Honey Walnut Sourdough
This honey walnut sourdough is a lovely balanced bread. It’s slightly sweet and nutty, with toasted walnuts that bring awesome texture. This loaf is perfect for both savory and sweet toppings.
Why you’ll love this honey walnut sourdough
- Balanced flavor – The sweetness of honey goes perfectly with toasty walnuts.
- Great texture – Soft and chewy inside with a crisp, golden crust.
- Versatile – Delicious for breakfast, sandwiches, or with cheese and fruit.
The ingredients & why
- Flour – A mix of bread flour and whole wheat flour gives structure and a hearty texture.
- Sourdough starter – to leaven the loaf and for flavor.
- Water – Hydrates the dough and helps develop gluten.
- Salt – Enhances flavor and strengthens the dough.
- Honey – Adds a touch of sweetness.
- Toasted walnuts – Toasting the walnuts before adding stops them from tasting bitter and it brings out their flavour.
How to Make
Feed starter and toast walnuts.
Begin by feeding your starter and let that double. Then in a dry pan, toast walnuts until fragrant and set aside.
When the starter is ready, combine flour and water and honey into a shaggy dough. Let this rest for 15 minutes then add in the starter and salt.
Stretch and fold and bulk ferment
Over the next three hours, perform a few stretch and folds to build structure.
Add the walnuts
On a dampened surface, stretch the dough into a rectangle and add on the walnuts. Fold the dough like a pamphlet to trap the walnuts then add on another layer of nuts. Roll it up into a log, then shape it into a ball with the palms of your hands.
Bulk ferment continued.
Place the dough back into a bowl and let it continue its bulk ferment. There should be definite signs of activity on the dough, like bubbles forming and the dough will jiggle if you give the bowl a shake. In a room temperature of around 24°C/75°F my dough needs about another 1 1/2 hours, but in colder temperatures it will take longer.
Pre-Shape
Lightly flour the bench and tip out the dough. Preshape into a round and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Fold into pamphlet and roll
Flip it over so the smooth side is down. Gently stretch it into a rectangle.
Fold the top third down and the bottom third up, like a pamphlet. Starting from the short end, roll it up tightly into a log.
Create surface tension
Pull the dough towards you on the bench to create surface tension.
Cold-proof
Place it seam-side up into a floured, lined banneton basket for the final proof.
Baking
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven and dutch oven. Give your bread a slightly angled slash down the length of the loaf, which helps form an ear when it bakes. Bake it covered for the first 20 minutes, letting the bread rise to its full potential before the crust sets.
Then once uncovered, bake again until it has browned to your liking.
Tips
- Toast the walnuts first – It brings out their flavour and it also stops the dough from discoloruing too much (which raw walnuts can do)
- Don’t overdo the honey – Too much can slow fermentation, so I just use a little.
- Chill before baking – A cold-proofed dough bakes up with better oven spring and flavor.
- Store it properly – Keep the bread wrapped in a clean towel at room temp for 2–3 days or freeze slices for longer storage.
More sourdough recipes
Honey Walnut Sourdough
Ingredients
Levain
- 25 g sourdough starter
- 50 g all-purpose flour
- 50 g water
Dough
- 330 g water lukewarm
- 30 g honey
- 400 g bread flour or all purpose flour with protein of at least 11%
- 60 g whole wheat flour Or use more all-purpose
- 9 g salt
- All the levain around 100g active starter
- 90 g walnut halves roughly chopped
Instructions
- Mix together the starter ingredients in a bowl and stir well until thoroughly mixed. Add it to a clean jar and loosely cover it. Leave it in a warm spot until it doubles in size.
- When the starter has almost finished rising, add the lukewarm water and honey to a bowl. Stir until the honey has dissolved and the water has cooled. Add in the flour and use a fork or wooden spoon to bring it together, then switch to wet hands to mix it into a shaggy dough ball with no dry bits of flour remaining. Cover the bowl and let it autolyze at room temperature until the starter is ready.
- Add the starter and salt to the dough and squish it with wet hands. Add in a few slap and folds to incorporate it better and start developing the structure.
Bulk ferment
- Over the next 3 hours, stretch and fold this dough every 30 minutes. Pull the dough up and over itself, turn the bowl a quarter turn, and repeat. Do this on all sides, and always use wet hands.
- Meanwhile, toast the walnuts for 2-3 minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Let them cool.
Adding the walnuts
- After the stretch and folds, on a dampened surface, use wet hands to stretch the dough into a rectangle and add 3/4 of the walnuts. Fold the dough like a pamphlet to trap the walnuts, then add the remaining nuts. Roll it up into a log, then shape it into a ball with the palms of your hands
Bulk ferment continued.
- Place the dough in a clean bowl and give it another hour or two to finish the bulk ferment. There should be definite signs of activity on the dough like bubbles forming and the dough jiggling if you shake the bowl. At a room temperature of around 24°C/75°F, my dough needs about another 1-2 hours, but it will take longer in colder temperatures.
- Shape the sourdough into a batard or ball depending on what basket you’re using.
To shape a bâtard:
- Lightly flour the bench and tip out the dough.
- Pre-shape into a round and let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Flip it over so the smooth side is down. Gently stretch it into a rectangle.
- Fold the top third down and the bottom third up, like a pamphlet.
- Starting from the short end, roll it up tightly into a log.
- Pull the dough towards you on the bench to create surface tension.
- Place it seam-side up into a floured, lined banneton for the final proof.
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and cold-proof in the refrigerator for 8-24 hours.
Baking
- The next day, preheat the oven and a Dutch oven to 450°F/230°C for at least 30 minutes until well-heated.
- Remove the hot Dutch oven and flour the bottom well. Take the dough from the fridge and carefully flip it out of the basket and into the Dutch oven. If baking this in a large pot, it’s best to tip your dough onto a piece of parchment paper. This way, you can lower it into the pot.
- Score the dough using a razor blade or sharp knife.
- Bake covered with the lid for around 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake uncovered for 20 minutes more, depending on your preference or your oven. Some ovens run hotter and may need less time, while others need more.
- Let the sourdough cool for at least two hours before slicing.
