

• Let your pumpkin spice sourdough bread cool for 3 hours on some kind of grid

10. Remove Twine

• Cut each twine at the top and gently remove it so you don’t damage the crust
• Don’t panic if your bread wrapped around the twine (we had the same “issue”)
• Because we oiled the twine, you can easily pull it through the dough on the bottom side
• You just need to find a starting point from where you can start to peel the twine out of the dough

Conclusion

Crust

Crumb

This pumpkin spice sourdough bread has extremely fine and even pores. You can see the spices we used in the dough which gives the crumb a unique look.

Taste

When enjoying this sourdough bread, you can clearly tell the spices we used for the dough. It tastes a little sweetish which is due to the pumpkin spice that includes cinnamon and cloves amongst others. Still this spicy taste is kind of hearty.

Goes good with

As always: Butter! For this bread even more than for the others as the butter supports the spices very well. Apart from that we felt that this bread is better in combination with sweet toppings like honey and marmalade or cream cheese instead of adding hearty cold cuts on top of the hearty taste this bread already has.

Gallery

We are heading towards autumn again and as we all know: Autumn time is pumpkin time! So what could fit better than a hearty pumpkin seed sourdough bread?

If you are trying to get into the autumn mood and look for a sourdough bread with a strong and hearty taste, this recipe is for you. Simply follow our step by step recipe and you will be able to enjoy this lovely bread soon.

Things to know before you start

Time Schedule

In under 9 hours you will have a hearty pumpkin seed sourdough bread on the table.

Total ingredients

You will have a dough of about 1.218 g in total (only 50 g of pumpkin seeds included).

Make sure to have a mature sourdough starter that is active and healthy. If you think your starter is not, then you can add 3 g of fresh yeast to help with the rise.

Difficulty

Again a simple and quick recipe for a pumpkin seed sourdough bread.

As usual, feel free to check out our sourdough bread for beginners recipe that contains a lot of details for the different steps you will be executing here.

Baking tools

A round banneton proofing basket is recommended for a nice round shape. As we are going to shred part of the pumpkin seeds, a blender or grinder can also come in handy.

You can also have a look at our should have baking tools to find some more baking tools we are constantly using.

Steps

1. Shred Pumpkin Seeds

• Shred the pumpkin seeds until they are finely shredded like whole wheat flour
• Using a blender or grinder is pretty much the best way to do it

2. Mix

• Mix all of the mentioned ingredients in a stand mixer for 3 minutes on speed level one and 6 minutes on speed level two
• The dough should be smooth after mixing and not stick to the bowl a lot

3. Bulk Fermentation, Stretch & Fold

• Cover the dough and let it rest for a total of 2,5 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)
• During that time stretch & fold the dough every 30 minutes (3 times in total) and after the 3rd time, let it ferment further for 1 hour until 2,5 hours are reached in total
• After each stretch and fold put it back to the bowl and cover it again so it doesn’t dry out

4. Pre-shape

• Get the dough in shape by roughly rounding it
• Afterwards look for a dry spot on your surface and flour it
• Transfer the pre-shaped dough ball on the floured surface
• Cover it with a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes
• Tip: If you realize that the dough starts sticking to your hand or bench knife, just clean the bench knife of any dough and flour it a bit again

4. Shape

• Shape your dough by rounding it
• Afterwards dip your hands in water and damp the top and sides of the dough with them
• Now take the pumpkin seeds and press them all over the top and sides of the dough

5. Proof

• Dust your proofing basket with all-purpose flour
• Put your previously shaped dough seam-side-up in the dusted proofing basket
• Add flour on top and cover it with a towel
• Let it proof for 2,5 hours at 20-22°C (68-71,6°F)

6. Bake

• Preheat oven to 260°C (500°F) for ~45 minutes with the upper and lower heat function
• Put the loaf in the oven, create steam and bake for 45 to 50 minutes
• After 10 minutes lower the temperature to 220°C (428°F), let the steam out by opening the oven door for ~45 seconds and close it again

7. Cool

• Let your hearty pumpkin seed sourdough bread cool for 2 hours on some kind of grid

Conclusion

Crust

Crumb

Taste

This sourdough bread has a strong, flavourful and hearty taste – just perfect for this time of the year.

Goes good with

All kinds of hearty things like cold cuts or scrambled eggs with a bit of bacon. Even sweet things like honey or marmalade are a great addition as it mixes sweet and hearty in a perfect way.

Gallery