Soft Black Sesame Sourdough Bread Recipe | Fluffy & Mild Flavor
Black Sesame Soft Sourdough Bread (Fluffy, Nutty & Beautiful)
Welcome back to Bake with Paws! Today I’m excited to share this Black Sesame Soft Sourdough Bread — a soft, fluffy loaf with a delicate nutty flavor and striking black-and-white crumb. This recipe combines the goodness of sourdough with the earthy richness of black sesame, making it a standout bread that’s both delicious and visually stunning.
The best part? It’s made with a sweet stiff starter, which helps deliver a mild, non-tangy flavor and gives the bread excellent oven spring and shelf life.
What Makes This Black Sesame Soft Sourdough Bread Special
Soft and fluffy crumb — perfect for toast, sandwiches, or snacking
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Mild sourdough flavor — thanks to the sweet stiff starter
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Nutty black sesame aroma — fragrant and deeply satisfying
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Eye-catching swirl or marbled crumb — sure to impress
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Naturally leavened — no commercial yeast
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Longer shelf life — stays soft for days
How To Make Black Sesame Soft Sourdough Bread
Ingredients You’ll Need (Yields: 1 Loaf)
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Sweet Stiff Starter
- In a bowl of stand mixer, dilute starter with water, stir in sugar and add in bread flour. Mix with paddle attachment until well mixed and all come together. It can be done by hand mixing too.
- Cover and let it ferment until tripled. I prepared a night before and leave it in aircond room (approximately 24 - 25C room temperature) overnight until tripled. It took about 8 - 9 hours depending on your starter. It should take around 4 - 6 hours to get triple at room temperature at 28C - 30C.
- You can choose to ferment the starter in a jar or in the mixing bowl. Keeping it in the bowl makes it simpler to take out later, though you'll have to judge its size visually once it peaks.
- Main Dough:
- Put all ingredients (except butte) into a bowl of stand mixer. I usually torn the stiff starter first.
- Slightly combine the mixture by hand with the paddle attachment before turning on the machine so that the flour will not splash out. Using the paddle attachment, mix at low speed #2 for about 2 - 3 minutes or until the dough comes together and elastic. This step is critical to prevent an uneven mixed dough as the stiff starter is rather hard and a dough hook may not be able to mix it well enough.
- Change to hook attachment, add in butter and continue knead for 10 - 12 minutes at low speed #2 or until reach window pane stage. 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.
- 1st Proofing/Resting:
- In the same bowl, let the dough rest for about 45 - 60 minutes. Keep it covered with clingfilm or use a lid. This dough I rested for 1 hour at 29C - 30C room temperature and the dough rose slightly.
- Shaping:
- Transfer the dough to a clean floured or slightly oiled surface then divide into 3 equal portions (about 225g per portion). Please use a kitchen scale if you want to be exact. This recipe is good for buns too.
- Form each portion to a ball. Rest for 10 minutes.
- Flatten with rolling pin.
- Fold right to centre and fold left overlap it. Roll out with rolling pin into long rectangle shape. Roll up the dough like Swiss Roll until a small log is formed.
- Place all dough in the prepared loaf pan.
- Final Proofing :
- Let it proof in a warm place until the dough reaches about 1 cm below the height of the pan. This one took approximately 3 hours at room temperature of 29C - 30C. The duration of proofing depends on your ambient temperature and starter.
- Baking:
- Preheat oven at 180C - 190C (top & bottom heat) or 170C - 180C (fan-forced) for 15 minutes before baking.
- Brush with egg wash.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. If it is browning too quickly, cover the top loosely with aluminium foil.
- Remove bread from oven then remove the bread from the pan. Let it cool on rack completely before slicing.
Must-Know Tips Before You Start
- Sourdough Starter:
- A healthy starter is essential for successful bread baking. To ensure your bread rises well, it's important to feed your starter regularly and use it (the levain) at its peak. A consistently fed starter will be more active and reliable. If the mother starter isn’t strong, the dough may still struggle to rise properly, even if the levain is used at its peak. For more information, click the links: "How To Make Sourdough Starter" and "Sourdough Maintenance".
- Gluten Development:
- Essential for soft, airy bread, gluten is created when flour hydrates. To develop it, use techniques like autolyse or kneading. The windowpane test checks readiness—dough should stretch thin without tearing. From my experience, high hydration dough with high percentage of fat will be easy to stretch and achieve a paper thin windowpane stage.
