Recent Blog Entries

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that the post will be my only post, simply as a 'gratitude' post for all the bread baking knowledge I've learned, allows me to eat healthier. Now to think that I have severe commitment issue, which hinders me from having hobbies those I can cling to in long term, maybe it's a good idea for me to write structured methods. The idea is, when I for some reason no longer feel like baking again, and somehow want to get back to it, I have something that I can directly look into without feeling overwhelmed.

Everytime I decide to learn certain bakes, I like to learn the classics first before going wild with experimentation. My first 30 something batches of (re)learning sourdough was pain de campagne. I like it for it's mild flavor profile and light texture. My go-to formula back then involves 20% whole wheat and 10% rye. The problems are:

1. Regular whole wheat only available in 5kg increments with short lifespan. I'm by all means not a hardcore hobbyist, hence not having the willpower to consume 5 kg bag of whole wheat in less than 2 months. Milling my own flour? Not a chance (lol)
2. I have zero reason for using rye. First, I'm not a sour seeker. Second, I couldn't notice what difference 10% rye makes in sourdough when it comes to flavor

I live in the tropics, so I was thinking, why not adjust the formula using ingredients those locally are more accessible. First, atta whole wheat is available in 2kg increment. Second, black rice flour is phenomenal for crust color. Third, oat flour is awesome when you want something mild but still in the realm of whole grains.

Speaking of black rice, I planned to always use it in my sourdough bakes, for the reason I mentioned above. It's just logical for me to put it in the earliest part of fermentation process; the starter. Besides that, starter has no role in dough strength anyway, so why not use some weak flour that I really adore.

Here is the method. In my fashion, weakest flour goes first, strongest flour goes last.

Overall: 85% hydration, 5% glutinous black rice flour, 15% rolled oat flour, 20% atta whole wheat, 3 stages levain, cold pot method, 30% prefermented flour

Day 1

Mix 3 g 50% hydration black rice starter, 6 g black rice flour, and 3 g water. Ferment for 2 hours, then refrigerate.

Day 2

Mix previous levain with 16 g black rice flour, 12 g oat flour, and 14 g water. Ferment until mature

Mix previous levain with 60 g oat flour, 48 g atta flour, and 54 g water. Ferment for 2 hours, then refrigerate.

Day 3

Dechill levain for 45 minutes.

Puree levain with 336 g water. Mix in 288 g 13% protein white flour and 48 g atta flour. Rest 20 minutes.

Add 12 g salt, mix well. With spatula, stretch the dough north-south, then west-east. With wet hands, raise the dough in the air and do S&F north-south then west-east. Rest 20 minutes.

Repeat the double S&F and 20 minutes rest until the dough resisting stretch. Usually takes me 1.5 hours or two. After the last 20 minutes rest, you may preshape the dough.

Shape, and proof in parchment lined enameled pot. Proof a bit longer than you would with banneton for fluffier texture.

The last 20 minutes of proofing, blow dry the loaf with standing fan. Score, spray the dough with water, lid on.

Bake 250 °C for 45 minutes.

I noticed whenever I use oat flour, I get better volume despite closed crumb (I'm not open crumb seeker). And more tender crumb too.

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Taste assessment

I always toast my bread before eating. After being toasted, it's soooo fluffy with thin shattery crispy crust. That's the wonder of oat and blow drying instead of flour-dusting pre-scoring. As any bread I've made with > 10% oat in the levain, it has slight vegetal taste, reminiscence of cucumber. The acidity is mild. There is slight acetic smell when untoasted, but it's gone after toasting. In my opinion, it pairs well with fish, also anything citrusy.

Notes

High hydration is necessary if oat flour is involved, otherwise the scored surface will have torn and shredded look instead of nice spherical surface

At first, the dough feels a bit slacker than 75% hydration APF dough. But it will get nice and elastic eventually.

I always puree my stiff levain for 15 seconds before use regardless the type of flour used, never had problem (keep in mind I never use more than 30% prefermented flour)

There is no reliable way to judge ripeness of the second stage levain. First, black rice has strong aroma. Second, no significant volume increase. Cracks might occur. Usually my atta starter takes 4 hours to ripe, so I fermented it for 4 hours

This starter is a lot more vigorous than the last time it was still being fed with atta flour. I might have to cut the prefermented flour from my usual 30% to 20-25%

Peace and love,

Jay

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This is as much for anyone looking for a way to bake with emmer flour as for any other reason, but that should be sufficient.  Emmer is a nice flour (mine comes from Barton Springs, but it is available generally).

For those who read my post in the Community Bake thread, you might recall that I mentioned wanting to make a few changes.  This bake incorporated a soaker, which softened the rye chops especially.  In addition, the soaker added some needed hydration to the dough.  Lastly, I did only two sets of stretch-and-folds.  All of these changes were for the better, and I see no need to make any more for the next few bakes (my opinion could always change, of course).

Here is a summary in case you are looking for a recipe involving emmer.

     Levain

Starter                        40 g

Bread Flour              100 g

Whole Wheat Flour  100 g

Water                       250 g

     Soaker

Rye Chops                50 g

Oats                          30 g

Sunflower Seeds      20 g

Water (boiling)        100 g

     Final Dough

Bread Flour                234 g

Whole Wheat Flour    233 g

Emmer Flour              333 g

Soaker                       all

Water                         470 g

Levain                        all

Salt                              18 g

I prepared the Levain as well as the Soaker the night before and let them sit at room temperature.  When the Levain was properly bubbly, I combined the Final Dough flours, the Soaker, and the water until they were rough and shaggy.  You might think that you need to add water to make the components into a single mass, but resist that urge.  The Soaker will provide the moisture.

Then I let the combo sit for a half hour before adding the Levain and salt.  For this step I employed Forkish's pincher method of mixing, and you will definitely need to work the dough to get the Levain thoroughly distributed in the Final Dough.  After mixing (I included eighty French Folds), the dough temperature was only 72F, and the kitchen was 70F.  I anticipated a little longer bulk fermentation.

After sixty minutes I did the first stretch-and-fold and then another an hour after that.  Thereafter the dough sat until it was ready for pre-shaping.  For this bake the total bulk fermentation was four hours and eighteen minutes.  The dough went onto the counter and was divided into two portions, both of which were pre-shaped into rounds.  After a twenty minute bench rest, one portion became a batard and the other a boule.  The dough went into bannetons (and those into plastic bags) and into the refrigerator for an overnight proofing.

After nearly sixteen hours in the fridge the bannetons came out.  The boule went into a Dutch oven heated to 475F, and the batard went onto a baking stone at 450F.  The lid came off the Dutch oven after twenty minutes.  Two aluminum pie pans filled with hot water provided steam for the baking stone.  Total baking time for each loaf was forty-eight minutes.

The trio of bread flour, whole wheat, and emmer seem to go well together.  This is a bread that I will bake again.  My wife and I kept the batard, while the boule went to some friends.

Here are the two loaves.

Here is the crumb from the one we kept.

Happy baking.

Ted

Pumpkin, cranberry raisin Bread.

Phase 1 ✅

The mix and mechanical dough development.

Phase 2✅

Day two. After the long slow bulk fermentation. The loaves are shaped and baked.

I used 500g rye berries for this bread. I milled them in a hand burr mill on a very coarse setting. I remilled half of them on a relatively fine setting. Use all that alongside 500 g warm water, about 300 g 100% hydration rye preferment, salt and coriander to make a dough. 

Good taste and lovely texture. Coarse rye flour makes great crumb.

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