Black Forest Sourdough Recipe
Looking for the perfect afternoon tea indulgence? This Black Forest Sourdough recipe is a less sweet take on the original recipe, with a cocoa sourdough loaded with kirsch-soaked cherries, white chocolate, and dark chocolate. Then served with whipped cream and cherry jam.
Prep Time: 18 hours
Cook Time: 40 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 1 large loaf
Ingredients
For the Sourdough
Sourdough Starter - 13g (see my starter recipe)
Honey - 1tsp
White Bread Flour - 640g (Incl. refreshing your starter)
Water - 570ml
Fine Salt - 10g
Cocoa Powder - 60g
Kirsch Soaked Cherries - 10 to 15
White Chocolate (chopped) - 50g
Dark Chocolate (chopped) - 100g
To Serve
Cherry Jam
Whipped Double Cream
Kirsch Soaked Cherries
White Chocolate
Dark Chocolate
Method
THE DAY BEFORE at 8AM - Refresh Your Starter
You need to get your sourdough starter as active as possible. To do this you’ll need to ‘refresh’ the starter the morning before you want the bread.
You may have your own way of refreshing your starter, if so, do that.
The way I’d recommend refreshing your starter is pouring 100g of slightly warm water (c.26° / 29°F) into a bowl and stirring in 25g of your sourdough starter. Stir into the bowl 100g of white flour until combined. You can discard the rest of your starter or use it for something else; you’ll only need that 25g you’ve just poured in the bowl.
Whilst this refreshed starter mix is in the bowl, clean and dry the container you’ve been keeping your starter in (careful not to leave soap residue).
Then return the refreshed starter mix from the bowl back to your cleaned container and leave at room temperature for the day.
THE DAY BEFORE at 8PM - Cocoa Leaven
After the starter’s been refreshing all day it’s time to make the leaven. This is the part of the starter that will actually go into the bread.
It’s a very similar process to refreshing the starter; pour 50g of slightly warm water in a bowl and stir in 13g of your refreshed sourdough starter (you can return the rest of the starter back to the fridge at this point).
Stir into the bowl 40g of the white flour, 20g of cocoa powder, and 1tsp of honey until combined.
This is your leaven. Pour it into a container with enough room to more-than-double in size and leave overnight.
ON THE DAY at 8AM - Autolyse
First thing to do on the morning that you want the bread is the complicated-sounding - but actually very easy - ‘autolyse’ period. This just means you combine some of the bread’s ingredients and let it sit for awhile.
Pour 280g of slightly warm water (c.26° / 29°F) into a bowl and stir in all of your leaven.
Pour into the bowl 500g of flour and 40g of cocoa powder.
Combine the flour into the liquid (I tend to use my hands to do this) until you have one very dry dough mix.
Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for about 3 hours for the dough to experience a load of chemical changes that will improve its flavour and texture.
On the day at 11AM - Mixing
After the dough been ‘autolysing’ for about 3 hours, it’s time to mix in the rest of the ingredients.
Into a separate jug pour 140g of warm water and stir in 10g of the salt.
Pour about a fifth (20%) of this salt water into the bowl with the dough and, using your hands, work the water into the dough until it’s combined.
Leave the dough for about 2-3 minutes to fully absorb the water, and then repeat the process; pouring in another fifth (20%) of the water and mixing it in. Rest for another 2-3 minutes.
Keep doing this until all the salt water’s in the dough. You should now have a nice semi-wet dough mix.
Cover with a damp tea towel as we enter the ‘bulk fermentation’ stage; see next step.
On the day between 11AM & 2PM - Bulk Fermentation
After you’ve finished mixing, you’re in the ‘bulk fermentation’ phase; basically this is where the dough rises.
You do have to stretch the dough about 3 times through this phase; it’s sourdough’s equivalent of kneading.
About 45 minutes into the bulk fermentation , wet your hands to stop the dough sticking and grab the underside of one edge of the dough, lift it up, gently stretch it out, then fold it back down on top of itself.
Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the process with the next edge. Do this 2-3 more times.
Re-cover the bowl with the damp tea towel and repeat the stretching exercise again every 45 minutes until the bulk fermentation’s complete
On the second bulk turning (about 1hr 30m into the process) fold in the cherries, white chocolate, and dark chocolate.
On the Day at 2PM - Shaping
Once the dough’s finished bulk fermentation, it’s time to get it into it’s final shape.
If you’ve got a proving basket, perfect, if not find a bowl the shape you want the bread to be and line it with a well floured muslin or tea towel (it’ll stick to it a bit, but will still be fine - if you find you like sourdough baking after this recipe, then would recommend a proving basket as your first investment).
Pour the sourdough onto a well floured surface, and the using a similar (although a bit gentler) method to the stretching technique during bulk fermentation, using wet hands grab one edge of the dough lift it up and fold it into the middle of the dough.
Turn the dough a little and repeat the process with the next edge. Keep repeating until all the edges have been folded into the middle; the dough should be sitting slightly higher / rounder.
Lift the dough, keeping the ‘seam’ side you’ve just created through the folding facing up, and place it in the basket / bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for about 2-3 hours.
On the day at 4.30PM - Bake
After the dough’s been proving in it’s final shape for around 2-3 hours, transfer it to the fridge for about 30 minutes. Whilst the dough’s cooling, start heating the oven to 230°C / 446°F (sourdough cooks at a really high temperature).
Find a wide casserole dish or tray to cook the dough in, and cut a couple of sheets of grease proof paper to the right size to be able to line it.
As you’re about 5 minutes from being ready to cook to loaf, put the dish into the oven (without the grease proof paper) on the middle shelf to heat up. Also place in the bottom of the oven another tray filled with about 1cm of water (this will create steam whilst the loaf’s cooking).
When you’re ready, remove the heated dish from the oven (careful it’ll be at 230°C…) and gently place in the grease proof sheets. Take the sourdough out of the fridge and turn it out onto the dish (it may stick a bit if you’ve been using a tea towel - use a knife to gently scrape it off if so)
Using scissors, create some score marks in the dough (be as creative as you like…) and place in the oven for around 40 minutes.
On the day at 6PM - Black Forest Sourdough
Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Serve with cherry jam, whipped double cream, kirsch-soaked cherries, and white and dark chocolate.
And that’s it, hope you enjoy!