GAIL's Potato and Rosemary Sourdough Loaf, 650g

Product Information

Imbued with umami herbs and seeds, the GAIL’s Potato & Rosemary Sourdough can be topped with torn mozzarella and roast vegetables, or simply served alongside soup. Dump the dough onto the counter and slap and fold the dough (French fold) for about 3-4 minutes, just until the dough starts to show signs of a smooth surface. The dough should be fairly strong. Gail’s eye-catching in-store displays, where bread, cakes and sandwiches sit out on a counter, was a deliberate choice by Molnar. “The world in which I grew in the United States was about wrapping everything and putting it in the fridge and hiding it,” he explains. “My wife’s Italian and at her house they’d have this table of food that never emptied.

After building the levain, preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Prepare a small baking sheet lined with parchment, wash the potatoes and using a fork to perform a few shallow pokes around the potato. Transfer to floured banneton or a bowl lined with a tea towel (I like to use rice flour). Another option is an oiled bowl (I usually use olive oil for this). Cover with plastic and proof for 12-15 hours in the refrigerator. This is the second rise. Baking To avoid a not so pleasant crust from developing, cover the dough with a damp towel, beeswax wrap, a lid or plastic wrap. Add the called for levain and about half of the reserved water to the mixing bowl. Mix until well combined.With Johnson’s help Gail’s may have reached 60 cafes, but Molnar deliberately resisted the turbo-charged growth seen by other brands in the sector. “I actually slowed down when people were speeding up. I said the money had to go on food not rent. You were seeing incredible competition for prime spaces that would have meant I’d have had to cut corners.” Once the oven is preheated, roast the potatoes on the baking sheet for 45 minutes to 1 hour, rotating and flipping them halfway. Test the potatoes at 45 minutes to see if they are done by inserting a knife into the center. The knife should slide easily and not encounter any tough spots.

Transfer to flour banneton or bowl with tea towel and cover with plastic. Place in the refrigerator for 12-15 hours. The Next Day This crustruns the most striking gamut of colors from dark mahogany to light yellow. There's no doubt the extra sugars in the potato helped this crust color nicely in the oven. While it may look craggy and hard, it's actually quite soft and when toasted, it becomes super svelteand crunchy. Since 2005 the bakery sector has gained momentum, with Denmark’s Ole & Steen, French import Paul, Brussels-born Le Pain Quotidien and even Greggs expanding at pace across the high street. Molnar is unphased, and believes there is still a niche for Gail’s bread on the high street.

Reviews

Potato and rosemary are a classic pairing but you could substitute the rosemary for another spice such as thyme (which is what I tried for my first few attempts seen below), or omit it entirely for a cleaner, more potato forward flavor. Speaking of rosemary, I find not all rosemary plants produce the samelevel of potency in their leaves. Some plants, like mine, are quite pungent and strong while others are simply not. Start with the recommended 1% rosemary and scale up/down to suit your taste after youtry thefirst bake. As with my previous polenta sourdough with rosemary, I like to keep the spice light so it doesn’t obscurethe other flavors throughout. I love how eating good food tugs at an invisible, interconnected web of food-memories we’ve constructed over the course of our lifetimes. This complex web, with scattered connections between foods, smells, experiences, and memories, is gradually filled in and ever-evolving: it shapes the corpus of foods we enjoy, giving them significance in place and time. Perhaps the construction of this web is instilled at a primal level, maybe it’s a way we’ve evolutionarily progressed to favor foods that provide proper nourishment by exciting our senses, pushing out hollow foods that provide nothing or are uninteresting. I believe it’s one of the many reasons we’ve stayed alive for so long, eating the things we need instead of those we don’t. Score the top of the dough with a razor or lame. Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper for best results and transfer to the dutch oven. Careful it is hot. Cover each basket with plastic and then place it in the refrigerator at 38°F (3°C) for 13-14 hours. 8. Bake – Next Morning: Preheat oven at 6:00 a.m., Bake at 7:00 a.m.

Minimum life based on 'use-by' date of product. Average life based on last week's deliveries. Life guarantee shown based on delivery tomorrow with the Life guarantee starting the following day. The mother of all breads. This is our signature loaf, made long, slow and lovingly from 15-year-old wild yeast starters. A little chewy, a little tangy, with a dark, burnished crust. We bake it in 500g and 2kg loaves. Also available at Waitrose and on Ocado. The amount of time it takes for your dough to double can be determined by many factors, such as the temperature in your home, the maturity of your starter, and the hydration status of the loaf. The dough may double in 8 hours while some may take a lot of time longer. My version of potato bread is a spin on an Italian bread laden with mashed/pureed potatoes. In taking cues from my approach to making gnocchi, I like to roast the potatoes instead of boiling them. I find this gives the potatoes a nice color and texture; plus, it helps dry the flesh out, preventing unwanted water absorption that could later be released into the dough.

Disclaimer

Baked fresh and never with any preservatives, we recommend storing GAIL’s sourdough in a cool, dry place. To keep the bread for longer, slice immediately and store in an airtight container in the freezer, taking out slices and toasting, as desired.