When we last left off in the Crusty Sourdough Adventures I had just split my dough in half to bake one loaf immediately and bake another, fully proofed version later. Here is my method and instructions for the fully proofed version.
The last step before proofing my bread was to contemplate mix in options to jazz up my bread recipe. What else says jazzy bread like a seed medley, am I right?
I mixed 1 tbsp. poppy seeds, 1.5 tbsp. sesame seeds, 2 tbsp. flax seeds, and 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds together in a bowl. I then transferred my seed medley to a plastic bag to keep in the fridge indefinitely.
I spread out the dough, added 3 tbsp. of the seed medley to the middle, and kneaded for 2-3 minutes to incorporate.
I mentioned this in my prior sourdough post but I’ll say it again: most bread recipes and cookbooks almost always require the baker to use a brotform bowl and special liner. I think they are silly (and expensive) unitaskers so I placed my dough in a flour covered, paper towel lined bowl.
Fully proofed, according to the original recipe I used, meant an overnight rest in the fridge in a plastic bag. A full 12 hours later, my seeded dough was ready for baking.
I used the exact same baking method as before:
First, preheat your oven to 450 degrees with a cast iron skillet and baking vessel inside. Once the oven was preheated, I placed my bread dough in the middle of my Le Creuset and scored the top with a sharp knife. I then poured a cup or two of water into the hot cast iron pan and closed the oven door quickly. This allows the dough to be fully surrounded by steam. After three minutes in the steamy stove, I put the lid on the Le Creuset and baked the bread like that for about 15 minutes. This ensures that all of the steam inside the dough will be trapped there while the bread actually bakes.
Here is the dough pre-bake and right after the lid-on bake:
After I removed the lid, I baked the bread for an additional 20 minutes (until it was a deep golden brown). When it’s done baking, it needs to cool for at least 20 minutes before you cut it.
This version came out perfectly! This time around the air pockets on the inside were much more uniform and the crust was much crunchier. I think I used more water in the cast iron for my steam and also closed the oven door quicker/trapped more steam.
The seed mix ended up being the highlight of the bread. The seeds were distributed evenly and gave great texture and flavor to each bite.
I can’t wait to make this again! (Probably for Thanksgiving)
Domestocrat 
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