Allium Sourdough Bread

This savory sourdough loaf features members of the allium (onion) family—chives, scallions, green garlic tops, ramps, leeks, or whatever you have in our pantry. The recipe was generously shared with us by Ari Smolin. Ari writes:

My go-to loaf this past spring/early summer. It was my way of using what our local farmstand had growing before the summer fruits and vegetables arrived: an abundance of green garlic, chives, and scallions. When oven alchemy happens, the combo of durum, alliums, and black pepper makes the whole house smell like chicken soup.

Ari Smolin writes and edits for Milk Street’s magazine and cookbooks. Before joining the team, she baked her way from Brooklyn to Los Angeles—laminating croissants before dawn, shepherding sourdough loaves by the hundreds, and discovering that stone-milled flour plus seasonal fruits and vegetables is her happy place. She writes about whole-grain baking as well, most recently co-authoring “Morning Baker: Recipes and Rituals for Breakfast and Beyond” with Roxana Jullapat. You can find her on Instagram @ari.smolin.

Yield: 2, 850 g loaves
Total Time: 6 hours (plus two overnight fermentation periods)

Ingredients

Leaven:

• 80 grams water, room temperature
• 40 grams (1/3 cup) Janie's Mill High-Protein Bread Flour
• 40 grams (1/3 cup) Janie's Mill Dark Rye Flour
• 12 grams active sourdough starter
  

Dough:

• 380 grams Janie’s Mill High-Protein Bread Flour
• 304 grams Janie’s Mill Durum Flour
• 76 grams Janie’s Mill Dark Rye Flour 
• 152 grams leaven
• 684 grams first water, room temperature
• 38 grams second water, room temperature
• 19 grams fine sea salt
• 3 grams freshly ground black pepper
• 34 grams finely chopped chives, scallions, green garlic tops, ramps, or a mix

Instructions

1. Mix the leaven 8 to 10 hours before you plan to make the dough. It's ready when doubled, puffy, and slightly domed, with a few bubbles scattered across the top.
2. For the dough: mix the bread flour, durum flour, rye flour, leaven, and first water in a large bowl until no dry bits remain. Let stand for an autolyse period of 45 minutes.
3. Add the salt and second water, squeezing to work them in. The dough will go shreddy and fall apart, but fear not! Fold the dough in the bowl 2-3 minutes, until it comes back together.
4. Bulk ferment 4 to 6 hours. Fold every 30 minutes for the first two 1⁄2 hours—5 sets total—sprinkling about a third of the pepper and a third of the alliums over the dough before folds 1, 2, and 3. Keep fermenting until the dough is risen, slightly domed, and bubbly across the top and sides.
5. Divide into two loaves, about 850 grams each. Preshape into rounds and let rest 20 minutes. Shape as boules or batards, then place seam-side up in well-floured baskets.
6. Cover and refrigerate overnight to proof, 8 to 10 hours.
7. Bake however you usually do. I preheat a steel at 475°F for an hour, peel the loaf onto it, add an ice cube, and cover with a Brod & Taylor dome. After 17 minutes, I pull the dome, drop the oven to 450°F, and bake another 20 to 30 minutes uncovered.