Lazydough (nearly no-knead whole wheat sourdough)

Roasty toasty garlic, rosemary and an olive oil drizzle

   Since my last post, residency has started. I'm still cooking on the reg, but also finding more hacks to speed up the process. I've become a believer in the pressure-cooker magic of the Instantpot, frequently turn to recipes from How to Cook Anything Fast by Mark Bittman, and developed my version of sourdough, aka 'lazydough': all the reward of a hearty sourdough loaf but with minimal effort. My threshold is being able to make this even when I'm on an inpatient rotation with only one day off per week. The overall gist is to mix the dough the night before, put in the fridge, then finish and bake the following day. The other component to this recipe is that it's whole wheat. Since I wanted sourdough to be a regular staple at home (a slice of sourdough topped with tangy goat cheese and berry preserves is my perfect breakfast on-the-go), a whole wheat loaf would be the best option from a nutrition standpoint.

My post-rounding hospital brunch

  Getting there took quite a bit of tweaking. My initial attempts with regular stone-ground whole wheat fell flat, literally, because the coarse bran flakes sheared the gluten during kneading. I had success with King Arthur's white whole wheat flour,  my default all-purpose flour. I also learned the important principle to hydrate whole wheat more to enable a good rise. 

As they say, the proof is in the pudding--or in this case, the proofing itself. Recipe below!

Love packing sourdough for hiking trips--topped here with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and smoked paprika

|| Lazydough ||

Makes one 9" loaf--Serves 1 to however many you are willing to share with

Kitchen Equipment

• Pizza stone OR 9" cast iron skillet
• baking sheet
• parchment paper
• kitchen scale

Ingredients

• 344g white whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur)
• 344g filtered water
• 225g ripe starter
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• olive oil
• semolina
• optional: garlic, rosemary, course-ground salt

Directions

1. The night before your day off: combine flour, water and starter in a medium bowl until well-mixed. Cover and let sit for 30min-1hr to autolyze (scientific magic that includes letting the flour hydrate fully, which is particularly important in whole wheat recipes, and making the dough more stretchy!)
2. Sprinkle on the salt and take a corner of the dough and fold it over the middle. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Fold for a total of 6-8 times. 
3. Let the dough rest another 1-1.5hrs
4. Cover and put in the fridge overnight (>6hrs)
5. The next morning (aka your day off, yay!) repeat the corner folding another time, incorporating any mix-ins you like, i.e. garlic powder, fresh-ground black pepper, everything bagel seasoning etc.) and let the dough rest another 1-1.5 hrs.
6. On a 10-12" square piece of parchment paper, sprinkle a generous layer of semolina.
7. Turn out the dough onto the semolina, and shape into a boule (video instructions here!). Easier to understand by watching, but essentially, gather the corners of the loaf into the middle, pinch loosely together, then turn over. Use both hands to then roll the loaf to tighten the seams. 
8. Let it rest another 1.5hrs
9. After the last rest is complete, start getting the oven ready! Preheat the oven to 450F. Place the pizza stone or cast-iron skillet in the oven on the upper shelf and the baking sheet on the bottom shelf. 
10. After 30 min (yes, 30min preheating to let the stone/skillet heat up), boil at least 2 cups of water. 
11. While the water's boiling, score the dough: use a sharp knife and get a couple good deep slashes in the middle of the dough. You can do cool designs if you choose! Here you can also do a  generous drizzle of olive oil and a couple turns of coarse ground salt. 
12. When the water's ready, place the dough (parchment paper and all) onto the pizza stone. Before closing the oven door, pour the boiling water on the baking sheet. This steam is important for getting a crunchy outer crust! If using the cast-iron skillet, I like taking out the skillet to put the bread in.
13. Bake for 40min, the top should be thoroughly browned. 
14. Take the bread out, peel off the parchment paper and place it on a cooling rack. 
15. As tempting as it is to dig right in, let it cool completely before cutting a slice. Cutting while it's still hot results in steam condensing into water on the bread and creating a gummy texture. 
16. Serve with whatever you fancy!