Bread with Activated Charcoal, a very scenic bread for its color and rich in many properties, with a crunchy crust and very soft interior.
The activated charcoal is a food supplement that helps reduce abdominal bloating often used in cooking as a food coloring. Its very fine tasteless powder is often used in baking for its beneficial and scenic properties given the final color obtained.
I also wanted to try using activated charcoal to make bread and I must say the result won me over. I personally baked with sourdough but you can easily use yeast.
For those who want to try the recipe but do not want to use sourdough have two alternatives to replace it. With 2g of fresh yeast and wait for the long leavening as with sourdough or add 15g of yeast and halve the leavening times.
Those who replace sourdough with yeast in the recipe must also add 150g of flour and 50g of water to the ingredients; everything else remains the same, including the procedure.
For those who love kneading, I recall other simple recipes to make at home
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 8 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 254.09 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 53.45 (g) of which sugars 1.66 (g)
- Proteins 8.13 (g)
- Fat 1.87 (g) of which saturated 0.20 (g)of which unsaturated 0.00 (g)
- Fibers 1.35 (g)
- Sodium 406.02 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 110 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
You can buy activated charcoal at a herbalist shop for a certified product. You can purchase it either in tablets to be ground into powder or directly in powder form.
- 21 oz all-purpose flour
- 1.27 cups water (warm)
- 7 oz sourdough
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 tsp activated charcoal
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Tools
For kneading the bread, I recommend using a stand mixer with a dough hook, which allows you to work less and knead the bread better.
To let the dough rise, a container with a lid and a dough scraper are convenient to help shape it later.
- 1 Stand Mixer Howork
- 1 Container
- 1 Dough Scraper
Preparation
The preparation of this bread is not difficult; it only requires the right rising times given by the sourdough. We cannot indicate an exact time because it varies from home to home; rather, you must check the doubling of the dough as expected. My advice is always to make the first dough the night before going to bed to bake the bread for lunch.
This bread with activated charcoal features a nice crunchy crust and a very soft interior. You can make excellent sandwiches, and this very bold color of the crumb will make everything more scenic.
Soak the sourdough in warm water for 10 minutes, then put the flour with the salt in the stand mixer and give it a stir to aerate the flour. Add water and sourdough and start turning, continue adding honey, charcoal, and oil.
Check the dough; if it seems too hard, add a little more warm water, but it should be perfect. It should be soft but not sticky. Remove the dough from the mixer, close it into a ball by bringing the edges toward the bottom, and let it rest in a closed container lightly brushed with oil until doubled.
It will take about 6 hours; I always put it in the oven off and closed to avoid drafts. The dough is ready when it has doubled, as you can see in the photo.
Once doubled, bring the dough to a floured work surface and shape, without pressing the dough too much but simply rolling it onto itself, into a loaf. Place it on a baking tray covered with parchment paper. Cover the dough with a cloth and wait for it to grow. It will take about 2 hours with long leavening and about 30 minutes with normal leavening.
The loaf is ready to bake when it looks nice and puffed up, almost doubled. Now, with the help of a cutter, make cuts on the surface of the loaf and bake in a preheated oven at 428°F (220°C) for the first 5 minutes, then lower the oven to 356°F (180°C) until done.
It will take about 35 minutes in total; always check the base and surface are well cooked.
When you take the bread out of the oven, I suggest letting it cool well before slicing it and not being in a hurry like I was to see the inside 😂.
You will get a beautiful loaf with a crunchy crust and a soft interior.
NOTES
Natural leavened bread with activated charcoal keeps well at room temperature covered for about 3 days; you can also slice it when cold and freeze it to have it always fresh when you need it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can activated charcoal be consumed without limit?
Activated charcoal is a genuine food supplement that regulates intestinal gases, so like all supplements, it should be consumed in moderation and always under medical advice, especially in the presence of conditions.
