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Bashert's blog

Bashert's picture
Bashert

This was an experiment I thought turned out worthy of sharing. I keep trying to increase the depth of flavor and wean myself off store-bought white flour. So, here is my 90% hydration 60% whole-wheat, 30% rye, and 10% spelt sourdough, made using the Tartine method.

Formula for two 1000g loaves:

200g Levain

600g organic whole-wheat

300g organic rye

100g spelt

900g water

20g salt

3.5 hour bulk rise, 2 hour proof at room temp after shaping

 

Bubbling whole-grain dough.

The crumb.. and an arm.

 

Customers at the market seemed to love it! Ended up with a very soft crumb and slightly sweet, nutty whole-wheat flavor. My wife says my spelt breads are "dry... in a good way." And I always think the dough smells like a big matzo ball when I'm mixing it. Anybody else notice this when using spelt??

Bashert's picture
Bashert

Here is my morning experiment... 85% hydration organic whole wheat/rye with soaked steel cut oats added in. I was pretty pleased with how they came out. I keep trying to get maximum flavor out of my sourdough... weaning myself off store bought AP flour! This dough smelled great as I mixed it.... and the oats (soaked overnight) gave the finished bread another layer of flavor and texture. I gave the dough a 3 hour bulk rise, then shaped it and gave it an overnight 8 hour rise in the fridge, with 1 more hour at room temp before baking.

 

One question for you guys: Is anybody else using Great River Organic Milling flour from Amazon.com? If so, what do you think? I used their "whole wheat bread flour" and "specialty rye" for this formula. Anybody use their "specialty all purpose whole wheat flour"? Or any of their other blends? Very curious about the differences. How about the "unbleached wheat flour"? Is that their version of white flour?

Thanks and happy baking! - Joel

 

 

Bashert's picture
Bashert

Hey guys, this is my first Fresh Loaf blog, but I have been reading these pages for a long time. Bread is my thing. As I know it is for a lot of you. Anyway, I am a part-time baker (bashertbakery.com), full-time school teacher, but.... Friday was a rain-out day in South Florida (our version of a snow day, sorry everybody in most of the rest of the country right now)! So, no school, which means I could bake!

I decided on experimenting with seeds. Check out the fruits of my unexpected day off below: two country sourdough boules with sesame seeds and two sourdough rye boules with ground caraway. I used ground caraway because I screwed up and ordered ground instead of whole. I am using the Tartine method for high hydration dough, modified to accommodate my schedule. Which today meant I did a bulk rise of 3.5 hours, then shaped the loaves, then had a relatively short, room-temperature (75 F) final rise of 2.5 hours.

 

I ended up being very pleased with the results! Both varieties had nice oven spring, crisp crusts, and a moist, open crumb. I love the earthy quality the sesame seeds lend to the mild tang of the country sourdough. As for the rye with ground caraway... Not a bad experiment! The flavor of the caraway came through and complimented the rye, as always, but it was a bit more mild and even flavor compared to using whole seeds. Below, I have the formulas I used. Thanks for sharing my bake with me!

Leaven (100% hydration; enough for 4, 1000g loaves, with some leftover)

300g - Water

3tbs - Sourdough starter

50g - Organic rye flour

250g - White/Wheat Flour 50/50 blend

Mix and cover with a towel. Seeya in 8 hours or so!

 

Final Dough

Country Sesame (75% hydration; yield: two 1000g loaves)

750g - Water

200g - Leaven

450g - All-Purpose flour

450g - Bread flour

100g - Whole Wheat flour

20g - Sea salt

1 cup toasted sesame seeds

 

Rye with Ground Caraway (80% hydration; yield: two 1000g loaves)

800g - Water

200g - Leaven

200g - Rye flour

600g - All-Purpose flour

200g - Bread flour

20g - Sea salt

1 cup ground caraway seeds

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