Autumn Pumpkin Sourdough Bread with Walnuts and Sage
·Starter
First, prepare the starter in the bowl you'll use for mixing the dough. It needs to ferment for 12 hours in a warm spot. Mix all three ingredients together into a smooth mixture. Wrap the bowl in a plastic bag or cover it with a lid.
Sticky dough
After twelve hours (ideally start the starter in the evening and bake in the morning), add the remaining ingredients. Mix into a non-sticky dough and let it rest in the bowl for an hour.
Kneading
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Stretch and knead it thoroughly with your hands. This works your warmth into the dough, releases excess air, and develops it beautifully. Once you feel the dough is well worked, shape it and place it into a proofing basket.
Proofing in the basket
Dust the whole loaf lightly with potato starch or flour so the dough doesn't stick to the basket. Turn the loaf into the basket. Enclose the basket in the same bag you used earlier for the starter - I use a medium-sized bin liner for this.
Room temperature vs. fridge
You can now let the bread proof at room temperature for about two hours. I personally rely almost exclusively on cold proofing in the fridge these days. I let the basket proof in the fridge for several hours.
Preheat the oven
Preheat the oven to the highest temperature possible, ideally 230-250°C. Place a tray on the bottom of the oven, and another tray in the middle of the oven - this is the one you'll bake the bread on.
Loading the bread into the oven
Once the oven is fully preheated, turn the risen loaf out onto a wooden board or another surface you'll use to slide the bread into the oven. Place baking paper on this surface, then place the loaf on top.
Bake
Quickly open the preheated oven, pour a cup of water onto the tray at the bottom, then carefully slide the bread on its baking paper onto the hot tray in the middle of the oven. Close the door and bake with steam at this temperature for 10 minutes.
Finish baking
After this time, open the oven, let the steam out, and lower the temperature to 180°C. Continue baking at this temperature for 40 minutes. You can occasionally spritz the bread with water using a spray bottle.
Let it cool
Remove the baked bread from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Ideally for several hours, until completely cold.
