Food and drink and witches brew, and the last ingredient is YOU! Or jokes aside, it’s flour, water, active sourdough starter and some good old activated charcoal! All the sourdough tang, and all the spooky chills in this Halloween Sourdough! Get creative with the scoring and serve this Black Charcoal Sourdough Bread on the scariest night of the year!
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Ingredients
- 400 g strong bread flour: with a protein content of at least 12%.
- 2.5 g activated charcoal powder: you can buy food-grade activated charcoal in speciality baking shops or online.
- 7 g salt
- 160 g active sourdough starter: a strong and bubbly sourdough starter, that is 100% hydration is used in this recipe.
- 215 ml tepid water.
Method: How To Make Black Sourdough?
Day 1: Dough, Folds and Proofing
Feed your starter first thing in the morning and leave it to at least double in volume. As soon as it’s at its peak, use it to make this scary-looking Charcoal Sourdough Bread.
Mix strong white flour, salt and activated charcoal powder in a bowl of your stand mixer. Add the active sourdough starter and water.
Fitted with a dough hook attachment, run your stand mixer on medium speed and let it knead the dough for 8 minutes.
Scrape the dough onto a kitchen surface and shape it into a ball. Place the dough into a large lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, perform the first set of stretch and folds or coil folds (see video). Cover and leave for another 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, stretch and fold again. Cover and leave at room temperature again for 30 minutes.
Repeat the folds every 30 minutes 2 more times. After the last one, cover and leave the dough to rest at room temperature in a warm spot for 2 hours undisturbed.
Once doubled, turn the dough onto a clean surface. Form the dough into a tight round ball.
Generously dust a proving basket with flour. Alternatively, take a large bowl and line it with a clean tea towel. Flour it well. Place the formed ball of dough into the prepared bowl/basket. Cover the top and place the bowl into a bag to prevent the dough from drying out. Place it in the fridge overnight (or up to 36 hours).
Day 2: Scoring and Baking
When ready to bake pre-heat the oven to 230C. Place your dutch oven into the oven whilst it is preheating too. Once the oven is at temperature, leave the dutch oven to get hot there for 10 minutes.
Carefully invert your black sourdough onto a large sheet of baking parchment. Spray the top with water using an atomiser, then dust it with flour.
Using a dough scorer or a razor blade, score the pattern on the sourdough. Deep scoring will result in sourdough opening up a lot, so be careful not to go in too deep where you want narrow lines.
Take the dutch oven out of the oven and take the lid off. Lift the sourdough into the dutch oven holding the edges of the baking parchment you placed it on. Place the lid on and place the bread in the oven for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes, remove the lid and return the pan to the oven. Carry on baking for 25 minutes until a good crust has formed and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base.
Transfer onto a cooling rack and cool for at least an hour before you cut into it.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Once your sourdough has cold-proofed and is ready to bake, follow the Day 2 steps in our White Sourdough Bread Recipe.
Other Halloween Recipes
Looking for more inspiration for your Halloween dinner? Have a look below for our favourite pumpkin-shaped recipes:
Recipe Card
Black Charcoal Sourdough
Equipment
- Dough Scraper
Ingredients
- 400 g strong bread flour
- 2.5 g activated charcoal powder
- 7 g salt
- 160 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 215 ml tepid water
Instructions
Day 1:
- Mix strong white flour, salt and activated charcoal powder in a bowl of your stand mixer. Add the active sourdough starter and water.
- Fitted with a dough hook attachment, run your stand mixer on medium speed and let it knead the dough for 8 minutes.
- Scrape the dough onto a kitchen surface and shape it into a ball. Place the dough into a large lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, perform first set of streach and folds or coil folds (see video in the text above). Cover and leave for another 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, stretch and fold again. Cover and leave at room temperature again for 30 minutes.
- Repeat the folds every 30 minutes 2 more times. After the last one, cover and leave the dough to rest at room temperature in a warm spot for 2 hours undisturbed.
- Once doubled, turn the dough onto a clean surface. Form the dough into a tight round ball.
- Generously dust a proving basket with flour. Alternatively, take a large bowl and line it with a clean tea towel. Flour it well. Place the formed ball of dough into the prepared bowl/basket. Cover the top and place the bowl into a bag to prevent the dough from drying out. Place it in the fridge overnight (up to 36 hours).
Day 2:
- When ready to bake pre-heat the oven to 230°C. Place your dutch oven into the oven whilst it is preheating too. Once the oven is at temperature, leave the dutch oven to get hot there for 10 minutes.
- Carefully invert your black sourdough onto a large sheet of baking parchment. Spray the top with water using an atomiser, then dust it with flour.
- Using a dough scorer or a razor blade, score the pattern on the sourdough. Deep scoring will result in sourdough opening up a lot, so be careful not to go in too deep where you want narrow lines.
- Take the Dutch oven out of the oven and take the lid off. Lift the sourdough into the dutch oven holding the edges of the baking parchment you placed it on. Place the lid on and place the bread in the oven for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, remove the lid and return the pan to the oven. Carry on baking for 25 minutes until good crust has formed and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base.
- Transfer onto a cooling rack and cool for at least an hour before you cut into it.
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