Danni3ll3's blog

 My daughter noticed a local bakery use this mix of spice in their bread and asked me to make something similar. When I researched this particular mix, I discovered that it was called German Bread spice. So I tweaked the grains in one of my favourite porridge bread recipes (I’m all about porridge bread these days... Thank you to Ian for convincing me!) and tossed in these spices. 

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves

German Spice Mixture

(Procedure in recipe)

1/2 tsp anise seed

1/2 tsp fennel seed

1/2 tsp caraway seed

1/2 tsp coriander seed

Porridge 

100 g large rolled oats

200 g water

45 g honey

40 g butter

Dough

700 g strong bakers unbleached flour

100 g freshly milled wholegrain Red Fife berries 

100 g freshly milled wholegrain Selkirk berries 

100 g freshly milled wholegrain Rye berries 

50 g freshly ground flax seeds

700 g water

23 g pink Himalayan salt

30 g yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra wholegrain and unbleached flour of your choice for feeding the levain

The day before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of wholegrain flour. Place in a warm spot for about 8 hours. 

The night before:

1. Mill the berries from the various grains. Place the required amounts of each milled flour in a tub. Grind the flax seeds and add to the tub. Add the unbleached flour to the tub as well. Cover and set aside.

1. Toast the whole spices for the German Spice in a dry frying pan until lightly fragrant. Grind in a spice or coffee mill. Reserve. 
2. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

Dough Making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 50 g each of strong baker’s flour and whole grain. Let rise until doubled (about 5-6 hours). 

2. About two hours before the levain is ready, put 700 g filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for at least a couple of hours at room temperature. 

3. Make the porridge: Add the water, the butter, the honey, and the spices to the rolled oats and cook on low until water is absorbed and porridge is creamy. 

4. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 8 minutes. At the end of the 8 minutes, add the porridge and mix until incorporated.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then 2 more sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise 40%. This only took another 15-20 minutes as the kitchen was quite warm. It should have irregular bubbles visible through the sides of the container and  bubbles on top as well. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~800 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and cross over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough towards from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice flour and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover and let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, about 11 hours later, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

I believe these were a bit underproofed considered the way they split open during baking. Maybe leaving them in a fridge a bit longer might have been beneficial. 

I don’t remember how I stumbled on this combo but I must give Kristen Dennis, from Full Proof Baking, the credit for inspiring this version. 

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves

Porridge 

100 g large rolled oats

200 g water

35 g Maple Syrup

30 g butter

Add-ins

200 g 50%  dark chocolate chips 

Dough

800 g strong bakers unbleached flour

200 g freshly milled wholegrain Durum flour 

50 g freshly ground flax seeds

700 g water

23 g pink Himalayan salt

30 g yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra wholegrain and unbleached flour of your choice for feeding the levain

The day before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of wholegrain flour. Place in a warm spot for about 8 hours. 

The night before:

1. Mill the grains if you are using durum berries. Otherwise use the freshest wholegrain durum flour that you can find (freshly milled flour does make an incredible difference in flavor). Place the required amount of flour in a tub. Grind the flax seeds and add to the tub. Add the unbleached flour to the tub as well. Cover and set aside.

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

Dough Making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 50 g of strong baker’s flour and 50 g wholegrain flour. Let rise until doubled (about 5 hours). 

2. About two hours before the levain is ready, put 700 g filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for at least a couple of hours at room temperature. 

3. Make the porridge: Add the water, the butter and the maple syrup to the rolled oats and cook on low until the liquids are absorbed and porridge is creamy. Let cool. 

4. Once the autolyse is done and the levain has doubled, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a few seconds to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 8 minutes. At the end of the 8 minutes, add the porridge as well as the chocolate chips, and mix until incorporated.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then one more set after 45 minutes. I usually do a total of 4 sets but this dough was moving really fast. When I went to do the last set of folds, it had risen 40-50% already so I decided to go ahead with shaping. Total bulk was less than 3 hours. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~870 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and cross over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice flour and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. I try to keep final proof under 12 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, about 11 hours later, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 20 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

Holy oven spring! These really decided to explode. 

I haven’t posted very much lately because we went into lockdown/stay at home, came out of it for two weeks and we are back into lockdown/grey zone on Monday. People here just can’t seem to get the idea you should stay home and away from each other! Our Covid numbers have just exploded in the last week or so. We have had more cases in February than we did all of 2020! Ok rant over and back to bread!

Even though I’ve been making sourdough for a few years now, I keep tweaking and changing things. I’ve discovered that my starter is much happier with wholegrain flour rather than unbleached flour. So the first two feeds lately are all wholegrain flour and the last build is 50/50 wholegrain and unbleached flour. I don’t worry about doubling for the first two builds but that last build doubles in 4 and half to 5 hours. 

