Danni3ll3's blog

This weekend's bread is all about including whole grains. The levain is a combo of the 3 starters I have. I coddled it all week and it rewarded me with tripling in just a few hours when I made the final levain. 

Here is the recipe!

1. Sprout 50 g each of Kamut, Spelt and Selkirk wheat berries. 

2. Autolyse sprouts with 700 g water, 550 g no-additives unbleached flour, 102 g multigrain flour, 100 g fresh milled Kamut, 100 g fresh milled Spelt and 100 g fresh milled Selkirk wheat. Let sit for a couple of hours. 

3. Mix in 22 g sea salt, 30 g Kefir, and 275 g levain (80%). The kefir was supposed to go into the autolyse but I forgot it so I added it at this stage. 

4. Do four sets of folds 30 minutes apart and let bulk ferment for a total of 4-5 hours or until doubled. I do this in my oven with the light on. The batch that I put into the oven doubled in 4 hours, the one that I left out on the counter for 2 hours before putting into the oven took 5 hours. I delayed the second batch as I have only so much room on my island to shape them. 

5. Divide into 3 750-gram loaves, preshape, rest and do a final shape. Place in bannetons and into fridge for a 12-14 hour proof. I did get a new fridge and set the temperature at 36 F. When I took the loaves out to bake, they were perfectly proofed. A very cold fridge is my friend!

6. Set the oven on convection bake, Preheat oven and Dutch ovens to 475F, load dough in pots, and immediately drop temp to 450F for 25 minutes. Remove lids, switch the Dutch ovens from lower to upper rack and vice-versa, drop temp to 425 F and bake for another 20 minutes. I was worried about burnt bottoms so that is why the loaves aren't as dark as usual. Now that I know baking on convection and avoiding the hot spot works, then I can go back to nice and dark. 

Crumb shot coming later!

This bread is the result of combining the 3 starters that I have been maintaining. I have been feeding it all week to ensure it was nice and lively, and it seems to have paid off. The only problem was that hubby was trying to be helpful and he washed the container before I could remember that I needed some to feed and keep in the fridge. So I need to go back to my 3 original starters and repeat what I did last week. Oh well!

The next issue was that the basement fridge died completely so I am still up baking at 4 am. I am hoping the new fridge is here by next weekend. And Dab, your estimate of a 2 hour proof was spot on!

So that being said, here is the recipe:

1. Toast 75 g of pumpkin seeds. 

2. Soak 75 g of cranberries in 100 g hot water and when it cools off, add 30 g organic yogurt. Let sit for several hours (I had a pottery workshop so letting it sit for 30 minutes would probably be sufficient. )

3. Autolyse all of the above with 570 g of water, 550 g of unbleached flour, 150 g multigrain flour, 50 g dark rye, 150 fresh milled Kamut flour and 52 g fresh milled Selkirk flour. Let sit for 1-2 hours. 

4. Add 22 g sea salt and 266 g of 80% levain (this has 1/5 whole grain dark rye in it). Integrate well by pinching and folding. I added about another 5 g or so of water.

5. Do 4 sets of folds every 30 minutes and let bulk ferment in warm place till double. Divide into 3 loaves or two larger ones. Baking will be different for larger loaves. 

6. Preshape, rest 15 minutes, do final shape and put into bannetons for proofing. Cover or put into plastic bags. 

7. Proof for 2 hours at room temp (72F). I would normally proof in the fridge but you know the story. 

8. Preheat oven to 475F, load hot Dutch ovens and drop temp to 450F. I find that baking under convection helps prevent burned bottoms. I seem to have one hot spot and I burned the bottom of one loaf in the first batch. Second batch is fine. After 25 minutes, remove lids and bake a further 20 minutes at 425 F. 

9. If baking 2 large loaves, preheat oven to 500F, load pots and bake for 20 Minutes. Drop temp to 450 F and bake 10 more minutes. Remove kids and bake till nice and brown, usually another 25 minutes. 

Crumb shot later when I cut into the burnt loaf. Out of 12 loaves, 8 are going to friends, 3 to the soup kitchen and the burnt one to us. 

