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Hemp Sourdough Bread with Walnuts (Gluten-Free)

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Description

If you want to give more nutritional power to your lectin-free and gluten-free sourdough bread, adding hemp flour is the way to go. Not only is hemp packed with protein, fiber, essential minerals, and vitamins, but it also makes this bread extra tasty. Plus, adding walnuts gives it a crunchy, nutty flavor and even more nutritional benefits. This gluten-free hemp sourdough bread with walnuts recipe is perfect for anyone looking to up their gluten-free baking game or simply enjoy a wholesome and delicious slice of bread. So, grab your ingredients and get ready to bake!


Ingredients

FOR THE PREFERMENT (make the night before, right before you feed the starter)

  • 10 grams starter
  • 30 grams of water, or the amount your flour needs, up to 35 grams (spring, filtered, non-chlorinated)
  • 35 grams of flour mix (for this bread, equal quantities of sorghum, teff, and millet)

THE WET MIX

  • 17 grams psyllium husk flakes (not powder)
  • 420 grams of water (spring, filtered, bottled, no chlorine, no tap, and don’t use reverse osmosis water)
  • 10 grams organic, raw honey, preferably local
  • 6 grams extra virgin olive oil
  • 75 grams sorghum + millet + teff preferment (made the night before)

THE DRY MIX

  • 50 grams teff flour
  • 75 grams millet flour
  • 76 grams sorghum flour
  • 30 grams hemp flour
  • 70 grams tapioca flour
  • 6 grams non-iodized good quality fine salt

ADD-INS

  • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (raw)
  • a few tablespoons of hemp hearts for topping

Instructions

MAKE THE PREFERMENT

  1. Mix all the ingredients the night before (you will prepare the dough in the morning). Please remember the preferment doesn’t have a long life. Please use it within 10 hours maximum from the moment you make it. So if you make the preferment at 11 pm before sleep, make sure you use it by 9 am the next morning. 

THE MIXING METHOD

  1. In a glass or plastic bowl, combine 400g of the water, psyllium husk flakes, honey, and extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and set it on the side. Once the psyllium husks absorb the water, this mixture will have a gel-like texture (it needs about 5 minutes).
  2. In the meantime, combine all the dry ingredients in a glass bowl. 
  3. Now add the preferment to the psyllium husk gel. Add the remaining 20g of water to the preferment jar, shake, and pour the content into the psyllium husk mixture (this is to make sure we use all the preferment that gets stuck on the jar). Mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon. 
  4. Add the preferment gel mixture to the dry ingredients bowl, and incorporate as much as possible with a spatula or wooden spoon. Start mixing with your hand until the dough is homogeneous and has no lumps. Add the walnuts and mix until the nuts are getting evenly distributed. The dough is soft and sticky.
  5. Now you can start mixing with the silicone or plastic dough scraper, scraping the dough from the sides of the bowl, and folding it into the center. Rotate the bowl and repeat with the same movement, for about 30 seconds. Please watch the video in the post above for a visual guide. 
  6. Cover the bowl with a plastic cover, then wrap it in two extra big plastic bags and tighten them. From now on, the fermentation starts. I keep my bowl on the kitchen counter. Ideally, it needs a place where the temperature stays constant throughout the process. 

BULK FERMENTATION

  1. Let it ferment for 1 hour and 15 minutes if the temperature in the house is around 21 degrees Celcius (70 degrees Fahrenheit). If it’s hotter than that, the time will decrease; if it’s colder, the time will increase. You must experiment until you find the right time for your situation. 

SHAPING THE DOUGH

  1. The video will be the most helpful here; please watch it. Gently invert the dough on a working surface, dusted with just a tiny bit of flour. Gently lift one-third of the dough and fold it on top of itself. Then fold it one more time, so now what was on the bottom on the working surface is on the top. Now you will shape the dough and seal the bottom part, as seen in the video. 

PROOFING THE DOUGH

  1. Dust the lining of the Banneton or the towel with flour.  Now that the dough is sealed and shaped, gently transfer it to the proofing basket with the sealed side facing upward (the smooth face down), as shown in the video. Dust the top with flour, and cover with plastic wrap or wrap it in a towel. Because my house is pretty dry, I spray a little bit of water on the towel. I cover it in the plastic wrap, and then in two plastic bags that I tighten well. Again, you might not need these extra steps in your house. The proofing time will about the same as the bulk fermentation. At around 70F, it will be 1 hour and 15 minutes. 

PREHEAT THE OVEN

  1. To 250C/480F for about 45 minutes before baking, with the Dutch oven and the lid inside the oven. 

SCORING AND TRANSFERRING TO THE OVEN

  1. When the dough is proofed and your oven and cast iron are preheated, gently invert the dough from the basket to the middle of a parchment paper sheet. 
  2. Spray the top of the dough with a little bit of water, and sprinkle the hemp hearts on top. You will have to use the palm of your hand to help them stick to the surface. Then dust with flour (I like to use sorghum). 
  3. When you are ready to score the bread, take the Dutch oven out next to you (carefully so you don’t burn yourself). Score the bread: I like a cross pattern for this bread. 
  4. Lift the dough with the edges of the parchment paper and gently lower it into the cast iron. Spray the dough with water to create steam, cover it with the lid, and put it back into the oven. Alternatively, you can throw two ice cubes into the pot, but not on top of the bread, somewhere next to it, or on the outside of the paper. 
  5. Bake covered for 40 minutes. 
  6. After 40 minutes, carefully remove the lid (leaving the lid inside the oven to maintain the temperature), lower the temperature to 225C/440F and bake for 40 more minutes (watch the bread after 30 minutes, some ovens run hotter). 
  7. Take the pot out, and carefully remove the bread. 
  8. Let the bread rest on a cooling rack for at least 5 hours. I know it can be tempting, but don’t slice it before 5 hours, as you will ruin the texture. For the best crumb, I recommend letting it rest overnight. 
  9. Store the bread for 2 to 3 days at room temperature, in a paper bag, or wrapped in a cotton towel. The first and second day is great fresh, but from day 3 I prefer it toasted. I actually love it toasted, even when is fresh. You can also slice it, separate the slices with parchment paper and freeze it. I thaw it in the toaster.