Roasted garlic and cheddar sourdough can be a little bit finicky but once you dial it in it will quickly become a favourite. This is one of those loaves that always gets requested for large family dinners, potlucks and holidays. We also always try and keep our freezer stocked with some frozen slices to pull out and have as a last minute addition to dinner. This bread goes really well with any pasta dinner; it's great for a lot of sandwiches, or just toasted by itself as a side with any meal. The garlic flavour is not overpowering and with this cheese ratio you are bound to get few good chunks of cheese in each slice!
One thing to keep in mind is that the garlic does affect the fermentation and slow it down quite a bit. You will need to account for this by either adding a higher percentage of levain into the dough, fermenting at a warmer temperature, or simply allowing extra time for the fermentation to take place.
Give it a try, you will not be disappointed!
Ingredients (Two Loaves)
600g (75%) Anita's Organic All Purpose Flour
120g (15%) Nunweiler's Whole Grain Red Fife
80g (10%) Nunweiler's Whole Grain Light Spelt
624g (78%) Water
16g (2%) Salt
160g (20%) Levain
200g (25%) Old Cheddar, cubed
120g (15%) Roasted Garlic, mashed
Process
8:30am- Levain Build with 25g Starter, 75g warm water, 75g Flour blend (75% White, 25% Dark Rye)
12:30pm- Autolyse with 600g of the water
1:30pm- Mix in 160g of Levain
2:00pm- Mix in Salt with the remaining 24g of water
2:30pm- Coil Fold
3:00pm- Laminate the cubed cheddar and mashed garlic into the dough
3:30pm- Coil Fold
4:00pm- Coil Fold
5:00pm- Coil Fold
6:00pm- Coil Fold
8:15pm- Divide and Pre-shape
8:30pm- Shape, put into Banneton, cover with plastic, put into the fridge overnight
7:00am- Preheat Oven, Lodge Dutch Oven and Staub Cocotte to 550°F
8:00am- Score the dough and bake at 450°F for 20 minutes with the lid on, 15 minutes with the lid off, and then 5 minutes out of the cast iron and directly on the oven rack.
Notes:
Again, remember that the garlic is going to slow the fermentation down. Ferment as long as you think it needs, and then go longer!
These loaves do tend to bake quicker on the bottom than others. To help remedy this I like to take them out of the cast iron for the last 5-10 minutes and bake directly on the oven rack.
Play around with ratios that you like. I've done a lot of loaves at 10% garlic and 20% cheese, which is nice; but I have worked my way up to 15% and 25% and this is my favourite at the moment.
I roast the garlic by chopping the top 1/4" off of the top off of each clove while keeping the entire bulb intact. I then place the bulb in aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil, and then close up the foil. Bake at 450°F for 45 minutes. (see photos below) Let the garlic cool down and then squeeze out the garlic and mash into a paste.
Cube the garlic as you wish. I like to cube about an hour before laminating into the dough so that the cheese gets up to room temperature and doesn't cool the dough down.
When laminating the dough spread out as thin as you can without tearing the dough. I start by dabbing the roasted garlic and then sprinkling the cubed cheddar on top. I've included a video below demonstrating how I laminate fillings into my dough. This was from my Raisin Cinnamon Sourdough but the technique is the same for these loaves.
Your fermentation times may vary depending on a lot of different factors. Use these times for the folding and the duration of the Bulk Fermentation only as a guideline. What worked for me may need to be tweaked a little bit for your bake.
