Red Miso Furikake Sourdough

This is my first attempt with this formula I’ve put together for a Japanese inspired sourdough using red miso paste and furikake. Furikake for those unfamiliar with it is a seasoning blend that can vary that Japanese often use to top their steamed rice. This particular one has nori flakes, bonito and sesame seeds as the primary ingredient. I’ve based this on Kristen’s basic sourdough recipe.

Total Dough Weight 900 g

Total Flour 494 g

Bread Flour 80%

Whole Wheat 20%

Total Water 377.5 g 76.5% hydration

Bread flour 352 g

Whole Wheat 97 g

Water 320 g

Levain 115 g

Miso paste 21 g 4.3% (My red miso paste is almost 1 g sodium per 20 g miso) add miso with salt during final mix.

Salt 9 g 1.8%

Furikake 3 tbsp added during lamination

Levain build

Whole wheat flour 50 g

Water 50 g

Starter 25 g

Fermentation at 78ºF

  1. Liquid Levain (0:00) — I build mine at around 1:2:2 and let it sit at about 80°F until it more than triples in volume and “peaks”. For my starter, this takes approximately 5-6 hours.

Flour for my starter feeds is composed of a mix of 10% rye, 90% bread flour

  1. Autolyse (+3:00) — This is a pre-soak of the flour and water. If concerned about the hydration hold back some of the water. You can add it back later, if necessary. Leave the autolyse for anywhere from 2-4 hours (I prefer 3 hours) while the levain finishes fermenting.

  2. Add Levain (+6:00) — Spread on top of dough and work in using your hands. This is a good time to evaluate the feel (hydration) of the dough.

  3. Add Salt and Miso (+6:30) — Place salt and miso on top of dough and work in with hands. Dough will start to strengthen. 200 French Folds.

  4. Light Fold (+7:00) — With dough on a slightly wet bench do a Letter Fold from both ways. NOTE: If baking more than one loaf, divide the dough before folding.

  5. Lamination (+7:30) — Place dough on wet counter and spread out into a large rectangle. Sprinkle on Furikake. Do a Letter Fold both ways.

  6. Coil Fold (+8:15) — Do a 4 way Stretch and Fold (Coil Fold) inside the BF container.

  7. Coil Fold (+9:00) — Do a 4 way Stretch and Fold (Coil Fold) inside the BF container.

  8. Coil Fold (+9:15) — Do a 4 way Stretch and Fold (Coil Fold) inside the BF container.

  9. End of BF - Shaping (~11:30) — The duration of the BF is a judgement call. Shoot for 50-60% rise (assuming my fridge temp is set very low). Warmer fridge (above 39F) means your dough will continue to rise… so in this case, bulk to more like 40%. Shape

  10. Retard Overnight & Bake — Score cold and bake in a pre-heated 500F oven for 20 minutes with steam

  11. Vent Oven 20 minutes into the bake — Vent oven and bake for 20 or more minutes at 450F.

I ended up doing 4 coil folds in order to get a good windowpane. I’m not sure if the miso interferes with gluten development or not. When I bake this again I will see if that happens again.

I made a second loaf from this dough and since I only have two bannetons one batard and one boule this one was done as a boule. The oven spring was quite as good as the batard, I perhaps needed to shape a bit tighter. I hadn’t done a boule in over a year so I was a bit out of practice. Also I didn’t bake this in the dutch oven, instead is used my silvia towel and cast iron skillet for steaming. Overall I’m pretty happy with this. The miso paste really makes the crust brown quickly.

can’t say that I’m disappointed in any way with how this batard baked up. Waiting for a 60% rise in the aliquot jar and a further 30 minute bench rest while in the banneton has resulted in a crumb that I am super pleased with. I’d say that I’ve been under proofing somewhat with my previous bakes with 50% aliquot jar rise. I don’t think I’ve had a crumb like this in some time.

If you like the flavour of miso soup, you will like this as well, just no soup or tofu! There is a ton of umami from the miso and the bonito yet neither flavours are overpowering. Nice tang from the sourdough.

This loaf was brought to a friends house and they kindly allowed me to slice it open for a photo and for lunch. I’ll post photos from the boule after it is sliced. I’m not sure it will be quite as good since my shaping wasn’t as good with the boule.

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The boule’s crumb.

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