This roasted broccoli and cheddar sourdough is inspired by broccoli and cheddar soup served inside a hollowed out sourdough loaf in some restaurants. My goal was to emulate the flavor of the broccoli cheddar soup but combine in with the dough.
If you make this sourdough loaf, I highly recommend toasting it so the cheese melts a little before eating it!
About the Ingredients:
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I roasted the broccoli before adding it to the dough with some garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper to give it a little extra flavor. I chopped the broccoli in to small pieces before roasting.
For this loaf, I used Tillamook mild cheddar, but any cheddar would be delicious. Other types of cheeses would also work well such as parmesan or manchego but might not have the same flavor profile.
For flour, I used King Arthur’s bread flour and Central Milling’s T85 flour. However, any bread flour or whole wheat flour instead of T85 flour should work well.
Equipment:
I bake my sourdough loaves in Dutch ovens to capture the steam and develop crispy crusts. For this particular loaf, I used my 4.2 qt Emile Henry Dutch oven. Any Dutch oven should work quite well though.
For a full list of my sourdough baking tools, check out My Favorite Sourdough Baking Tools post.
Roasted Broccoli and Cheddar Sourdough
Equipment
- Dutch oven
- dough scraper (optional)
- Large mixing bowl or container
- kitchen scale
- banneton (optional)
- rice flour (optional)
Ingredients
Leaven (Levain) Ingredients
- 85 g sourdough starter (active) Feed it and let it double or triple in volume before using it
- 260 g water
- 70 g whole wheat flour or T85 flour
- 170 g bread flour I used King Arthur's bread flour
Dough Ingredients
- leaven (from above)
- 300 g bread flour
- 130 g water
- 7 g salt, plus more for the roasted broccoli
- 250 g broccoli (about a few handfuls)
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped finely for roasting broccoli (optional)
- 130 g Cheddar, chopped roughly (grated would work too)
- olive oil, salt and pepper for roasting broccoli
Instructions
Mix the leaven (levain)
- In a large mixing bowl or container, mix all of the ingredients for the leaven (starter, water, whole wheat flour, bread flour). Mix gently until thoroughly combined and cover.
- Rest the leaven at room temperature for about 6-12 hours until doubled or tripled in volume and very bubbly. My leaven took about 6 hours to become very bubbly at 75 °F.
Mix the dough
- After the leaven is very bubbly, add the remaining water (130 g) and bread flour (300 g). Mix by hand until combined. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, add the 7 g salt to the dough. Mix gently until combined. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.
- Then, stretch and fold the dough by gently lifting up the dough from the sides of the container and folding it inward toward the middle. I usually lift up one side of the dough, fold it inward and then rotate the container, repeating the folding until all of the edges of the dough have been folded toward the middle. The dough will look like a loose ball after this stretching and folding. Cover, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Then, you have two options. Option 1: repeat the stretching and folding every 30-45 minutes for the next 3-5 hours. Option 2: Cover and put the dough in the refrigerator for about 24-48 hours.
Shape the dough and add the roasted broccoli and cheddar
- Roast the broccoli. Coarsly chop it into small pieces, drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle it with salt, pepper and garlic. Bake on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper for 10-15 minutes at 425°F or until cooked to your desired amount.
- If you refrigerated the dough, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come close to room temperature. Then, remove the dough from the container or bowl onto a clean counter. With damp hands and a dough scraper, stretch the dough out to a rectangular shape (it doesn't need to be perfect). I have a demonstration on Instagram if you need guidance. Then, spread out the roasted broccoli and cheddar over the top of the dough rectangle.
- Then, fold over the edges of the dough rectangle toward the middle, to capture the broccoli and cheddar inside the dough. Gently flip over this dough packet, and shape carefully into a ball. It is okay if the shape is not perfect or if some of broccoli or cheddar escapes. Just gently shape it back into the dough. Let the shaped dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes with the seam side down.
- After 30 minutes, gently transfer the shaped dough to a floured banneton or mixing bowl. The "seam" of your loaf will be facing up, so the loaf will be upside down. I usually line the banneton or bowl with a kitchen towel, dust the towel with rice flour to prevent sticking, then place the dough into the banneton with the dough seam up. Then, dust with more rice flour and cover with the kitchen towel.
- Then, transfer the shaped loaf to the refrigerator in the banneton or bowl and refrigerate for about 18-48 hours (depending on your schedule).
Bake the loaf
- Preheat your oven and Dutch oven to 500 °F for at least 20 – 30 minutes.
- Once the oven is preheated, remove your loaf from the banneton or bowl and score the top with a slash using either a sharp knife or lame.
- Then, cover the bottom of the Dutch oven with parchment paper, transfer the loaf gently to the Dutch oven and cover. Bake for 25 minutes at 500 °F.
- After 25 minutes, recover the cover from the Dutch oven and decrease the oven temperature to 450 °F. Bake the loaf for 20-45 more minutes until golden brown (check on it every 10-15 minutes).
- Remove the loaf from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a wire rack for a least a few hours before slicing.
Notes
I hope you enjoy this sourdough loaf! If you liked this sourdough recipe, you might also enjoy this Leek, Parmesan and Black Pepper Sourdough.