Mardi Gras Sourdough!

Feb 20

Happy Mardi Gras! I found myself experimenting with yellow, green and purple doughs this week. Below is the result of one such experiment! I didn’t document the entire process in detail, so this is mainly to give you the approximate ingredient proportions and a simple version of the process.

For this dough, my starer was ripe for use at around 2pm. I had fed it the night before, as well as again the day-of. I also pre-measured the flour, salt and natural dyes the night before so that they were ready to go. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the yellow comes from turmeric, the green from spirulina and the purple form butterfly pea flower tea. Those links will bring you to the brands I use! I bought a bag of spirulina literally 4 years ago and I’m still using it. A little goes a long way! You can use it in everything from breads to smoothies. It’s super good for you as long as you accept the earthy taste :)

Ingredients (Total)

378g bread flour (90%)
42g whole wheat (10%)
12g salt (~3%)
84g starter (20%)
312g water (~75%)
80g ripe starter (20%)
1-2g turmeric
1-2g spirulina
15g butterfly pea flowers

Instructions

The night before you make the bread, measure out 15g of butterfly pea flowers and combine them with around 200g of boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes and then strain, reserving 140g of the purple liquid for your dough the next day. Compost or discard the mushy flowers.
Each dough with have 140g flour total, so I recommend mixing the bread flour, whole wheat flour and salt all together, and then split it up evenly into 3 bowls (keep in mind that with the addition of the salt, each bowl will have 144g total.
For the yellow dough, add 2g turmeric and whisk thoroughly. Do the same for the green. Do not do anything yet with the purple.

Instructions continue below.

4. When your starter is ripe the next day, mix 104g water and 28g starter until combined. Pour this mixture into your flour/turmeric mix.

5. Mix another 104g water and 28g starter until combined. Pour this mixture into your flour/spirulina mix.

6. Combine 28g starter into 104g of your purple tea water. Mix and then pour it into your last bowl of flour.

7. Mix all three doughs until you have no dry bits. Let them rest for 45 minutes.

8. Every hour or so, perform stretch/folds with wet hands. I laminated each dough midway through to build extra strength. Bottom line - make sure you bulk ferment them for about 6 hours at 75F. If it’s warmer, cut the time down. If it’s colder, increase the time.

9. Laminate all 3 together and then roll up into a log. Full Proof Baking has a great video of this saved on her Instagram from last year (see the pride load series). Sprinkle the log with rice flour and transfer to banneton. Cover and place into the fridge overnight!

10. In the morning, pre-heat your cooking vessel in the oven at 475F. Transfer the dough to the vessel, score the top, and bake for 30min covered and 10-15min uncovered. Let it cool completely before slicing!

If you make this I’d love to see! Tag @nokneadtoworry on Instagram.