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With Valentine’s Day approaching, I wanted to share a delicious idea for a sourdough inclusion loaf, strawberry cheesecake. I love a good cheesecake with strawberries on top of it. This is an easy inclusion to add to my traditional sourdough recipe, you can find that recipe here. This is something I’ve wanted to try and I finally took a step to do it. I was a little nervous but I always am when I try a new inclusion in my recipe. This sourdough loaf turned out delicious, and I also learned some ideas to make it better the next time I make it. Follow along with the steps below to make your own loaf.
Things you will need
100 g Active Sourdough Starter
350 g Filtered or Spring Water
500 g Bread Flour or flour of choice
10 g Salt
1/2-3/4 cup Diced Strawberries (use 3/4 if you want a more strawberry presence)
8oz package of Cream Cheese, softened
2 TBSP Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2-3 TBSP Dragon Fruit Powder (optional for color)
Now, let’s get ready to make this sourdough loaf!
Start by combining the starter, water, flour, salt, and dragon fruit powder( if using it) in a bowl and mix until it is a shaggy dough. You want it to be incorporated but not a smooth dough. Let it rest on the counter with a towel covering it for an hour.
Once the hour is up, start your stretch and folds, you want to do 3-4 sets 30 minutes apart. After the final set, cover with a towel or saran wrap or a plastic food covering. Let it sit on the counter to double in size, this may vary on time depending the temperature of your kitchen, could be anywhere from 5-8 hours. While you are waiting for it to double, this would be a good time to mix the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together and dice the strawberries.
After it doubles, turn the dough onto a clean, flat surface. stretch the dough into a rectangle, and try to make it’s even width at all corners. Spread some of the cream cheese mixture on the rectangle, avoid putting it all the way to the edges, and repeat with some of the strawberries. Make sure you don’t use all the cream cheese and strawberries.
Fold over one end of the rectangle to the center. Repeat process with cream cheese and strawberries on top of the folded part. Fold over the other side and put the remaining cream cheese and strawberries on there.
You will want to pinch the ends of each side so no cream cheese or strawberries will spill out. Roll it up into a burrito shape, and pinch the sides together. You will then do a few push and pulls to help seal the bottom of the loaf.
Grab a banneton or dish and place a flour sack, tea towel, or towel inside it, sprinkle with a little flour so the loaf doesn’t stick inside it. Turn the loaf into the basket with the bottom seam facing up. Cover with the towel then place a plastic wrap on the top. Let it rest for an hour on the counter, then place it in the fridge for 12-24 hours, I typically have it sit in the fridge overnight and bake the next morning.
It’s time to bake!
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place your dutch oven into the oven to preheat as well.
Take your loaf out of the fridge and turn it over onto a piece of parchment paper, grab a knife or scorer and cut a design in if you prefer, or just a slice down the side or middle. This will allow the bread to expand while baking.
Remove your dutch oven from the stove and place the parchment and loaf into the dutch oven. Place 3-5 ice cubes in the dish, under the parchment paper, this will allow the loaf to steam so it gets a delicious crust.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, remove the lid and continue baking for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the loaf on a cooling rack. Let the loaf cool for an hour before you slice it. Enjoy!
Notes
If you would like to add more strawberries, I would recommend using freeze dried, they won’t have as much liquid as fresh. I would also stay away from frozen because they would have too much liquid while cooking.
I also made a strawberry cream cheese frosting to drizzle over the slices. 8 oz strawberry cream cheese, 1 package powdered sugar, 4 TBPS melted butter, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Blend all together except powdered sugar, and add that in slowly until you have your desired sweetness.
I really hope you enjoy making your loaf and that it turns out delicious. I know that I will want to add more strawberries the next time I make it because I love the flavor it adds. This was fun to make and the inclusions turned out great. You can store it in a plastic bag in the fridge or freeze it and then use it when ready.
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