Caramelized Onion and Gruyère Sourdough Bread

Recipes

Jun 12

Savory sourdough bread loaded with slightly sweet caramelized onions and rich Gruyère cheese. Paired with fluffy long-fermented sourdough, this loaf combination is incredible as a dinner side, elevated sandwiches, or just to slice and top with butter. Pictures don’t fully do it justice.

Jump to Recipe

Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Sourdough Baked Loaf on Board Rebecca Witt Sourdough Mama.png

Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Sourdough Crumb Open Rebecca Witt Sourdough Mama

Why You’ll Love This Savory Sourdough Bread

This combination doesn’t get the attention it deserves. If you like savory flavors, this will be your new favorite way to make sourdough. It feels warm and comforting, but is still light enough to make any time of year. Real sourdough gives it a tiny tang, and a light and airy base for the flavors to soak through every bite. Plus, it’s long fermented, so incredibly gut healthy to top it off.

Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Sourdough Baked Loaf Sliced on Board Rebecca Witt Sourdough Mama

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need:

275g filtered water
50g active sourdough starter
380g organic flour (Sunrise Flour Mill organic heritage flour is always my go to - this link gets you 20% off!)
10g sea salt/Himalayan salt
75g Gruyère cheese, in small cubes
80g caramelized onions (organic yellow onions are my favorite, but it’s up to you)

Helpful Tools

food scale

Instructions

Mix your base dough (flour, water, salt, starter). Fermentolyse for 30 minutes to an hour depending on dough/kitchen temp.
While the dough is initially resting, prepare the onions. Thinly slice about half a medium-sized onion. Put them in a hot pan with butter. Once they start turning translucent, turn the heat to medium-low, stirring every few minutes. Add more butter as needed, until they’re fully cooked down. Let cool.
Meanwhile, cut a block of Gruyère into small cubes. Set aside.
Begin stretch and folds every 30 minutes. After the second set of stretch and folds, add in your caramelized onions and Gruyère right on top of the dough. Continue stretch and folds as usual, incorporating the inclusions as you go. After 4 total sets of stretch and folds (about 2 hours after the first set), cover the dough, set aside and let bulk ferment at room temperature.
When the dough has risen about 70%, you see lots of bubbles under the surface, and the dough is doming on top (slightly pulling away from the sides of the bowl), dump the dough onto the counter and shape.
Note: Never base your bulk fermentation timeline off of the clock, but look for these signs and learn to read your dough. The time it takes to bulk ferment will vary largely depending on the temperature of your dough and room, among other factors.
Once shaped and in the banneton, let it rest on the counter for 10-15 minutes. Then, give it one final stitch and move it to the fridge to cold proof. My preferred length of cold proof is about 36 hours, but it’s up to you.
When ready to bake, preheat your oven (with Dutch oven inside) to 475F. When it’s hot, remove the dough from the fridge, place on parchment paper, score the dough, and put it in the Dutch oven (with the lid on) and into the oven for 20 minutes (first half of the bake).
After 20 minutes, remove the Dutch oven lid and put it back in the oven for another 18-20 minutes (keep an eye on it, every oven bakes differently!).
When it’s reached a nice dark golden brown color (don’t be afraid of a darker crust, that’s where the best flavor is!), remove from oven and let cool for an hour or two.
Slice and enjoy!