Dill Pickle Sourdough Bread

First thing in the morning, feed your sourdough starter. I typically feed 70g of my starter in a ratio of 1 part starter:1 part water:1 part flour. This simply means that I mix 70g of starter with 70g water and 70g flour. Scoop the mixture into a clean jar, and leave it in a warm spot (ideally, 21-27°C), semi-covered for 4 hours. Your starter should at least double in volume in this time. If it doesn't, it may need a couple of good feeds before it's fit for purpose.

I use 160g of active starter for baking and feed the remaining 50g before storing it for the future.

Once the sourdough starter is active and bubbly (and at least doubled in volume), mix the dough. I use a stand mixer for this. Mix the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Then add the water, pickle juice and sourdough starter. Run the mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment for 10 minutes, until your dough is smooth and elastic. It does not need to pass the windowpane test just yet (the gluten will continue developing when we fold the dough during the bulk fermentation period).

Scoop the dough into a large bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place (21-27°C) for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, with cold wet hands, perform the first set of coil folds. Simply lift the bread dough with both hands from the sides and tuck it under to form a coil (video below). Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and coil again. Cover the bowl again, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes again.

Repeat the folds twice again, and leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes in between.

Chop the pickles, and dab them with paper towels to remove excess moisture. In a small bowl, mix the diced gherkins (pickles) with dried dill.

Now, scatter 1/4 of the dill pickles over the surface of the dough, and stretch one side of the dough over (just like stretch and folds method). Scatter another 1/4 of the pickles and fold the dough over. Repeat with the remaining two sides of the dough. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Then, at 30-minute intervals, perform another of coil folds. For more information on how to coil fold and when to know when you've done enough folding, head to our dedicated article about Sourdough Coil Folds.

Once all the folds have been completed, cover the dough and let the dough rise at warm room temperature for 2-4 hours (depending on the temperature of your kitchen) to finish bulk fermentation. Your dough should just about double its original size. If you are using a see-through glass bowl for bulk fermenting, you should see a lot of activity and bubbles forming at the base and sides of the bowl.

Prepare your banneton basket (or any other proofing basket alternatives) by dusting it with rice flour.

At the end of sourdough bulk fermentation, scoop the dough onto a lightly floured kitchen surface. Then swiftly fold the four corners of the dough into the centre, forming a tight ball.

Flip the dough over and cupping it with your hands, drag it against the work top to create surface tention. You should see some blisters coming up to the surface of the dough.

Then lift the dough ball into your proofing basket with the seam at the top.

Pinch the seam together with your fingers, if the dough starts spreading in the bowl to make sure the dough is tight. Sprinkle with some flour, and cover the dough with a clean fabric napkin or small lightweight tea towel. If your fridge is known to be very dry (or you have food with strong odours in it), place the proofing basket in a plastic bag first.

Then place the whole thing in the fridge for its final rise (a.k.a. second rise) in the fridge for 12-36 hours.

The next day, place the Dutch Oven in the oven, and preheat it to 240°C (typically, it is the highest temperature home ovens will go to) with the Dutch oven in it. It needs to be piping hot!

Once the oven is hot, take the dough out of the fridge and out of the bag.

Invert the dough gently onto a large piece of parchment paper. If your dough was properly bulk fermented and shaped correctly, it should not spread once inverted.

Using a bread lame or a razor blade, score the dough deeply (approximately 1cm deep) at a 30- 45º angle. One single deep slash is all that’s needed for that sought-after sourdough “ear”. The blade may catch on the pickles, but be assertive.

Take the hot Dutch Oven out of the oven, take the lid off, and lift the sourdough into it, holding the edges of the parchment paper. Be mindful of how you lift the paper. Sometimes, the scored slash can begin to close up during this process. To prevent this, lift the parchment from the sides that won't push the two edges of the scored dough back together.

Place the lid back on the Dutch Oven and place the bread into the hot oven for 25-30 minutes.

After 25 minutes, take the lid off, and return the sourdough to the oven for another 20-25 minutes. If you don't want your loaf of bread too dark in colour, you can reduce the oven temperature to 200°C.

Once baked, take the Dutch Oven out of the oven. Lift the bread out by holding the corners of the parchment paper. Place the bread onto the wire rack, and slide the parchment paper from underneath the loaf.

Leave the dill pickle sourdough to cool down to room temperature before slicing.