Sweet Potato Pugliese Bread
This is an 85% hydration dough. Crumb is very light, airy, and moist.
Makes two approx. 500g loaves.
Time Required: 5-6 hours with 30 minutes active work.
Ingredients:
400g all purpose unbleached flour (70%)
100g bread flour (17%)
60g whole wheat flour (10%)
20g rye flour (3%)
493 grams of water (85%)
14g kosher salt (2.5%)
1 tsp active dry yeast (1%)
125g mashed sweet potato (see instructions) (22%)
Tools required:
Large mixing bowl with cover, or plastic wrap
Wooden spoon
Kitchen Scale
Baking Stone
Peel
Tea towels, or linen baker’s couches
Small pot
Immersion blender
1. Peel sweet potato and cut into small chunks and measure out 125g. Place sweet potato in small pot with just enough water to cover. Bring water to boil and cook sweet potato until it can be mashed easily with a fork.
2. When sweet potato is cooked, remove from heat and separate sweet potato from cooking liquid.
3. Using a kitchen scale, add the sweet potato cooking liquid, and add room temperature water to make 493g of total liquid.
4. Add cooked sweet potato to the liquid and process with stick blender until there are no chunks of sweet potato. Make sure the liquid mixture is less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Using a kitchen scale, measure out dry ingredients (flours, salt, yeast), place in large bowl and mix well with wooden spoon, then add sweet potato liquid mixture, and mix into choppy dough, and let rest covered for about 20-30 minutes (autolyse)
6. After rest, mix dough again with wooden spoon until dough becomes smooth and wraps around wooden spoon. Turn dough out onto heavily floured work surface, and turn dough using the fold and stretch method, returning dough to covered bowl between turns. Repeat at 20 minute intervals 4 times. At last turn, let dough rise in covered bowl undisturbed for another 90 minutes.
7. After final rise, turn dough out onto heavily floured work surface, gently stretch and fold dough into thirds with the last fold overlapping the first and divide into two loaves. (approx 630g).
8. Form loaves by gently stretching them out and folding them in thirds with the last fold overlapping the first, and place seam side down on heavily floured tea towels or linen baker’s couch with a wall between the 2 loaves. Be careful not to handle to dough to much to preserve the air pockets. Be sure to flour the loaves well so they don’t stick to the tea towels or couche. Cover with remaining couch or tea towels and let proof for about 45 minutes or until they are well expanded and barely spring back when touched.
9. Place baking stone on middle rack of oven and turn on to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and preheat for at least 45 minutes.
10. Turn loaves onto peel (seam side up) and place directly on to the baking stone. Turn oven temperature down to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake for 40-45 minutes turning them 180 degrees half way into baking time. Loaves are done when they are a deep golden brown and the internal temperature is between 205F to 210F.
11. Let loaves cool completely before cutting and eating.
