If you already have a tried and tested sourdough or other bread recipe then you can just add about 20% of your flour weight in chorizo. I.e. for a loaf which is 500g of flour, add one 100g pack of cooking chorizo. For sourdough, the best time to add it is at the 2nd or 3rd stretch and fold. For newbies my recipe is below.
Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients:
1kg Strong White Bread Flour
725ml of lukewarm water
200g of active sourdough starter
20g of salt
200g diced cooking chorizo
Method:
Make sure your starter is at room temperature (I keep mind in the fridge normally so I take it out the night before a bake to warm up). Given the slow nature of sourdough I have given some rough timings for what I do. You can adapt this if needed, e.g. do the bulk rise in the fridge if you want it ready in the afternoon instead.
9am – Feed your starter, using 100g flour in any mix you like and 100g room temperature or lukewarm water.
1pm – Your starter should hopefully have roughly doubled in size by now, if not put it somewhere warmer and leave it another hour. If it is ready, then it is time to mix your dough.
Firstly, roughly mix the salt into the flour, then add the water and mix to a rough shaggy mass. Next spread your starter across the top and roughly mix this in, it doesn’t need to be perfectly mixed yet. It may feel lumpy or a bit too dry or too wet that’s fine right now. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave it on the side for about 45 mins.
1.45pm – Do your first stretch and fold, grab the edge of the dough, pull up and fold into the centre. Repeat all the way around the edge. Re cover and leave to rest.
2.15pm – This is where I add the chorizo, but it can happily wait until the next stretch. If you add it here then sprinkle it over the top of the dough and perform your stretch and fold process in the same way as before. You can go round twice if you want to mix it in more but there is plenty of time for that.
2.45pm – Stretch and fold again. And another 2 or 3 times on each half an hour, or as many as you can be bothered with/remember up to about 4.30pm.
4.30pm – your dough should now be looking fairly smooth and the chorizo will be fairly evenly dispersed. Now you want to cover it again and leave it somewhere warmish for a few hours to rise
8-9pm – Timings from here are flexible, you want the dough to have risen by at least one third of its original size but it can go a bit further than that if you want. When you are ready, you can shape your loaves.
Cut into the desired sizes, this amount will make 2 large loaves or several smaller ones. Pull the dough to be a little flat, then fold the sides and ends in, turn it over and cup both hands around the back pulling the dough along the counter toward you, it will stretch the top of the dough and form a nice smooth outer crust. Don’t worry if the chorizo bits stick out. Just poke them back in if they look like they will fall off. When the loaves are shaped, dust the tops with flour and leave them to rest for half an hour.
In the meantime, liberally dust your proofing baskets (or teatowel lined mixing bowl) with flour. Once rested pop your loaves upside-down into the baskets. Now put them in the fridge overnight.
Next day
9am (or whenever you get up, an hour or two either way will be fine) - Preheat your oven to about 200°C fan or for a darker crust you can go a touch hotter. Gently pull your dough away from the basket edges to ensure it turns out neatly. Turn your loaves onto floured baking sheets and slice a few slashes into the top with a razor blade or sharp knife.
To cook them you can use a Dutch oven but you don’t have to. If you don’t, pop a mug full of water into an empty roasting dish in the bottom of your oven just before putting the loaves in.
Bake your bread for 40 mins. Or until the crust has the colour you are looking for.
Wait for them to cool and long as you can manage (this part is super difficult because the smell is incredible).
Slice and enjoy! I find it best fresh with a thick layer of butter.
For a quicker loaf –
500g strong white bread flour
375ml water
7g or one satchel or dried yeast
10g of salt
100g of diced cooking chorizo.
Mix the flour with the yeast and salt to evenly dispersed them. Add the water and mix until it all comes together. It may be sticky to begin with but should come together as you knead, the wetness gives a better loaf so try not to add too much flour. Knead for about 10 mins until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Stretch the dough out flat and spread the chorizo over the surface. Fold it into the dough then knead for another minute to spread the chorizo throughout. Leave to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size. Shape the dough into the desired shape or put into a greased/floured/lined loaf tin. Leave to rise for a further 30 mins. Bake in the same way as the sourdough above.