I really loved the combination of smoked gouda and green chile in my last loaf and I wanted to expand on the savoriness by adding some chopped bacon. The results did not disappoint! The smokiness from the cheese combined with the roasted and earthy notes from the green chile combine extremely well with the bacon.
Using the lazy sourdough method is actually quite simple. The real key to this method is that you can use your unfed starter straight from the fridge without the need to make a levain. There’s also no autolyse which saves about 30 minutes.
Schedule: Here’s a link to the lazy sourdough method.
The exact schedule I used is at the bottom of this post.
Ingredients:
This recipe makes two loaves. Simply divide all the ingredients in half if you only want one loaf.
Dough
- 1,000g bread flour
- 750g filtered water @ 88’F
- 185g unfed starter straight from fridge (100% hydration)
- 22g sea salt
- 170g Roasted Hatch Green Chile (medium/hot 2020 batch)
- 170g Smoked Gouda (cut into 1/4″ cubes)
- 80g thick cut bacon (about 6 pieces)
- for the top – 85g shredded cheddar cheese
- for the top – 85g chopped green chile
Method:
After mixing the flour, water, salt and starter, I performed 4 stretch and folds within the first 2 hours, separated by 30 minutes. I added the bacon green chile and smoked gouda during the first stretch and fold. The kitchen was hovering around 70’F so I went with nearly a full 8 hour bulk fermentation.
After bulk fermentation, I shaped the loaves and put them into floured bannetons where they sat in the fridge for an overnight proof.
I baked the loaves in preheated dutch ovens at 450’F for 20 minutes covered, then removed the lid of the dutch oven and baked for an additional 30 minutes. I added the topping portion of the green chile and shredded cheddar when I removed the lid of the dutch oven.
Result:
As I mentioned earlier, the combo of smoked gouda and green chile is phenomenal in bread. Adding the bacon took the loaf to another level. The smokiness from the gouda and the spiciness of roasted green chile combined extremely well with the flavor of bacon. The rise was perfect and I was extremely happy with the crust.
The amount of bacon, gouda and green chile was perfect. All three ingredients are mixed throughout very evenly so you get some of the flavor with each bite.
Depending on your heat tolerance, you might want to go with a mild or medium heat level of green chile. I love spicy food and this year’s medium-hot green chile definitely leans more ‘hot’ than ‘medium’.
What’s this bread good for? So far I’ve used it with a patty melt and also some garlic bread for dunking in soup. It was awesome with the patty melt and might be my go-to whenever doing pressed sandwiches.
My Baking Notes
- Ambient Temperature @ mixing: 70’F
- Mixed @ 12:25pm on May 10th
- Dough was 84’F at mixing
- 4 stretch and folds in first 2 hours
- Started proof @ 8:25pm on May 10th
- Preheated oven @ 12:45pm on May 11th
- Out of fridge and into oven @ 1:45pm
Alegre Bread 
Good morning! I have a quick question for you. In the instructions I see where you added yeast. Did you mean the unfed starter or did you add yeast as well?
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Hey Ashley – that was a typo and I’ve updated it. There is no yeast in this dough, only the sourdough starter. I also had mistakenly put in there that I performed a 30 minute autolyse but that wasn’t the case with this recipe either. I just mixed everything together (flour, water, salt and starter) and then performed my stretch and folds separated by 30 minutes.
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Thank you so much for replying quickly. I’m very new to sourdough baking and I wanted to make sure about the ingredients. The bread looks awesome by the way. Have a good day!
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I assume raw bacon, and cut into 1/4″ pieces????
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It’s actually cooked bacon. Sorry, I should have mentioned that in the comments. If you use raw, I don’t think it would cook correctly in the loaf
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thanks a lot
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Hi there! I have hatch Chile but it is frozen. Do I need to adjust anything if using frozen due to the extra moisture? Thanks!
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Mine is almost always frozen too. I just let it thaw out on the counter in a bowl for a couple hours before using it and then pour off any liquid that ends up at the bottom of the bowl. I haven’t adjusted the hydration amount to account for the green chile.
That being said, once you add the chile you’ll notice that the dough is much slicker and doesn’t really stick together after mixing it in. Don’t worry though, after another fold or two, everything will be fine.
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Can you give me the starter recipe?
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I made my starter from scratch using bread flour and water. It takes a little bit of time and dedication for a few days, but if you’re using unbleached flour, you shouldn’t have any issues getting your own starter going.
I essentially used The Perfect Loaf’s starter guide except I didn’t mix flours and only used Bread flour. You can find the guide here: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/sourdough-starter/
Once the starter is established, I keep mine in the fridge, pulling it out every week or so to feed it if I’m not baking very frequently.
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Do you have the measurements in standard American?
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Hey Lynn – I do all of my measurements by weight in grams, as that’s much more reliable and consistent through different bakes. You can find some conversion tools out there to convert grams of different ingredients into their cup / volume measures if that’s what you need.
If you’re going to start baking more bread, I’d highly recommend getting a kitchen scale which can weigh in both grams and ounces.
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I made your bacon, smoked Gouda & green chili sourdough & have to say it was so wonderful, easy & probably the best loaf I have ever made!!! I didn’t have fresh roasted green chili’s so substituted canned. Tomorrow taking to work to have my office peeps do the taste test. Wish I could share a photo cause it looks perfect!!! Thank you so much!!
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That sounds great! I’m glad it turned out well and I hope your office mates enjoy it too. There’s nothing wrong with canned green chile either. I use it all the time for burritos and pizza, haha.
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It was gone in 5 minutes!!! Everyone agreed the best ever!!! Thank you again will be making again & again 🥰
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was your bacon cooked or raw?
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I cooked the bacon prioe to adding it to the dough. Otherwise it would be too soggy.
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how do you store this with having bacon in it? Counter or fridge
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I store mine in a bag in the pantry like any other loaf I bake. I try to go through them within a couple of days. If I don’t think I’ll get through a whole loaf quick enough, I’ll cut it down the middle and freeze one half for later.
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Hi, can’t wait to make this. Can you confirm it’s unfed starter as in discard or did you mean fed starter?
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In my “lazy sourdough method”, the sourdough starter has been in the fridge prior to using it. The starter is still healthy and has been fed within the last few days, but isn’t actively in a feeding cycle at the time.
As long as your starter is healthy, it doesn’t matter if it comes from the fridge or the counter or if you’re using a discard or ripe starter. The only things that might change are a little bit of a lag time or delay in your fermentation.
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how long is it good for after it’s baked? How do you store it?
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I usually get about a week out of my loaves. I store them in a plastic bag in my pantry.
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Hi! Could I use canned green chilies?
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Definitely! There’s nothing wrong with using canned green chile in this. They’re usually a little more wet than fresh chile, so I’d try to get a little bit of the moisture out by putting them on a strainer for a little bit before using them.
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When do we add the mix-ins? At the start? during stretch & folds? or during lamination?
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I’ve started adding the mix-ins during the first fold. This gives the dough a little extra time to form gluten before adding everything else.
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