This dense and mild sourdough bread has a lot of sweetness to it. With a dash of lavender it really stands out from the usual bread I make though still fits for most toppings. Thanks for the inspiration Hauni.

If you are brand new, you might want to check out the bread basics first.

Ingredients

• 300g wheat bread flour
• 150g whole seed spelt flour
• 180g wheat sourdough starter
• 12g g salt
• 280g water
• 0.1-0.3g dried lavender ground

Instructions

Other than most breads I usually make this has a higher levain content and therefor needs less resting time. If you have the time, start with a 30 m autolyze. Though, I often skip this step for this bread as I go for a more dense loaf anyway.

After kneading the loaf let it rest for about 2 hours at room temperature (23 degrees). After the bulk fermentation, shape it and let it rest for another hour.

Bake the loaf in a preheated Dutch oven for 20 minutes at 250 degrees covered, and another 20 minutes uncovered. As this loaf has lower hydration than other breads I turn the heat down to 220 during the later 20 minutes.

Tips

• Lavender has a very intense flavor. The amount of it does highly depend on your flavor, but also on how fresh the blossoms are. If you have them stored for a few years you can use more, though if they are freshly dried to take less. Personally I would start with 0.2g as it seems a good midpoint.
• I usually add them to the mill during milling the spelt seeds. To ensure that the mill gets cleaned afterward I usually mix the lavender blossoms with 50g spelt flour and grind that before adding the other 100g to the mill.