My friends finally convinced me to sell them my bread so this is my first batch of loaves for this endeavour. I am charging them just enough to cover my costs to supply them and the soup kitchen with bread. Of course, do I stick to the tried and true! Nope! I had to change a few things and was rewarded with overproofed loaves. Serves me right!

The first thing was that I used the starter from MichaelLily of Duluth's Best Bread. This is an all white flour starter; mine is all rye. Secondly I shaped the batch of dough into 3 boules of ~750 grams rather than 2 boules of ~1100 grams. And thirdly, I baked them in 3 quart Dutch ovens using Lazy Loafer's method, temperatures and timing. 

This last thing turned out well. I did have one loaf with an almost burnt bottom and I think that I must have put that one back on the bottom shelf rather than the top. 

The loaves seem to have a really thin crust so that part is great but I didn't get huge oven spring which was to be expected since I felt I was putting balloons into the pots rather than a round of dough. I used 13% prefermented flour which is what I normally use so I am not sure why they overproofed. I would have thought that the smaller boules would have cooled down faster in the fridge but then again, I made 4 batches of dough when I usually make two.

I am thinking of dropping the amount of prefermented flour to 10-11% when I use Michael's starter and/or dropping my fridge temp a bit more. Next week, I will use my usual starter and see what happens unless someone has another idea. I think I will drop the temperature of the fridge anyhow. 

So here is the recipe:

1. Toast 75 g sunflower seeds, 37 g Hemp hearts and 37 g brown Flax seeds. Soak the Flax and Hemp in 100 g water overnight. In the morning, add 50 g organic yogurt and let sit for a few hours. 

2. Autolyse all above with 630 g water, 574 g unbleached flour, 100 g multigrain flour, 109 g fresh Spelt flour (ohhhh, maybe this is the culprit for the overproofing!), and 197 g Fresh Selkirk wheat flour. Let sit for 3 hours.

3. Mix in 23 g sea salt, 275 g levain (80%) and 57 g water.

4. Do four sets of folds 30 minutes apart and let bulk ferment for a total of 5 hours or until doubled. I do this in my oven with the light on. 

5. Divide into 3 750-gram loaves, preshape, rest and do a final shape. Place in bannetons and into fridge for a 10 hour proof. 

6. Preheat oven and Dutch oven to 475F, load dough in pots, and immediately drop temp to 450F for 25 minutes. Remove lids, switch the Dutch ovens from lower to upper rack and vice-versa, drop temp to 425 F and bake for another 20 minutes. 

Crumb shot coming later!

As mentioned in my other post, I was busy baking a ton (for me) of loaves today. This is Oats 4 Ways recipe. It also makes 2 large loaves or 3 small ones. Bake for a shorter time if making the smaller ones.

1. Toast 75 g rolled oats and then soak overnight in 150 g of boiling water.

2. Soak 75 of oat groats overnight in 150 of boiling water.

3. Autolyse all of the above (do not drain) with 500 g water, 67 g organic yogurt, 578 unbleached flour, 174 g freshly milled spelt flour, 174 freshly milled kamut flour, 52 freshly milled oat flour and 20 g of oat bran. Let sit for a couple of hours.

4. Mix in 23 g of salt, 275 g of 80% hydration levain (levain was fed 9 hours prior) and 55 g of water to adjust the hydration of the dough to feel like my ear lobe (my new trick). Use pinching and folding to integrate everything together.

5. Do four sets of folds a half hour apart and let rise till double. The total bulk fermentation for this dough was just under 5 hours in a warm spot.

6. Divide into 2 or 3 and do a loose reshape. Let rest 15 minutes and do the final shaping. Pop into baskets, then into plastic bags and finally into the fridge for an overnight proof.

7. The next morning, (or afternoon in my case because I had so many other loaves to back first), bake as per my usual method.

This ended up with a lovely colour. I am not sure why my other loaves (Sprouted wheat and multigrain)  looked a little pale compared to these. Does putting dough in a real banneton affect the colour (Yes, I finally treated myself to some real bannetons ). The oat loaves were done in my usual plastic baskets so I got my usual colour. Then again, I also was treated to a lame and was playing with the scoring on the other loaves but I don't see how that would affect the colour.

