Purple Carrot Soft Sourdough Bread

It is very rare to find purple carrots where we are. I always grab them whenever I see them. I have made Purple Carrot Bread with instant yeast before and it turned out to be very nice. I thought it will be nice to also make some sourdough soft bread with it.

If you can't get Purple Carrot, regular carrot will work the too, except you won't get this colour. I have another Soft Carrot Bread recipe using instant yeast that you may like that too.

This Purple Carrot Soft Sourdough Bread is especially soft, fluffy and moist. This Purple Carrot Bread stays fresh quite well for several days. It could be the moisture from the carrot. It has a very mild sourness to me though some of my family members couldn't really taste the sourness.

If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any other post, please leave me a comment in the “LEAVE A COMMENT” link and I will reply you as soon as possible.

Recipe - Purple Carrot Soft Sourdough Bread

Yields: 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS:

Levain - 190g total (ratio 1:3:3):

28g sourdough starter (100% Hydration)

84g bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

84g water

Main Dough:

255gg bread flour (I used Japan High Gluten Flour)

190g levain (above)

36g (3 Tbsp) brown sugar or honey (I used brown sugar)

1 tsp salt

26g butter or olive oil

75g full cream milk (Reserve 10g and add in later if needed. I used all)

90g grated purple carrot

190g levain (from the above)

Utensil:

450g loaf pan (21.3 X 12.2 X 11.5 cm / 8.4" X 4.8" X 4.5")

METHOD:

Levain:

One night before baking, mix all ingredients in a jar and cover.
Let it ferment in aircond room temperature (approximately 25-27C) overnight until tripled. It took about 10 - 12 hours. You will get slightly more than 190g. But, you will only need 190g.
Note: If you like to prepare levain on the same baking day, please use the ratio 1:1:1. Let it ferment in our tropical room temperature until tripled. It took about 3-5 hours depend how strong is your starter.

Preparing Bread Dough:

Grate the purple carrots with a grater.
Put all ingredients (except butter or olive oil) into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with paddle attachment for 2 minutes or until all incorporated. Change to hook attachment and knead for another 3 minutes or until the dough comes together. Add in olive oil and continue kneading for another 10 - 13 minutes or until the dough comes together, smooth and reaches window pane stage. During the whole kneading process, I stopped few times to scrape down the dough from the hook to be sure it is evenly kneaded and also to prevent the motor from overheating.

First Proofing/Resting The Dough:

In the same bowl, let the dough rest for 60 minutes. Keep it covered with clingfilm or use a lid. The dough did not rise a lot in 60 minutes.

Shaping:

Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface then divide into 2 equal portions.
Form each portion into a ball.
Flatten with rolling pin.
Roll the dough like a swiss roll into a log.
Flatten the log with rolling pin as shown.
Roll up the dough again like a swiss roll until a small log is formed.
Place all the dough in the prepared loaf pan.

Final Proofing:

Let it proof at warm and dark place until the dough reaches the height of the pan. It took 4 hours for this one (Room temperature at my place is 28C - 30C). To speed up the rising process, place the dough in the oven and a bowl of hot water next to it and close the oven door.

Baking:

Preheat oven at 190C (top & bottom heat) or 170C (fan-forced) for 15 minutes.
Bake at preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Remove bread from oven and let them cool on rack completely before slicing.

Purple Carrot Puree Method

Please use the same recipe except replace grated carrot and full cream milk with the following:

80g purple carrot, peeled and cut

75g full cream milk

Steam the carrot for 10 - 15 minutes.
Blend steamed carrot with full cream milk with hand blender or food processor until fine.

GENERAL NOTES:

SOURDOUGH STARTER

Please click this link for "How To Make Sourdough Starter" and "Sourdough Maintenance"

A healthy starter is very crucial as advised by Baking with Gina. It is advisable to feed your starter regularly if you want your bread to rise nicely and to use the starter (levain) at its peak. A starter that is fed regularly will be more active in general. If the mother starter is not strong, the bread dough will not rise a lot even though the starter is used at its peak.

GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT & WINDOWPANE TEST

Gluten forms when flour comes in contact with water. Hydration of the flour causes the sticky and stretchy protein to form, giving structure to the bread. This makes your bread trap air and rise.

Gluten in dough can be developed by autolyse, resting, kneading or folding.

The windowpane test is used to determine whether the dough has been sufficiently kneaded. By gently pulling the dough (or you may pinch off some dough) and trying to stretch it into a thin membrane. If you are able to stretch the dough paper thin and translucent without tearing, then the gluten is fully developed. However, if you can stretch it without tearing but the membrane is not transparent, then the gluten is not yet fully developed.

However, from my experience not all the recipe can achieve a thin and translucent window pane stage easily. For example low hydration and low fat dough. For such recipes, a reasonable window pane is good enough and it can be left to rest. Gluten will continue to develop while resting. Exercising restraint to not over-knead the dough prevents the gluten from being overworked and broken. Some of you may have experienced the dough breaking during the second proofing. It is because the dough is over kneaded.

The total kneading time for me is usually 15 minutes at low speeds except brioche dough with high fat percentage or dough using liquid fat which usually takes a little longer (maybe 18-20 mins).

From my experience, I found that high hydration dough with high percentage of fat will be easy to stretch and achieve a paper thin windowpane stage.

MILK POWDER

Why do I use milk powder?

Milk or milk powder will enhance the flavour of the bread and makes the bread texture softer due to the fat content of the milk.
Milk powder is shelf stable and you can have it anytime when you want to use. Unlike liquid milk you need to finish within a certain time before it spoils.

KNEADING TIME

For kneading, please regard the timing provided as an indication only. It is only meant as a guide. Timing may differ depending on the brand of flour and electric mixer used. The protein content may vary from one brand of flour to another.

FLOUR

The right flour plays a very important role in bread making. To achieve fluffy, soft and light bread, I used Japan High Gluten Flour in most of my bread baking. The protein content is around 12 - 13%.

HYDRATION

The liquid measurement given is also a guide. It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go. This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency. This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.

PROOFING

Please note that the proofing timing may also vary depending on your climate, environment, flour and your starter.

If you are unable to judge by just looking at the dough, you can do the finger poke test:

Proofing:

Lightly press the side of the proved dough with your finger. If it bounces back immediately without any indentation, it means the dough is under proved and needs more time before baking.
If the indentation stays and it doesn’t bounce back, it means it has been over proved.
If the indentation slowly bounces back and leave a small indentation, it is ready to bake.
There will be a final burst of rising once the bread is placed to bake in the oven and it is called oven spring.

WRINKLE TOP OR SHRINKING

If your bread collapses or gets wrinkled on top after removing from oven, it could be because your dough over proved during the second proofing. Please proof until the tip of the dough just reaches the rim of the pan, around 80% - 90% in size.

BAKING TEMPERATURE AND TIME

Do also note that the baking temperature and timing provided are what works for my oven and should also be regarded as a guide only. Every oven behaves a little differently, so please adjust accordingly for your oven.