This easy sourdough breakfast bread is great for slicing and toasting, making French toast, and topping with fresh avocado and tomatoes.
If you have an active sourdough starter, you can make this bread, from start to finish, in just about half a day. It's hard to predict the actual timing because there are variables such as room temperature, humidity, and the flour you are using. However, if you start mixing the dough in the morning, you should have a wonderful loaf of bread by the afternoon.
My calling this "breakfast" bread is simply because the bread is shaped into a loaf that you can cut into uniformly sized slices, making it perfect for breakfast. You could also call it sandwich bread, but that might be confusing because a lot of sourdough sandwich breads are more like regular sandwich bread with a soft, uniform crumb.
I could call it "rustic sourdough sandwich bread." Either way, all of the slices are the same size so no one needs to fight over who gets the largest one.
I usually like to shape sourdough loaves into boules and bake them in a Dutch oven. The dough is easy to shape and the bread usually comes out great. I recently noticed an Emile Henry long covered baker in my stoarage closet that I'd forgotten about and decided to give this a try.
The long baker works like a Dutch oven that you heat in your oven before adding the shaped and risen dough. You bake the loaf in the heated baker, first with the lid on, and later with the lid off. The resulting loaf is crusty and wonderful with a chewy and airy crumb.
And it's perfect for avocado toast!
Ingredients:
For the Bread:
Flours: I used bread flour and a little bit of whole rye flour. For the rye flour, you could also use whole wheat flour, barley flour, or whole spelt flour.
Sourdough Starter: Use 100 percent hydration (equal parts water and flour by weight) starter that has been recently fed and is active and bubbly. To get it ready, feed it the night before and let it sit out overnight.
Water: Room temperature.
Salt: 10.5 grams. I used table salt, which was about 1 1/2 teaspoons plus a bit extra. If you are using Diamond Crystal kosher salt, a scant tablespoon would work. Morton's kosher salt is about 2 teaspoons. The best way to measure salt is by weight. I use a little scale that is super sensitive.
For the Avocado Toast:
Avocadoes: Just lightly mash, add a little salt, and spread over the toasted bread slices.
Tomatoes: I used mini Villagio Marzano tomatoes from Melissa's Produce, which I sliced. Any good cherry or grape tomatoes will work.
Seasoning: I used Melissa's Produce Avocado Toast Seasoning. You simply sprinkle it over the avocado and enjoy! You could also use a blend of garlic salt, dried onion, crushed red pepper, dried parsley, and dried tomato. You can add a little citric acid too to add a bit of tartness and to keep the avocado from browning.
To Make the Bread:
First, combine the flours and water by hand and then let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Then add the salt and sourdough starter and then, using your hand, mix everything together by alternating stretch and folds and pinching with your fingers until everything is fully combined and the salt has dissolved.
Next, let the dough rise. Begin the process with two more stretch and folds, every 20 minutes and then let it rise until nearly tripled.
After that, shape the dough into a log and place it in a long banneton to rise a second time. In the meantime, heat the oven to 475 degrees F with the long baker on the middle rack.
Finally, when the dough is ready, transfer it to the hot baker and slash the top of the dough with a bread lame. Cover the baker with the lid and bake for about 30 minutes with the lid on, and another 15 to 20 minutes with the lid off. Cool on a wire rack.
To Make the Avocado Toast:
Slice the bread into 1/2 inch (or so) thick slices and toast them. In the meantime, smash the avocado with a fork. The texture should be pretty chunky. Top the toast with the avocado. You could also simply slice the avocado and place the slices on the toasted bread.
Top the avocado with sliced cherry or grape-style tomatoes and then sprinkle everything with your favorite seasoning.
Storing/Freezing:
This bread will keep at room temperature for about three days in an airtight container. You can also slice the loaf and then freeze it. Simply toast frozen slices when you need them.
Variations:
Of course, you can shape this dough into a boule and bake it in your Dutch oven or on a pizza stone in a steam oven.
Sourdough September for Sunday Funday:
The theme this week, chosen by Wendy, is sourdough.
- Mayuri's Jikoni: Apple Cinnamon Sourdough Scones
- Karen's Kitchen Stories: Easy Sourdough Breakfast Bread (and Avocado Toast)
- Our Good Life: Italian Sourdough Apple Cake
- Amy's Cooking Adventures: Same Day Sourdough Bread
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Sourdough Corn Fritters
- Sneha's Recipe: Sourdough Crackers Made From Sourdough Discard
- A Messy Kitchen: Unfed Sourdough Rye Mixer Bread
Easy Sourdough Breakfast Bread
This easy sourdough breakfast bread is great for slicing and toasting, making French toast, and topping with fresh avocado and tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 450 grams bread flour
- 50 grams whole rye flour
- 365 grams room temperature water
- 10.5 grams salt
- 100 grams 100% hydration active sourdough starter
Instructions
- Combine the flours and the water in a large bowl or dough rising bucket. Mix with your hand until all of the flour is incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle the top of the dough with the salt and and add the sourdough starter. With a wet hand, fold the dough over the salt and starter, and then pinch the dough with your fingers. Continue to wet your mixing hand and fold the dough over itself, and continue to pinch and fold, until the salt is dissolved. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Fold the dough by picking up each "side," stretching it, and folding it over the middle. Cover again. Fold the dough again after 20 minutes. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and let rise until tripled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- Gently scrape the dough out onto a floured surface, and shape it into a batard by gently folding the dough over itself from all "sides." Flip the shaped dough over so that the seam side is on the counter. Using a bench scraper, draw the loaf toward you, and then away from you, to tighten up the top of the dough. Cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime, dust a 13 or 14 inch long banneton or towel lined long banneton with a 50-50 mixture of wheat and rice flour.
- After 10 minutes, place the bench scraper under the shaped loaf, and tighten up the loaf a bit by sliding it over the work surface. Place the shaped dough into the banneton, seam side up. "Knit" together the seam so that it doesn't open during the rise.
- Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap or a clean towel, and let rise until puffy, about one to two hours. Heat the oven to 475 degrees F with a long baker with a lid on the middle rack.
- When the dough has risen, turn it out onto parchment lined plate. Using the parchment, lift it into the heated baker. Leave the parchment under the dough. Score the top of the dough lengthwise with a bread lame. Cover with the lid and place the pan in the oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes, remove the lid, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the bread is a deep brown and reaches an internal temperature of about 205 degrees F. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
105Fat (grams)
0 gSat. Fat (grams)
0 gCarbs (grams)
21 gFiber (grams)
1 gNet carbs
20 gSugar (grams)
0 gProtein (grams)
3 gCholesterol (grams)
0 mg
That bread turned out perfectly. All those holes throughout. Perfect for slathering with butter or making avocado toast.
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