Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Flower

Shaping breads and watching it transform in the oven is magical. Valentina Zurkan is a name that comes to mind when I think of beautifully shaped bread. This bread is inspired by her work. She can transform five layers of dough into amazing shapes. I had tried one such very elaborate bread last year. This one is simpler and made on a much smaller scale. It was just as much fun to make.

I made this with my regular whole wheat sourdough bread dough. I did not enrich the dough as I wanted a simple bread to accompany the evening meal of hot soup on a cold day. Enriched white flour dough would give a better shinier finish and if I were baking just this one bread I would go all for it. But I bake a lot and so I stick to whole wheat and healthy dough. I took pleasure in the shape rather than the shine on the finished product. If you want the shine refer to the dough recipe on the very elaborate bread and then use this shaping technique.

This is day 3 of my week of fun bakes.

You will need
1 3/4 cup whole white wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cardamom powder
1 tsp. Instant yeast
2 tbsp. water
1/2 cup milk

For the wash
1 tsp. butter melted

Between the layers
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. cinnamon powder
3 tbsp. sugar

Sift the flours and add it with the other dry ingredients to the bowl. Add the wet ingredients to it. Combine and form a soft dough. Cover and keep it aside until it doubles in volume, about an hour an a half.

Flour a working surface and transfer the dough on it. Divide it into 4 portions and gently roll each portion into a disc about a forth of an inch thick. In a small bowl mix the ingredients for the filling. Spread a third of it on one of the discs. Place another second disc over it. Spread half the remaining filling on this layer. Place another layer on it. Spread the remaining filling over it and place the last layer over it. Roll gently with the rolling pin. Then cut it as shown in the picture below. I used a bottle cap to keep me from cutting all the way to the center.

Next cut from the center to the outer rim but do not go all the way.

Now for the fun part. Gently tuck under the wings of one of the cut pieces and pull up the dough through the slit as shown in the picture below.

Repeat all around the circle and you will have the center of a flower.

At this time you could bake it as is or you could tuck in the corner and pull them up from the center to form the petals.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Let the finished flower rest for about 20 minutes. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until it starts to brown.

Enjoy!