I’ve also discovered that using recently fed levain rather than refrigerating it for a day makes for faster proofing times. Now my dough rises ~30% in 3.5-4 hours, which is a huge improvement over the sometimes 5 hours I’ve had to wait. I also seem to get a better crumb if I keep the rise to no more than 30-40% with 4 sets of coil folds. 

And the last thing learned is to go back to ~10 hours of cold proof in the fridge. I definitely keep it under 12 hours now even though it means getting up at 5 am to bake. This combined with narrower dutch ovens seems to give me maximum oven spring. 

This loaf is a popular one. I even did a mid week bake of an extra 12 loaves in addition to my usual Sunday bake to fulfill all the requests. 

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves

Dough:

700 g strong bakers unbleached flour

200 g fresh milled Kamut 

100 g fresh milled Einkorn

75 g dry Wild Rice 

150 g dried cranberries 

700 g water

30 g yogurt 

35 g honey

22 g salt

250 g of 3 stage 100% hydration levain (procedure below)

Wholegrain and unbleached flour to feed the levain

The day before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of wholegrain flour. Leave at room temperature until bedtime. 

The night before:

1. I use homemilled flour so if you are doing the same, measure out the stated amount for each type of flour in berries or grain, and mill it on the finest setting of your home mill. If buying flour, get the freshest that you can and try to ensure that it is wholegrain. 

2. Place the required amounts of the wholegrain flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 

3. Cover and set aside.

4. Cook the wild rice in plenty of boiling water for an hour, then soak in the hot water until tender. This took another half hour. Drain, add the dried cranberries, and refrigerate overnight.

5. Before bed, feed the levain 20 g each water and wholegrain flour and leave at room temperature overnight. 

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, feed the levain 100 g of water, 50 g of wholegrain flour and 50 g of unbleached flour. Place in a warm spot to double (I use my oven with the lights on). This takes about 5 hours. Take the wild rice and the cranberries out of the fridge to warm up.

2. Two hours before the levain is ready, in a stand mixer, mix the water with the flour, and mix on speed 1 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let this autolyse for a couple of hours. 

3. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt, the yogurt, the honey, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 7 minutes.  

4. Add the cooked wild rice and cranberries to the mixing bowl, and mix on speed 2 until they are evenly distributed. This should take about two minutes. 

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with lights on). 

6. Do 2 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals and then 2 sets of sleepy ferret folds at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 30%. It should have irregular bubbles visible through the sides of the container and  bubbles on top as well. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~830 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 15-30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 10 to 12 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

I ran out of bread (taking a break over the holidays) and needed a loaf to go with soup so I was looking for something simple. I love Spelt with porridge so this was it. 

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves

Porridge 

100 g large rolled oats

200 g water

45 g honey

40 g butter

Dough

700 g strong bakers unbleached flour

300 g freshly milled wholegrain Spelt flour 

50 g freshly ground flax seeds

700 g water

23 g salt

30 g yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra wholegrain and unbleached flour of your choice for feeding the levain

The day before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of wholegrain flour. Place in a warm spot for about 8 hours. 

The night before:

1. Mill the grains if you are using spelt berries. Place the required amount of flour in a tub. Grind the flax seeds and add to the tub. Add the unbleached flour to the tub as well. Cover and set aside.

2. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise for the night. 

Dough Making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of strong baker’s flour. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled (about 6 hours). 

2. About two hours before the levain is ready, put 700 g filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for at least a couple of hours at room temperature. 

3. Make the porridge: Add the water to the rolled oats and cook on low until water is absorbed and porridge is creamy. Add the butter and the honey. Stir until well distributed. 

4. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 8 minutes. At the end of the 8 minutes, add the porridge and mix until incorporated.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then 2 more sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise 40%. This took about another hour. It should have irregular bubbles visible through the sides of the container and  bubbles on top as well. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~800 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and cross over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice flour and all purpose flour in the bannetons. I sprinkled some rolled oats as well. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, about 11 hours later, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

The boules ended up with awesome oven spring. I think that having a bit narrower pots helped with that. I was glad to see that the new pots weren’t too small for the amount of dough I usually make. Having a curved lid also helped as the boules sprung well above the edge. I didn’t relish the idea of having to rescale all my recipes. 

I’ve made these before based on Bourke Street Bakery’s Spiced Fruit loaf but this time, I soaked the dried fruit in Grand Marnier. Yum! 

Makes 3 loaves

 INGREDIENTS

Snockered Fruit

150 dried cranberries

60 golden raisins (sultanas)

60 g Thompson Raisins

50 g Grand Marnier

Main dough 

770 g strong baker’s unbleached flour

110 g freshly milled Durum flour

50 g freshly ground flax

620 g filtered water

40 g plain yogurt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3.5 tsp of mixed spices (4 tsp ground cinnamon, .5 tsp each of ground ginger and ground cloves, 1 tsp each of ground nutmeg and ground coriander - Note this makes more than you need.)

