Pistachio & Chocolate Enriched Sourdough Festive Bakes Recipe
Elaine Boddy is back with a Fantastic Christmas special recipe, a delicious bake to get festive this season! Watch the video to go with this guide below now!
Elaine says: "This recipe makes 2 loaves, packed with pistachio and chocolate, oozing with flavour and crunch. Both versions are fun to make and can be made ahead and frozen, or baked the day before and reheated. It’s great fun to make with kids or grandchildren or on your own."
Pistachio and Chocolate Enriched Sourdough Festive Bakes Method
- Late afternoon/early evening, in 2 mixing bowls, roughly mix together all the ingredients to make the 2 dough, except the fillings and reserved egg white. Add the ground pistachios to 1 of the mixes.
- These will be very sticky doughs, and it may be easier to use a bowl scraper or spatula to mix them at this stage. The butter will not be fully mixed through yet; it will become mixed in fully as you complete the next steps. Cover the bowls with clean shower caps and leave the bowls on the counter.
- After an hour, perform the first set of pulls and folds on the doughs, lifting and pulling the dough across the bowl until they start to come into soft balls, then stop.
- The butter will still not be fully mixed in yet but will become more so as you work with the dough.
- During this first set of pulls and folds, dough number 1 will still be sticky, but keep working with it. Dough number 2 will be tighter because of the added ground nuts.
- Cover the bowls again and leave them on the counter.
- Over the next few hours, perform three more sets of pulls and folds on the doughs, covering the bowl after each set. Dough number 1 will become a smoother stretchy dough after the third set.
- Do the final set before going to bed.
- Leave the covered bowls on the counter overnight, typically 10 to 12 hours or more if the room temperature remains at 64 to 68°F (18 to 20°C). THESE ARE HEAVY DOUGHS AND WILL TAKE LONGER THAN OTHERS TO FULLY PROVE. Trust in the process and let the dough do its thing.
- In the morning, and once the doughs have grown to double in size, place the covered bowls into the fridge for at least an hour, this will firm up the dough making it easier to work with.
- When you’re ready to prepare the doughs, spray inside your Bundt pan/s and loaf pan/s with your release spray.
- Remove the bowls from the fridge. Take out 2 clean medium sized bowls. Split each dough in half and place half into another bowl.
Dough 1: each half of the dough will weigh approx. 500g.
Dough 2: each half of the dough will weigh approx. 550g.
For the Bundt Loaf/Loaves:
- Have the frozen pistachio balls to hand, half of the shelled pistachios, dark and milk chocolate chips.
- Using 1 portion of dough no. 1 and 1 portion of dough no. 2, pull out handfuls of the doughs and place them in the base on the pan, alternating between the plain and the pistachio dough, place 3-4 balls of the pistachio cream evenly round the pan, sprinkle with some of the nuts and chocolate chips.
- Repeat until the pan is full (see video for full details). Once you’ve used all of the doughs, cover the Bundt pan with your shower cap and place the pan in the fridge to prove again and bake later OR cover and leave on the counter for a few hours then bake. It will pretty much fill the pan already, just allow it to relax and fill the pan a little more.
For the Sandwich Loaf/Loaves:
- Have the frozen pistachio balls to hand, half of the shelled pistachios, dark and milk chocolate chips.
- Using 1 portion of dough no. 1 and 1 portion of dough no. 2, sprinkle some flour over your kitchen counter and roll the doughs out to create rectangles of dough, approx. 40cm long and 11cm wide.
- Once rolled out, place the rectangle of pistachio dough on top of the plain dough. Cover the surface evenly with pistachio cream and the remaining whole pistachios and chocolate chips.
- Starting from one short end, roll the doughs up firmly to create a firm roll of dough (see video for full details).
- Once rolled, place the dough, seam down, into the prepared pan. Cover and place into the fridge to prove again. It will grow evenly in the cold temperature. Once the dough fills the pan, bake.
To bake the Bundt Loaf:
- When you are ready to bake, decide whether you would like to bake in a preheated oven or from a cold start. Place parchment paper, followed by a baking sheet, on the top of the Bundt pan to serve as a lid
- Fill the baking sheet with ceramic baking beads to weigh it down. If preheating, set the oven to 160°C/325°F fan assisted/convection or 180°C/350°F no fan/conventional.
- If you preheated the oven, bake the loaf, covered, for 60 to 65 minutes.
- If you are using a cold start, place the covered pan of dough in the oven, set the temperature as above and set a timer for 65 to 70 minutes, or until it is nicely browned.
To bake the Sandwich Loaf:
- Brush the surface with the reserved egg white.
- If preheating, set the oven to 180°C 350°F fan assisted/convection or 200°C/400°F non fan/conventional.
- If you preheated the oven, bake the loaf, uncovered, for 60 to 65 minutes.
- If you are using a cold start, place the uncovered pan of dough in the oven, set the temperature as above and set a timer for 65 to 70 minutes, or until it is nicely browned.
- If the loaf starts to brown too much, turn the heat down a little.
- Once baked, turn the loaves out onto racks to cool briefly before serving - serve warm to ensure perfectly melty pistachio cream! Also great eaten once cool, keep the loaves uncovered to preserve the perfect crunch of the crust.
NOTE: if the sides of the sandwich loaf seem a little pale, place it back in the oven, directly onto the oven rack to brown briefly.