The multigrain loaves are in the back for comparison.

It was like a baking marathon session today. I can only bake 2 loaves at a time and I had 10 loaves to bake! I more than doubled up on what I usually do because I can't bake next weekend and I wanted to give a couple of loaves away to friends and family.

So the first set of 5 loaves were this multigrain and sprouted wheat sourdough. This makes 2 large loaves or 3 small ones.

1. Sprout 75 g of hard spring wheat berries. I used an old variety called Selkirk. This took a few days. When the tails were as long as the berry, I put them in the fridge.

2. Toast 75 g of 10 grain cereal (Bob's Red Mill) and then soak in 150 g of boiling water overnight. In the morning, stir in 30 g of organic yogurt and let sit for a few hours.

3. Autolyse all of the above ingredients with 667 g of water, 391 g of unbleached flour, 293 g of multigrain flour (Robin Hood Multigrain Best for Bread), 99 g of freshly milled Red Fife flour, 197 g of freshly milled hard spring wheat flour. Let sit for at least 2 hours.

4. Mix in 23 g sea salt and 275 g of 80% hydration levain (It was fed about 8 hours prior). Use pinching and folding to integrate ingredients.

5. Do four sets of folds a half hour apart and then let bulk ferment in a warm spot until double. This took almost 5 hours in my oven with the light on and the door cracked open.

6. Divide into 2 or 3 and do a loose pre-shape. Let sit for 15 minutes and do the final shape. Pop into bannetons or baskets and put into plastic bags for an overnight proof in the fridge.

7. The next day, bake as per my usual method of 20 minutes at 500 F, 10 minutes at 450 F, and 27 minutes with the lid off the pre-heated Dutch Oven.

The loaves look great although they are just a shade paler than my usual loaves! Depending on which loaf we cut open this week, you may or may not get a crumb shot. The loaves feel nice and light so hoping for a fairly open crumb.

This is an adapted redo of last week's loaf where I put way too much water in the dough. Changes were to add some leftover local organic yogurt and to only use toasted black sesame seeds as an add-in. So this is the recipe:

50 g toasted black sesame seeds

100 g yogurt 

567 g water

578 g unbleached flour 

87 g Spelt flour 

87 g Kamut flour 

52 g fresh ground rye flour 

87 g fresh ground einkorn flour 

87 g fresh ground red fife flour 

20 vital wheat gluten 

23 g salt

275 g levain (80%)

90 g water

Procedure:

1. Autolyse all ingredients from seeds to vwg for 3 hours.  

2. Mix in salt, levain and extra water till well distributed. I pinch and fold for several minutes to do this. 

3. Bulk ferment for 5 hours doing 4 sets of stretches and folds every half hour at the beginning. I consider the dough ready when it has doubled. 

4. Divide, preshaped, and rest for 20-30 minutes. Do a final shape and put into floured baskets. 

5. Place baskets into plastic bags and put into fridge to proof overnight (11-13 hours)

6. Bake in preheated Dutch ovens for 20 minutes at 500 F, 10 minutes at 450 F and then 25 minutes with the lid off. 

Makes 2 loaves. 

The loaves got fantastic oven spring thanks to the sourdough starter I got from JamieOF. He was right, this starter is lively beyond belief. The crumb is just the way I like it and the whole thing is delicious with the flavour of sesame throughout. Pretty happy with this one!

This is not one of my finest moments. I put too much water in the dough, there probably was too much levain and to top it off, it overproofed in the fridge overnight. I need to redo this one in the near future. 

This is take 2 on making Injera. Unfortunately, I have never had it before so I am operating in a vacuum when it comes to texture and flavour. I read it is supposed to be spongy and have a sour flavour. 

Yesterday, I followed a recipe that used commercial yeast as well as baking powder and vinegar among other ingredients.  So today when I  was reading up on how it is made traditionally by fermenting teff flour, I thought why not use my sourdough starter?

