Kale Pesto-Swirled Sourdough Recipe

Sourdough baking may have seemed like a trend at times, but the ancient bread-making method is here to stay. Fads like crookies, cronuts, and cupcakes all fade in comparison when you consider the fact that people have been making bread using this method for thousands of years. For a modern update, we've decided to swirl a little kale pesto into our latest loaf, and the recipe is so simple you can do it without a mixer. After making the simple pesto from scratch (thank you, food processor), you fold it into a fresh batch of sourdough and bake it in the oven. Once you cut into it, the vibrant and flavorful garlicky swirl of kale-almond pesto is on full display. If you have any of this loaf leftover, it makes possibly the greatest garlic bread you've ever had. 

While bread baking can seem intimidating, you can learn a lot from common sourdough failures and carry that knowledge with you into your next loaf. In time, you'll understand the process of working with dough (and starter) and become more comfortable making beautiful bread at home. Adding pesto in makes it a bit trickier, but anyone can do it — and it's well worth the extra effort. Make sure your starter is active and ready for baking, otherwise, you might want to give it a few feeds before starting on this recipe.

The crucial ingredient for this recipe is an active sourdough starter. For the bread dough, you'll also need some bread flour, salt, and water. To make our homemade kale pesto, you'll need a bunch of kale, toasted almonds, which have more flavor than raw, grated Parmesan, lemon, and olive oil. If you don't have kale on hand or would like to use something else, spinach or fresh basil will work just as well. 

Other than that, all you need is a good chunk of time, so be sure to read through this recipe and maybe plan to bake this bread over a weekend. The bread takes a while to ferment, but the prep recipe time is very short compared to how long it spends in the fridge. 

Combine the starter and water and mix until dissolved.

Add the flour and mix until combined. Let rest for 1 hour.

Add one and a half teaspoons of salt and mix in with wet hands.

Use the stretch and fold technique to perform the first series of folds on the dough.

Repeat the series of folds every 30 minutes, until you have executed them 4 times in total.

Let the dough rest, covered, for 1 hour.

To make the pesto, add the kale, garlic, almonds, lemon zest, and remaining salt to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Add the oil and process until combined.

Cover and refrigerate for later.

Empty the dough onto a floured work surface and pat it into a 9-inch square.

Spread pesto on top of the dough in an even layer.

Fold the dough in half to make a rectangle, then fold again to make a square.

Gently shape the dough into a ball and let it rest on the table for 20 minutes.

Shape the dough into a boule.

Place the dough into a floured bread basket and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 500 F with a lidded Dutch oven inside for 30 minutes.

Place the bread dough on a piece of parchment.

Score the top, carefully drop the bread into the hot Dutch oven, and cover with the lid.

Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the lid.

Reduce the heat to 450 F and bake 20 minutes further, until golden brown.

Let cool, slice, and serve.

Instead of kneading by hand or using a stand mixer to develop gluten, we use the stretch and fold method over a few hours before the bulking period. Make sure to dampen your hands with a little water, since this will help prevent the wet dough from getting stuck to your fingers.

Imagine the bowl is a clock. Lift the top quarter (12 o'clock) of the dough up from the bottom of the bowl and fold towards the center. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat the same fold, folding the dough from the bottom of the bowl to the center. Repeat this 2 more times until you've done 4 folds toward the center. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before doing the next fold. In the beginning, the dough will be shaggy and sticky. After the folding process and resting, the dough will be shiny, smooth, and elastic.

To shape the loaf into a boule (ball shape), start by placing the dough on the table and folding it inwards four times, as if you were doing another fold. Flip the dough over and use a bowl scraper (or just two cupped hands) to move the dough in a circular motion on the work surface. After several rotations, you should feel the dough tightening into a taut ball. If not, apply slightly more pressure and continue cupping and rotating the dough until it's evenly round.

When considering toppings or mix-ins to go in a sourdough loaf, the major factor to keep in mind is moisture. Pesto, of course, has a lot of moisture. Adding too much moisture to an already wet dough can make it difficult to work with, so for this recipe, we made a dryer pesto that's a little on the chunky side. This helps it to not get completely lost in the dough. You could use a store-bought pesto, but it may make the dough more tricky to shape since these typically have more moisture than our recipe, which we fine-tuned for this loaf. You could always add some extra Parmesan, ground almonds, or pinenuts to thicken a store-bought pesto.

Any nuts, seeds, or dried fruit are great options for sourdough. In this pesto loaf specifically, some chopped-up sun-dried tomatoes would be a great addition. A little extra Parmesan or a similar dry-aged cheese can be mixed into the dough as well. Soft herbs, like parsley, scallion, chives, or cilantro would all add a fresh burst of flavor to the crusty bread, so feel free to experiment with any herbs or tender greens you have on hand. If you have any bread left over, check out our recipe for sourdough crumbles, which would be a wonderful addition to top a salad or soup.