According to Wikipedia, sesame seed, or flaxseed, is considered to be the oldest oilseed in human history.
It’s a seed with tradition.
We may have been growing sesame seeds for over 5,000 years.
That deserves a little respect.
As usual, when you google on seeds, you will learn about all the health benefits.
They tend to cure everything from heart disease and cancer to nail tongs and your dog’s scabies.
Sesame seed is no exception. I don’t want to detract from its health benefits, but sometimes it feels like it can get slightly overboard.
However, like with many other seeds, one cannot overestimate sesame seeds when it comes to baking bread. The nutty taste they provide is almost addictive.
This recipe for sourdough sesame seed bread will use a mix of black and white sesame seeds.
We will also make a simple lamination of the dough to create an interesting pattern in the crumb.
Here are a related article you may want to read:
Sourdough multi-seed bread
Sounds interesting? Then, let’s begin.
ABOUT FLOUR AND OTHER INGREDIENTS
For this sourdough sesame seed bread, I have used the following ingredients.
| FLOUR | PROTEIN CONT, % | WEIGHT | BAKER’S % |
| Wheat flour (bread flour) | 12.5 | 350 g | 100% |
| LEVAIN | 80 g | 23% | |
| WATER | 260 g | 74% | |
| SALT | 7 g | 2% | |
| SEED | 40 g | 11% |
The levain has a hydration of 100%
MIXING A LEVAIN
I needed a total amount of 80-gram levain for this recipe. As usual, the hydration was 100%.
I always mix some extra levain, just in case, so before I went to bed, I mixed 40 grams of water with 40 grams of wheat flour and 20 grams of my sourdough starter.
I used cold water, and I placed the levain at room temperature, about 71°F/22°C.
Usually, it’s ready when I wake up about 7 hours later.
MIXING THE DOUGH
I mentioned earlier that I made a simple lamination. That means I had to divide the dough in two.
So I mixed all ingredients except the sesame seeds and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. That short rest makes the dough less sticky and easier to handle.
I divided the dough into two equal parts and added the black sesame seeds to one of the dough pieces.
I stretched and folded the dough repeatedly to incorporate the seeds into the dough. But also to develop some gluten.
After that, I repeated the procedure with the other piece of dough.
1 st FERMENTATION
During the first fermentation, I performed three additional sets of stretch and fold, spaced out by 30 minutes. After that, I left the dough untouched.
The temperature during fermentation was about 80°F/27°C. The total time for fermentation was 4.5 hours.
The time required depends on many things, and I urge you to be flexible with this step.
Don’t look too much at the clock. Observe the dough instead. When it starts to form gas bubbles on top and jiggles when you shake it, it’s ready. At that time, it has increased about 50-70% in volume.
LAMINATION
To call this lamination is a bit of an exaggeration, but I don’t know what else to call it.
So what I did was stretch each dough out to a square, about 8″x8″/20×20 cm in size.
After that, I took the dough square without seeds and sprinkled sesame seeds on top. I took the second dough square, whit the seeds incorporated, and placed it on the first square.
I folded two sides of the combined dough against each other and rolled it up along the long side into a batard.
This time, instead of using rice flour in my banneton, I added a lot of white sesame seeds. If you want the seed to stick better to the loaf, you can brush the loaf with a beaten egg before you place it in the banneton.
FINAL RISE
I let the loaf proof in my refrigerator for 6 hours. You can, of course, let it proof at room temperature for about an hour. Check with the finger poke test.
BAKING
I preheated the oven to 480°F/250°C together with a combo cooker.
The baking time for this bread was 45 minutes. I lowered the temperature to 430°F/220°C after 15 minutes when I removed the lid to the cooker to prevent the seeds from getting burnt.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT THIS SOURDOUGH SESAME SEED BREAD
There is something special about sesame seeds and bread together.
The white sesame seeds get a delicious nutty taste when baked with the bread. They also become wonderfully crispy when roasted in the oven and improve the already excellent crust of bread.
The black sesame seeds give character to the crumb with their more profound taste.
Altogether you will get a loaf of bread with lots of taste, even if it’s baked with wheat flour only.
It has already become a family favorite in the family, so I will bake it a lot in the future (something you will notice on social media).
Sourdough sesame seed bread
Ingredients
Levain
- 20 gram sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 40 gram water
- 40 gram wheat flour
Main dough
- 350 gram wheat flour (bread flour) 12.5% protein cont.
- 80 gram Levain 100% hydration
- 260 gram Water
- 7 gram Salt
- 20+20 gram Black sesame seed (Flax seed)
- 2 tbsp White sesame seed for topping
Instructions
Levain
- Mix sourdough starter with flour and water. Let it ferment for 4-7 hours at room temperature.The levain shall at least double in volume.
Sourdough sesame seed bread
- Mix all ingredients except black and white sesame seeds. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts. Let the dough rest fro 15 minutes.
- Add 20 gram black sesame seed to one dough and stretch and fold repeatedly until all seeds are incorporated.
- Repeat the stretch and fold for the dough without seeds.
- Perform three additional stretch and folds for both doughs, spaced out by 30 minutes.
- Let the dough ferment untouched for 4-5 hours, or until it has increased about 50-70% in volume.
- Dump out each dough on a lightly floured surface and stretch them out to a square, about 8"x8"/20×20 cm in size.
- Sprinkle the remaining black sesame seeds on the dough square without seeds.
- Take the dough square with incorporated seeds, and place it on top of the other square (with seeds sprinkled on top).
- Fold two sides of the combined square against each other and roll up the dough along the long side into a batard.
- Add white sesame seeds on top of the batard and place the loaf into a banneton.
- Let the dough rise for one hour at room temperature, or six hours in the refrigerator. Perform a finger poke test to see it is ready.
- Preheat the oven to 480°F/250°C together with a combo cooker or dutch oven.
- Slice the dough in your preferred way and place it into the cooker. Place the cooker into the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the lid of the cooker after 15 minutes and lower the temperature to 430°F/220°C.
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