Turmeric Sourdough Bread with Cumin and Caramelized Onions

Directions

• Day 1 (8 pm) – Feed the starter. Add 50 grams flour and 50 grams water to the starter and miix well. Cover loosely with a lid and leave it in a warm spot to rise. This will form the levain for your bread.
• Day 2 (8 am) – Make the dough and autolyse. Prepare the filling. In a large bowl, combine the water, turmeric and starter loosely with a spatula. Add the flour and stir again to combine until it forms a dough. The dough will be sticky and shaggy. Transfer immediately to a clear container and cover with a towel or breathable cloth cover. Let the dough rest for an hour. In the meantime, prepare the filling as outlined in the next step.
• Toast the cumin seeds in a pan over medium heat for a minute until it emits a nice aroma. Set aside. Add the oil and sliced onions to the same pan. Saute over low heat for 15-20 minutes until the onions change color and caramelize. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• Day 2 (9 am) – Add salt, then stretch and fold. Shake the salt well over the dough, then begin stretching and folding. Grab the dough in one area, lift it up and pull into the center. Rotate the vessel clockwise while you repeat this process in each area of the dough. It will take you 5 to 6 tries to do this in a full circle. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes, then repeat. Do this an additional 2 times with a 30 minute interval between each series of stretch and fold. The dough will become smoother and stretchier with each round.
• Day 2 (10:30 am) – Lamination. Wet the surface on which you will spread your dough. Turn the dough out onto the surface and gently start spreading it out with your fingers as much as possible. Distribute the cumin and onions evenly over the dough. Fold the dough in from the edges like an envelope, creating multiple layers so the cumin and onions are evenly distributed.
• Bulk fermentation. Gently transfer the dough into a container and allow it to rise at room temperature. This phase could take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours based on the climate where you live, time of the year, temperature in your kitchen etc. Do not go based on time, but instead rely on the visual cues. Use a clear container such as this one to monitor the rise. When the dough rises to almost double its initial volume (just shy of the 2 quart level for this recipe), the bulk fermentation is complete. You will see a nice network of holes spread across the dough, which is what makes the crumb airy.
• Day 2 (5 pm) – Shape the dough. Transfer the dough gently onto a floured surface. Fold the dough into an envelope. Then using a bench scraper, flip the dough over and start shaping it into a tight ball by pushing it up and pulling back towards you. Repeat this a few times until you can feel some tension in your ball of dough. Line a shallow dome shaped bowl like this one with a flour sack towel. Gently transfer the doughtop side down into the bowl (seams will face you). Cover the bowl with the towel.
• Proof the dough. Transfer bowl containing the dough to the fridge and let it stay there for 8 to 24 hours. When you remove the bowl from the fridge, it may look unchanged from when you stuck it inside. This is totally fine.
• Day 3 (8 am) – Preheat the oven to 500ºF with the Dutch oven inside.
• Day 3 (8:30 am) – Bake. Remove your bowl of dough from the fridge and open the towel. Place a sheet of parchment paper over the bowl. Then place a plate over the parchment. Flip the bowl onto the parchment lined plate with one swift motion. Remove the bowl and towel, then slide the parchment paper off the plate. Use a scoring tool to score the dough in any pattern you wish. Scoring helps to release the gases as the sourdough bakes. Transfer the dough with the parchment paper to the Dutch oven. Cover it. Lower the oven temperature to 475ºF and bake covered for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 450ºF, remove the lid and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes. Your bread is done. Transfer to a rack and let cool for at least 2 hours before cutting.