Sourdough with Roasted Garlic

Servings: 1 loaf Prep Time: 2 minutes Cook Time: 2 hours 35 minutes

Roasted garlic sourdough: perfectly fluffy sourdough bread studded with velvety smooth morsels of roasted garlic. As it bakes, the kitchen fills with an irresistible aroma of earthy roasted garlic and toasty sourdough bread. This savory bread has the BEST flavor and makes the perfect side dish or base for gourmet sandwiches. Give it a try today!

Ingredients: – 3-4 bulbs garlic – olive oil – sea salt – active sourdough starter – lukewarm water – fine sea salt – bread flour

Roast garlic for 1-2 hours, or until each clove is golden brown and the juices are starting to caramelize. The roasting time will depend on the size of both the bulbs of garlic and the cloves inside the bulbs.

Let the garlic cool until it is cool enough to handle. Remove the cloves from the skins. You can squeeze from the bottom to remove all the cloves or remove them individually.

Prepare dough according to the recipe instructions below.

Gently pull the dough into a large rectangle (about 10" x 16") if you're shaping a batard.

Arrange the roasted garlic cloves all over the dough. Lightly press the cloves into the dough to keep them from moving when you shape the loaf.

Fold the long sides of the dough into the center to form a thin rectangle. Don't overlap the sides.

Fold the short end of the rectangle over itself and roll the rectangle into a cylinder.

Place the shaped dough seam-side up in a floured banneton or cloth-lined bowl. Seal the bottom edges of the dough ball together. Cover the banneton and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours for a really crispy crust. The sweet spot is around 3-4 hours for this recipe.

Place the shaped dough, seam side down, on a piece of parchment paper. Score it with a razor blade or bread lame. It needs at least one big slash on the side of the dough to let out steam as it rises. You can add decorative scoring as well, but it isn't necessary.

Bake in a Dutch oven according to the instructions in the recipe link below.

Let the loaf cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!