- Kneading:
- Please regard the timing provided as an indication only. It is only meant as a guide. Times vary by flour and mixer type. For higher fat dough, knead longer (18–20 minutes).
- Flour & Hydration:
- Use high-gluten flour for optimal texture. Always reserve some liquid to adjust dough consistency for best results. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency.
- Dough Temperature:
- Maintaining the right dough temperature during kneading is crucial for a fine crumb. If the dough becomes too warm, the crumb will become too big and uneven. To prevent this, use cold water, milk, or eggs, and chill your mixing bowl or hook attachment in the freezer. Knead at low speeds, and if your kitchen is warm, rest the dough in a cooler spot. Proper dough temperature ensures a soft, fluffy bread with a fine, even crumb.
- Proofing:
- Proofing time depends on your environment. Use the finger poke test to gauge readiness. To check dough readiness, lightly press the side with your finger:
- If it bounces back instantly, it’s under-proofed and needs more time.
- If the indentation stays, it’s over-proofed.
- If the indentation slowly bounces back, it’s ready to bake.
- There’s also a final rise called oven spring when the dough bakes, which adds to the bread’s height.
- Wrinkle Top or Shrinking:
- If your bread collapses or develops wrinkles on top after baking, it might be over-proofed during the second rise. Aim for the dough to rise to 80-90% of its final size or just below the rim of the pan to prevent this. Over-proofing leads to weaker structure, causing the bread to lose shape.
- Baking & Oven Temperarate:
- 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.
Storage Tips
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Room temperature: Store in an airtight bag or container for up to 3 days
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Freeze: Wrap tightly and freeze up to 1 month; thaw at room temperature or rewarm gently
Variations and Add-Ins
✨ Add toasted black sesame seeds for extra texture
✨ Use black tahini or homemade sesame paste for a deeper flavor
✨ Sprinkle sesame seeds on top before baking for a beautiful finish
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Can I use white sesame instead of black sesame?
A: Yes! White sesame will give a milder flavor and a slightly different look but will still be delicious.
Q: Why is my loaf dense?
A: This may be due to underproofing or an underactive starter. Make sure the starter is at peak activity, and let the dough rise fully.
Q: Can I make this bread without a stiff starter?
A: Yes, but you may get a tangier flavor and need to adjust the hydration slightly.
Troubleshooting
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Dense or heavy loaf: Check starter activity and bulk fermentation time
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Dry crumb: Reduce baking time slightly or increase hydration
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Uneven swirl: Roll or twist the doughs more tightly when shaping
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Flat loaf: Ensure proper gluten development and avoid overproofing
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Crust too dark: Tent with foil in the last 10 minutes of baking
Why This Recipe Works
The combination of bread flour and a stiff sweet starter delivers a soft, fluffy crumb with excellent structure. The black sesame adds rich nutty flavor without overwhelming the bread. By dividing the dough and marbling the sesame portion, you get a beautiful and impressive loaf that’s perfect for sharing or gifting.
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Thanks YL, for another great recipe! May I ask why the egg and cream need to be cold? If they are not, would it still be ok? Thanks 🤩 BlueWren
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome :) To maintain the dough temperature during a long kneading process, achieve a fine crumb and prevent fast rising. It is best to use cold ingredients, mixture bowl and attachment. I also place my paddle and hook attachments in the freezer before using.
DeleteIt is ok if your ingredients are not cold. But, possible the bread crumb will be not so fine and the bread will rise faster.
Cheers :)
Instead of whipping cream what would be the substitute please ?
ReplyDeleteHi, you can substitute 30g of whipping cream with 20g of milk and 10g of butter. It means total milk is 75g and total butter is 40g.
DeleteRemember not to add all milk at one time always reserve 10g and add in later if needed.
You can also replace with evaporated milk.
Cheers and happy baking :)
Is there any way you could come up with the amounts you would need for a 1 kin size loaf pan? From the picture, it looks like you are using a 1.5 kin pan. I have made Japanese milk bread but I do have a sourdough starter and the only thing stopping me from making a sourdough milk bread is that I can't find a recipe for my size pan and I don't understand how to convert it.
ReplyDeleteHi, thank you for your interest in this recipe. I used 450g loaf pan. You can find the loaf pan size on the recipe above. The total dough for this bread is around 675g -+.
DeleteIf your loaf pan size is 1kg then you need to multiply around 2.2 to 2.5 times of each ingredients. This is just an estimation as I do not have 1 kg loaf pan so I am unable to experiment it.
I hope it helps.
Cheers and Happy Baking :)
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