Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough
i couldnt sleep all night! made some bread to calm my nerves. be kind to yourself
Made at four in the morning because I could not sleep, which is the correct reason to make bread. It takes a long time and almost none of it is work, and the waiting is the point.
Cheese and chilli both go in at the first fold, not into the initial mix. Added at the start they tear the gluten apart before it has formed and the loaf never rises properly. Folded in after an hour, the dough is strong enough to carry them.
The split across the top is the loaf tearing where it was scored. Score it deep, in one confident stroke — a timid shallow cut makes it burst somewhere ugly instead.
- Makes
- One large loaf
- Hands-on
- 40 minutes
- Rise
- 5 hours, then overnight
- Bake
- Covered, then open
What you need
The dough
- 500 g bread flour
- 350 g water (70%)
- 100 g active sourdough starter, bubbly and doubled
- 10 g salt
Folded in
- 150 g sharp cheddar, in 1/2-inch cubes — not grated
- 4 jalapeños, diced, seeds in or out as you like (from my garden)
- 1 tsp coarse black pepper
How it goes
1 — Mix flour and water first and leave it an hour
Flour and water only, mixed until there is no dry flour, covered, one hour. This is an autolyse and it builds gluten with no kneading at all.
2 — Starter in, salt in, forty minutes later
Starter squeezed through the dough until incorporated, rest forty minutes, then the salt worked in with a little water. Salt early slows the yeast, so it comes second.
3 — Cheese and jalapeño at the first fold
After the first hour of bulk, spread the dough out, scatter the cheese and chilli over it, fold it in on itself four times. Cubed cheese, not grated — cubes stay as pockets, grated cheese dissolves into the crumb and greases it.
4 — Fold every 45 minutes, four times in all
Reach under one side, stretch it up and fold it over the middle. Turn the bowl, repeat, four sides. Twenty seconds each time.
5 — Bulk until it is up by about half, 4 to 5 hours
Not doubled — a sourdough that doubles in the bowl has usually gone too far. Up by half, domed, with a few bubbles on the surface.
6 — Shape tight, then overnight in the fridge
Shaped into a tight round, into a floured banneton or a bowl lined with a floured towel, covered, cold overnight. Cold dough also scores far more cleanly.
7 — Dutch oven preheated to 500°F, lid on
Pot in the oven for forty-five minutes before the bread goes near it. Dough turned out, scored deep in one stroke, straight in, lid on, down to 450°F.
pro tip — The lid traps the loaf's own steam, which is what lets it keep expanding. A loaf baked uncovered sets its crust in five minutes and stops rising.
8 — 25 minutes covered, 20 more uncovered
Lid off for the last twenty so the crust goes deep gold and the cheese at the surface blisters. Cooled on a rack at least an hour before cutting.
Be kind to yourself. There are worse ways through a sleepless night. LFG.