Flaxseed Sourdough Bread

This turned out REALLY well. I'm glad for that--I needed a win. The last couple attempts at making loaves had turned out really poorly:  on one, my dough was looking okay, but I accidentally turned the oven off after only 10 minutes in the oven....needless to say that was not a great bake.  Then I had some super active dough, doubled nicely, but then I got home late, put the bowl in the fridge without shaping it...and it deflated and didn't recover.  But this one... possibly the prettiest loaf I have made to date.

We have whole flaxseed in the cabinet to use in smoothies or baking. I wanted to see how it would do in sourdough!  Thankfully there was already a recipe out there, but it used only 60g of sourdough starter.  I had a BUNCH of discard this week.  (Note: I also got a new ring light to help with photos--not necessarily a planned purchase, but they were $10 in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby, which was cheaper than the clip-on version I'd been watching at Amazon, so...might as well.)

With the ring light.

Having learned my lesson from previous attempts at baking with cold, unfed discard, I pulled my starter out of the fridge the night before.  By morning, the volume had doubled and it was all very bubbly and happy with no hooch on the top, so I decided if I used 120g of unfed active discard, instead of 60g of fed active starter, maybe things would even out.  I also decided to mix up the flour recommendations a bit to help the discard. Rye flour is like a turbo-boost for starter yeast, so I reduced the amount of bread flour and added that in (in addition to reducing flour & water amounts to account for the extra starter).

INGREDIENTS:

• 120g sourdough starter, active
• 270g water (250g + 25g, as noted below)
• 400g bread flour
• 40g whole wheat flour
• 30g ground flax meal
• 10g rye flour
• 8g salt
• 10-20g additional AP flour as needed 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine 250g of water & the sourdough starter in a stand mixer bowl & mix well with a spoon until dissolved.
2. Add the rye flour, whole wheat flour, and flax meal to the bowl one at a time, mixing after each addition to incorporate thoroughly.
3. Add the bread flour to the bowl, then place in the stand mixer and use the dough hook to combine, just until water is absorbed.
4. Cover and let autolyze for 1 hour.
5. While that's going, combine the remaining 25g of water (boiling--use the microwave) and the 8g of salt to get the salt to dissolve. Let it cool during the autolyze step.
6. After the hour is up, add the saltwater mixture to the dough, and mix.  I found the dough with the original amount of flour was too sticky, so I added more flour while mixing.  Mix for a total of 10ish minutes or until it forms a nice ball and doesn't readily stick to the sides of the mixer or the dough hook.  This is in place of the more traditional "slap & folds" from the original recipe--I've found that 10ish minutes in the mixer is generally enough to build good gluten structure in the dough.
7. Once dough is mixed and smooth, cover and let bulk ferment.  I let this dough go for about 5 hours while we were out running errands--the original recipe was only 2ish hours with the folding (but again--I'm using unfed discard and figured it would need more time to bulk up). 
8. Once done with the bulk ferment, transfer onto a floured surface for shaping. I did a boule, and then used the basket of our salad spinner as my proofing bowl since has a lot of air flow to allow a skin to form on the dough. I placed the dough upside down onto a well-floured tea towel, then placed that inside the bowl and covered the whole thing with the shower cap, and put it in the fridge for a little shy of 24 hours.
9. Once ready to bake, I pulled the bowl out of the fridge and placed it on the counter while the oven was heating to 480F. I put my dutch oven in the stove as well so it would be hot.
10. When the oven reached temp, I flipped the boule out onto a piece of parchment paper, and then slashed the top with a razor that had been dipped in water (a tip from the original poster, which make the slash go MUCH easier than the last time I tried).  
    Using oven gloves, I removed the dutch oven, gently lowered the parchment into the pan, and then added an ice cube (for extra steam), quickly put the lid back on, and then put it back into the oven, reduced the oven temp to 430F, and baked for 35 minutes.
11. After 35 minutes, I removed the Dutch Oven and pulled the loaf out and placed it (and the parchment paper) directly on the oven rack for 7 minutes to allow the crust to brown.

And after all that....we have this!

Definitely the prettiest boule I've made to date.  Nice ear, nice oven spring...after those last few big whiffs, this was a reinvigorating boost.  Maybe I don't suck at making actual sourdough loaves!  Since we're doing the Mediterranean Diet, I incorporated a slice into my breakfast the other morning.

Cottage cheese = poor man's ricotta