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Mixology applied- purple sweet potato whole wheat sourdough bread

It's finally baking season again- winter is coming! Er, I mean, it's already here. It's such a cliche, but "how time flies!" Thanksgiving is just around the corner and my fridge is happily filled with meat and root vegetables (pumpkins, squashes, sweet potatoes, beets...). I highly suggest to try incorporating root vegetables to your bread dough. You will be surprised at how much they can help with the texture and flavor- your bread gets so much moisture and aromas. Bonus points- you also end up with beautiful color from the root vegetable you use. 


Like today, I found these gorgeous purple potatoes from Freshdirect, which were actually rare to find here. I feel that they are definitely more of a seasonal thing, probably because purple color is more festive XD? They taste quite similar to regular sweet potatoes/yams, with a slight hint of special aroma if you ask me. 

RECIPE (finally!):

Presoak the seeds for ~30min by combining:
Flaxseed: 15g
oats: 15g
brown rice: 15g
Quinoa: 15g
water: 40g

Make the dough by combing:
Wholewheat flour: 150g
All purpose flour: 70g
Gluten: 20g
Purple sweet potato puree: 100g
Rye sourdough starter: 100g (replace by mixing 50g rye flour&50g water&1/2 tsp dry yeast and let it sit for 2 hours room temperature, or in fridge overnight, if you don't have the starter)
water: 130g
salt: 4g
Presoaked seeds

Knead the dough by hand or with a stand mixer for around 5 min (the dough will become stretchy). I added more toasted pumpkin seeds& almond slices to the dough (because MORE IS MORE!)
Let the dough rise to around double the size. (You can stretch and fold the dough at every half an hour point; it helps the texture of the dough).

Shape the bread to round or oval. Let the dough rise again to double the size.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Score the dough on the top and bake for 40min.

To really get the old fashioned oven effect, use a pizza stone- preheat the pizza stone at the middle rack at 550F together with a regular sheet pan at the lower shelf, for about 50min. When the dough is ready to bake, transfer the dough onto the pizza stone and pour a cup of hot water to the sheet pan below. Close the oven door and lower the temperature to 450F; bake for 40min.

I've been asked a lot about the recipe so I think I should just write it here. The recipe isn't the easiest, especially if you are starting to work with sourdough starter and pizza stone. But even with the simplified version, the result is still stunning! Hope you enjoy the bread and enjoy making it as I am.





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