Sourdough Scottish Struan Bread

Original recipe from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day. I adapted it to sourdough

Makes 2 loaves in 8.5 x 4.5" loaf pans

Ingredients:
1 C 100% hydration Sourdough Starter
5 cups (22.5 oz/638 g) unbleached bread flour
1/4 cup (1.5 oz/42.5 g) coarse cornmeal (polenta grind)
1/4 cup (1 oz/28 g) rolled oats
3 tablespoons (0.75 oz/21 g) wheat bran or oat bran
1/2 cup (2 oz/56.5 g) cooked brown rice
1/4 cup (2 oz/56.5 g) brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons (0.66 oz./19 g) salt, or 3 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons (1 oz/28.5 g) honey or aguave nectar or Molasses (for a stronger flavor)
1 1/2 cups (12 oz/340 g) lukewarm water (about 95°F or 35° C)
1/2 cup(4 oz/113 g) lukewarm buttermilk, yogurt, or any other milk (about 95°F or 35° C) OR 1/2 buttermilk and 1/2 yogurt.
Poppy seeds or sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

Do Ahead

Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes to fully hydrate the flour.

Once again, mix on the slowest speed with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes more. The dough should be very tacky or slightly sticky. *
(May have to adjust the flour to water amount here due to the addition of the starter to the recipe.)

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, then dust the top of the dough with flour. Lightly knead the dough for 2-3 minutes, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough will still be soft and sticky but should hold together to for a soft, supple ball. With oiled hands, reach under on end of the dough, stretch it out, then fold it back onto itself. Do this from the back-end and then from each side. Flip the dough over and tuck it into a ball.

Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Repeat this entire process three more times, completing all repetitions within 40 minutes.

Place dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight for up to 5 days.

On Baking Day

Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours before you plan to bake. Shape the cold dough into one or more sandwich loaves using 28 ounce of dough for 4 1/2 x 8 inch loaf pans and 36 ounce. for 5×9 loaf pans. (After making this bread many times, I generally take all of the dough from one batch and shape it into one sandwich loaf which I bake in a 5×9? pan. I used to divide the dough and make two loaves, but I prefer the fuller loaf that I get by just using the one pan.) The dough can also be shaped into any size freestanding loaf you desire; or into rolls using 2 ounce of dough per roll.

For sandwich loaves, proof the dough in greased loaf pans.

Brush the top of the dough with water and sprinkle with poppy seeds (if you wish) then mist with spray oil ( I prefer to use butter since I like the flavor it gives the crust when making sandwich loaves. Gives a soft crust but all crusts are soft a day after going in a plastic bag in my experience) and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

Let the dough rise a room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until increased to about 1 1/2 times its original size. In loaf pans, the dough should dome at least 1 inch above the rim.

About 15 minutes prior to baking preheat the oven to 350° F (177°C).

Bake the loaves for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan. The total baking time is 45-60 minutes for loaves and only 20 – 25 minutes for rolls. The bread is done when it has a rich golden color, the loaf sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom, and the internal temperature is able 185°F (85°C)

Cool for at least 20 minutes for rolls and 1 hour for large loaves before slicing or serving.

*Sticky dough means the dough will stick to a dry finger when you poke it. Tacky dough behaves more like a post-it not, sticking to your finger but peeling off easily. With very tacky dough it means a little bit of dough may stick to your finger, but most of it peels off easily.

How I came about:
I thought I’d share this recipe I copied and modified to sourdough.
I went to the Highland Games near Chicago. They had several booths with tasty baked comestibles so I bought some things. I really liked the Struan Bread. Looked at the ingredients and liked it. So off to an internet search for a sourdough recipe. None to be found. Decided I liked Peter Reinhart’s take on it. Did some experimentation and came up with the following recipe. Not really much change from the original but it turns out with a pretty good sandwich crumb, I’ve only made it for sandwiches, and great flavor and tang. I’ve made it using Sourdough Jack, Killbuck and Goldrush starters.

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Thanks for sharing that – it sounds delicious. What is the final texture like? I’m guessing pretty soft despite all the non-flour additions.

Yes it is soft and on the dense side. Since I use it mainly for sandwiches I only make it in loaf pans. Should work well done other ways. Tastes great.
I forgot how long it takes for refrigerated dough to come up to room temp and rise so the last batch was a bit under proofed, it got really late, but still very nice. Took the dough out of the fridge at 3pm. Baked at 10pm.
Here it is as baked. Temp was 475 F to start turned down to 425 at 10 min. Baked to 198F internal.

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Thanks for sharing your recipe. Since I purchased Reinhart’s book 2 years ago I’ve been meaning to bake his Struan bread since he mentions it is one of his favourites. Then a year ago I started to bake sourdough and soon forgot about it. I will need to try your take on it using sourdough in the near future.

Thanks Benito. Hope it works well for you. Let me know.
Leave plenty of time for the dough to warm up and rise. That cold dough does not come up to room temp very quickly.

That looks really good!
I’ve got cooked basmati rice at the moment …close enough lol

Curious, how’d it turn out and what was your impression? Flavor, crumb etc.

It’s still on my “want to make list” :pray::heavy_check_mark: