When used in smaller amounts, blue cornmeal can lend a great light blue/purple color as well as some texture when eating it. Mixing in a little bit of rye flour helps accentuate those flavors.

Schedule: I based this loaf off of my sourdough schedule.

Since this is a 100% naturally leavened bread, I created a levain with my sourdough starter that was last fed 24 hours prior. This levain provides enough for 3 loaves of bread, plus a little extra to keep your starter going.

30 minutes before mixing the levain, salt and other ingredients into the dough, I performed an autolyse by mixing the water and flour together.

Ingredients:

Levain

Started at 8am with the following ingredients. Mix everything together and loosely cover and let it ferment for about 8 hours.

• 50g unfed sourdough starter (last feeding was 24 hours prior)
• 200g filtered water @ 85-90’F
• 200g King Arthur bread flour
• 50g King Arthur whole wheat flour

Dough

• 360g King Arthur bread flour
• 28g blue cornmeal
• 23g rye flour
• 320g filtered water @ 90-95’F
• 108g levain
• 11g sea salt

Method:

After mixing the dough, I performed 4 stretch and folds within the first 2-4 hours.

I baked the loaf in a preheated dutch oven at 450’F for 38 minutes covered, then removed the lid of the dutch oven and baked for an additional 14 minutes.

Result:

I baked a couple loaves of bread to take back home to my family. We used this bread with some dipping oil and for toast. It was great for both uses and the color was a big attraction. The blue corn and rye give just enough texture to let you know you’re eating something unique.