So I mixed up about 1/4 cup starter from the fridge  with a cup of warm water. I then added a cup of teff flour and let this sit for about 3-4 hours in a warm spot. There were a few bubbles when I was about to cook these but not enough. So I added 1/4 tsp of baking powder and a splash of cider vinegar as well as a pinch of black salt. 

This seemed to do the trick. I got more bubbles in my dough and they cooked up nicely in a Pam sprayed non-stick pan. I did thin out the batter with some additional water. I used the same technique as cooking crêpes except at the time you would flip a crepe, you leave it alone and put a lid on the pan to steam it a bit for a few minutes. 

Hubby and I both liked version #2 better. Next time I will let it ferment overnight and see if I can get by without the baking powder and vinegar. 

I am sure that people who know how to cook Injera are probably cringing but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

This bread is inspired from several sources: my bread baking class, Joc1954 Cranberry Tarragon bread and a request to make a Cranberry Wild Rice loaf from one of the volunteers at the soup kitchen. 

And the very special thing about this bread is that it was leavened using JamieOF's sourdough starter. He (guessing he is a he, if not, I apologize!) sent me some of his explosive starter which he had dried. This was new to him and reviving it was new to me.

The first try on Monday as done using tap water, I realized this after I had dumped the water in, and a day later, nothing was happening so I redid it the next day. This time there were signs of life within a few hours and I carefully fed it every 12 hours.

By Saturday, it looked quite lively so I gave it my usual combo of rye and AP flour to make a levain. It loved that combo and doubled in 4 hours. I wasn't ready for it so I just stirred it down and it had risen half way within an hour and a half. As you can see, it did an awesome job leavening my loaves. 

This recipe made 3 loaves. 

The night before:

1. Soak 75 g oh wild rice in 375 g of water with 30 g of organic local yogurt. Leave at least 7 hours. Drain reserving the yogurt water. Cook the wild rice in fresh water. This was supposed to take 10 minutes but it took 45. Drain and refrigerate. 

2. Soak 150 g dried cranberries in the 375 g of reserved yogurt water and refrigerate overnight. 

Dough day:

1. Feed starter to get at least 360 g of levain at 80% hydration. Let rise till double. 

2. Autolyse 157 g cold wild rice, all of the cranberries with their liquid (cold), 525 g very hot water, 900 g flour, 135 g dark rye, 150 g Kamut flour, 105 g Spelt flour and 2 grams blanched tarragon. I blanched the tarragon because in the past I had a soup turn sour when I added fresh herbs at the end and refrigerated it. I didn't want something similar happening here. I let sit for an hour and a half. 

3. Then I mixed in 30 g salt, 360 g 80% hydration levain and 30 G water. I used pinches and folds to integrate everything and start the gluten development. 

4. I did 4 sets of folds 30 min apart and let the dough ferment for a total of 5 hours in a warm spot till it was double. 

5. I divided the dough into 3 and did a preshape, a 30 min rest and then a final shape using the envelope fold method. Then into rice floured baskets for an overnight proof in the fridge. 

Bake day:

1. Bake as per my usual method of 20 min at 500 in preheated Dutch ovens, 10 min at 450 and then another 20 min with the lid off. I also always put a round of parchment paper in the bottom to prevent sticking. 

I am super happy with these loaves. They feel quite light and they got great oven spring. I will give a crumb shot when we cut into one which won't be long considering the  amazing aroma floating in the air. 

I have put "Frankie" to bed in the fridge as per the NMNF method and hopefully, she won't mind that too much. I found that she was a warm weather type of "gal" and that she pouted when she was just on the counter. 

This is a quick post of what I baked today (technically yesterday since it is the middle of the night). Baking was done early because I am attending a 3-day Artisan Bread class on the weekend. This bake was inspired by one of Cedar Mountain's rye breads. I also played with a 4 hour autolyse and this seemed to pay off. I got great dough development and great oven spring. One of these loaves is coming with me to the bread class so that we have some good bread to munch on at night to go with the sausage and cheese we plan to get at out favourite coop in the town where the class is being held. The others went to my favourite soup kitchen.