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MikiLab's recipes

Browse the recipes and make them at home: doses recalculated for the home oven, explained step by step.

MikiLab doesn't want to teach the craft to anyone who has practised it all their life. Hands, flour, the home oven and time always change something.

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176 recipes

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Recipes are of two kinds: those checked or tested by Michele and the drafts written by Sitor, Michele's AI avatar: an artificial intelligence based on Anthropic models. Each recipe clearly states which kind it is.

Free for personal use. Recipes and texts © MikiLab: reproducing or selling them is forbidden, links are welcome. Official prints and shares carry the MikiLab logo.

© MikiLab — Sitor's Manual · Made with Michele's hands

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Pane alla Barbabietola

Enter doses, hydration and times. Hydration is computed automatically.

Beetroot BreadIllustrative image
MikiLab
MikiLab
Beetroot Bread · 10/10/2026

🇮🇹Beetroot Bread

Beetroot Bread

Recipe no. 19 · mikilab.de/19

Type 1 flour W280

Sitor draft

Michele's touch: soaked breadcrumbs

In all my savoury recipes I add a little soaked breadcrumb, the «Brösel» (German bakers call it an old-bread soaker). It makes the crumb softer, brings crust flavour and keeps the bread fresh longer. Optional: the recipe works without it, but I always do it.

Dry breadcrumbs

50 g

Water

150 g

for this recipe, with 1000 g of flour

  1. The day before: stir the breadcrumbs and water into a soft paste. Cover and keep it in the fridge overnight.
  2. The next day: add all the paste to the final dough (not to the preferment), with the other ingredients. The recipe's water stays the same.

Use plain breadcrumbs, with no salt or seasoning. Best of all is your own bread from yesterday, dried and grated.

MikiLab
MikiLab
Sitor's Manual

Beetroot Bread

Farina tipo 1 W280 · Proof: 42 min · Difficulty: Medium
Flour1000 g
Water700 g
Sourdough150 g
Salt20 g
Cooked beetroot purée (natural colour)250 g
Sunflower seeds60 g
Olive oil10 g
Miglioratore Naturale Pro (2% on flour weight)20 g
Apple cider vinegar (Essig)10 g
Coconut fat10 g

Baking: 235°C · 42 min

Method

1) PRE-FERMENT (indirect): refresh 150 g sourdough (needed in the dough) and let it mature until doubled (4-6 h at 26 °C). 2) AUTOLYSE: mix flour and beetroot purée with a little water, rest 40 min (the colour sets). 3) DOUGH: add the sourdough, then Natural Improver Pro, oil and sunflower seeds; develop gluten adjusting water (beetroot adds a lot). Add the salt (20 g) near the end of mixing. 4) BULK: 1.5 h at room temperature with 2 folds. 5) 16°C RETARD: mature 14-18 h for aroma and to fix the colour (avoid over-baking that darkens the pink). 6) SHAPE: shape the loaves and proof 2-2.5 h in a banneton. 7) BAKE: 235°C with steam for the first 15 min, then 215°C, ~42 min total; keep the bake light to preserve the colour. COCONUT FAT, OIL AND VINEGAR (my method): add the coconut fat once the dough comes together into a ball; add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt last.

Allergens: Gluten, Lupin

© MikiLab — Sitor's Manual · mikilab.de · Do not reproduce or sell without the logo and consent
Medium

Sourdough (Lievito Madre) check

  1. Put the starter in a straight clear glass jar, mark the level with a rubber band and note the time.
  2. Ready when doubled, with a domed top.
  3. Good signs: bubbles against the glass, smell of yogurt or sweet milk.
  4. Collapsed dome and sharp smell (vinegar, solvent) = «over-proofed»: refresh again before use.
  5. Discard: fuzzy mould, pink or orange streaks.
  6. Keep it around 28 °C (e.g. oven off with light on; check with a thermometer).
  7. Note how many hours it takes to double: if it gets faster each refresh, it's getting stronger.

Use it when it is active and stable: it doubles regularly after a refresh. If you have no starter, ask a bakery for a piece or use dried starter to reactivate (about a week).

On TikTokRecipe no. 19

What you need· draft

  • Scale (1 g)Where: houseware
  • Large bowlWhere: houseware
  • Oven thermometer · optionalWhere: houseware / online
  • Clear glass jar with rubber bandWhere: houseware store
  • Room thermometerWhere: houseware / online

Allergens

GlutenLupin

Always check the labels of your products.

Oven and steam can burn.

Recipes and texts © MikiLab. Free for personal use. Official prints and shares carry the MikiLab logo.

The MikiLab label

SourdoughSugar: noneNo eggsNo additives
How it rises
sourdough starter
Salt
2 g per 100 g flour
Added fat
1 %
Flour
Farina tipo 1 W280

Michele's method: the preferment or sourdough works at least 12 hours. More flavour, longer keeping, less yeast.

Calculated from the recipe: facts about the method, not a nutrition label nor medical advice.

Process diagram

MikiLabBeetroot Bread🫙1. PrefermentSourdough🥣2. Mixing🤲3. Shaping🔥4. Baking235 °C · 42 min🌬️5. Coolingmikilab.de
70% hydr.1000g flour235° · 42′ StaticIndirect

Ingredients

Rescaleg
How much flour?
Flour1000 g · 100%
Water700 g · 70%
Preferment (Sourdough starter)150 g · 15%
Salt20 g · 2%
Cooked beetroot purée (natural colour)250 g · 25%
Sunflower seeds60 g · 6%
Olive oil10 g · 1%
Miglioratore Naturale Pro (2% on flour weight)20 g · 2%
Apple cider vinegar (Essig)10 g · 1%
Coconut fat10 g · 1%

Procedure

1) PRE-FERMENT (indirect): refresh 150 g sourdough (needed in the dough) and let it mature until doubled (4-6 h at 26 °C). 2) AUTOLYSE: mix flour and beetroot purée with a little water, rest 40 min (the colour sets). 3) DOUGH: add the sourdough, then Natural Improver Pro, oil and sunflower seeds; develop gluten adjusting water (beetroot adds a lot). Add the salt (20 g) near the end of mixing. 4) BULK: 1.5 h at room temperature with 2 folds. 5) 16°C RETARD: mature 14-18 h for aroma and to fix the colour (avoid over-baking that darkens the pink). 6) SHAPE: shape the loaves and proof 2-2.5 h in a banneton. 7) BAKE: 235°C with steam for the first 15 min, then 215°C, ~42 min total; keep the bake light to preserve the colour. COCONUT FAT, OIL AND VINEGAR (my method): add the coconut fat once the dough comes together into a ball; add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt last.

The why

This recipe's steps explained by Sitor (AI). The quantities stay Michele's.

Machine Sheet

Production Mode: Manual

Hourly Yield: ≈ 40-80 pcs/hour (by hand)

No machine active: manual work. Turn on the Machine Park in the Lab.

Bread with a natural magenta-pink colour from beetroot purée (no dyes). Indirect method with SOURDOUGH. Beetroot adds water and sugars, so reduce the added water. The colour stays brighter with a gently baked crumb.

Useful terms *

  • * Autolyse: an initial rest of flour and water (20-40 min) before salt and yeast; it develops gluten and makes the dough more extensible.
  • * Full development (incordare): knead until the dough is smooth, elastic and pulls away from the bowl (gluten fully developed).
  • * Final proof (appretto): the second proof after shaping, before baking.
Michele

Made with Michele's hands

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