Name: Alex's Muesli loaf
Ingredients: Muesli loaf (USING ENRICHED SOURDOUGH MASTER); 1 x lighter master option, as below;; 50g active starter; 1 whole egg + milk to make up a total of 350g; 50g softened butter; 50g runny honey; 250g strong white bread flour + 250g white spelt flour; 1 teaspoon of salt; 30g whole nuts (e.g. hazelnuts, shelled pistachio etc.); 75g dried fruit (mix of roughly diced dried apricots, sultanas, cranberries etc.); 30g mixed seeds (e.g. sunflower, pumpkin, poppy, linseed, hemp etc.); 75g rolled oats; 200g milk; Plus, a handful of oats to sprinkle over before baking

Baker: Alex Lewin
Makes: 1
Prep time: 14–18 hours
Bake time: 45 minutes
Total Time : 15–19 hours
Flours used: strong white bread flour, white spelt flour

Method

As per the master recipe with added steps…

Add all muesli ingredients, including milk and allow to soak until incorporated into the dough (see below) Begin mixing the dough in the evening. Roughly mix all of the ingredients: it will be very sticky.
After an hour, perform the first set of pulls and folds on the dough. Lifting and pulling the dough across the bowl until it starts to come into a soft ball then stop. Cover the bowl again and leave it to sit.
During this first set of pulls and folds the dough will still be sticky but keep working with it. After an hour, add the soaked Muesli ingredients, and fold into the dough, then perform the second set of folds.
During this set of pulls and folds, the dough will start to become smooth and silky (esp if it’s 100% white spelt flour) and will take less actions to pull it into a ball. Cover and leave to sit.
Over the next hour or so, perform the third, and fourth set if you do one, the dough should be nice to handle now. Each time stop when the dough comes into a loose ball.
Cover and leave to prove on the counter overnight as usual.
Next morning the dough will typically have grown, but not yet doubled, allow it 2-3 more hours if it needs more time. Line a tin with baking parchment paper or a loaf tin liner; I used a 23cm diameter cake tin.
Pull the dough together, it does not need to be handled much, it doesn’t need to be too tight, this will be a stiff heavy dough, and place it hand side down/smooth side up into your liner. Cover again and leave to prove on the counter again until the dough is level with the edge of the pan, typically 3-4 hours.
Mix the egg white with a tablespoon of water and brush the top of the dough gently with it, then sprinkle with oats. Bake, uncovered, from a cold start at 160C fan/convection, or 180C non fan/convection oven, for 45 mins, covering if the top becomes too dark.