22 g pink Himalayan salt 

465 g of 4 stage levain (100% hydration)(Procedure in recipe)

Extra unbleached and whole grain flour to feed the levain.

Two nights before:

1. Take 16 g of your refrigerated starter and feed it 16 g each of whole grain flour and filtered water. Let rise overnight.

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 32 g of wholegrain flour and 32 g of filtered water.

The night before:

1. Mix the unbleached flour, the durum flour, and the ground flax well in a tub, cover and reserve.
2. Measure out the cranberries and the two types of raisins and place in a bowl. To the bowl, add 50 g of Grand Marnier, and mix well. Cover and let sit overnight, tossing the fruit occasionally. 
3. Before going to bed, feed the levain 64 g of filtered water and 64 g of unbleached flour.

Dough day:

1. Feed the levain 128 g each of unbleached flour and filtered water. Let rise in a warm spot till double. This should take about 4-5 hours.
2. Two hours before the levain is ready, mix the flours and the water in a stand mixer to a shaggy dough with no dry spots. Autolyse for a couple of hours.
3. Once the levain is ready, add the levain, the yogurt and the salt to the dough in the mixing bowl. Mix on speed 1 for a minute and then on speed 2 for another 7 minutes.
4. Add the fruit mixture and the spices, and mix on speed 2 for another couple of minutes until the fruit and spices are well integrated. Let rest for a half hour in a warm spot. (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then more 2 sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 50%. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~810g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Sprinkle oat flakes on top of the flour mix, then place the dough seam side down. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

No crumb shot as they all sold. 

On the other hand, I got a great deal on 3.4 quart cast iron pots on Amazon. They are a bit smaller than my other pots’ diameter wise but seem taller with the domed lid. The enamel on my other pots had started chipping and crazing so I’d been looking for a while. Heating them empty to 475F on a regular basis is hard on enameled pots, especially cheap ones. 

It’s not easy to find 3 quart size, never mind at decent price. These were $23 US so even with the exchange, import duties and taxes plus paying a broker to go get them at the border (since the border is closed and we can’t cross), it was a great deal! 

Note they are pretty rough on the inside but that might be an asset to help prevent sticking. I do use parchment paper and I did season these even though they said they came preseasoned. No sticking with this batch so I was happy with that. 

I was looking for inspiration and came acrossAnthony Power’s Irish Stout, Oats and Cheddar Sourdough. Here is my version.

Soaker

175 g rolled oats

185 g Sleeping Giant Brewery Skull Rock Stout

Dough

800 g Strong Baker’s Unbleached flour

150 g freshly milled Selkirk flour

50 g freshly milled rye flour

540 g filtered water + 25 g

110 g Sleeping Giant Brewery Skull Rock Stout

24 g salt

30 g local yogurt

125 g old white cheddar, finely cubed

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Two mornings before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of strong baker’s flour and let rise until doubled (about 6 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. Mill the Selkirk and Rye berries if needed. If buying flour, get the freshest that you can and ensure that it is wholegrain. 

2. Place the required amounts of the wholegrain flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 

3. Cover and set aside.

4. Combine the soaker ingredients together in a heat proof bowl and cover. Let soak, covered, overnight in the fridge.

5. Cut up the cheese in small cubes and toss in flour to keep separated. Refrigerate. 

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, take the levain out of the fridge to warm up before being used in the dough.

2. Using a stand mixer, add the water and stout with the flours to the bowl, and mix on speed 1 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let this autolyse for a couple of hours. 

3. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 7 more minutes.  

4. Add the soaker, the extra water, and the cubed cheddar to the mixing bowl. Mix on speed 2 until it is evenly distributed. This takes two or three minutes.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then more 2 sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 40%. At about 30%, I tipped out the dough to shape it and it felt rather heavy. I put it back into the tub to bulk for another half hour. It still felt rather solid but not quite as heavy. The amount of add-ins do not make for a light jiggly dough. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~840g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Sprinkle oat flakes on top of the flour mix, then place the dough seam side down. (As you can see, I forgot to do this). Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

I am very glad I used parchment paper on the bottom of the pots. All the loaves stuck in one or more spots to the sides of the pot. I used a flexible bread knife to release the loaves in those spots. Do not bake these without parchment paper unless you want to be eating this bread right out of the pot. ?

I’ve been making quite a few porridge breads lately so for a change, I used a soaker. This made for a much wetter dough. I’m happy that I decided to hold back 50 g of water and see how the dough was before adding it in. It wasn’t needed so I left it out of the recipe. If you include the soaker ingredients as part of the flour, the hydration is close to 85%. My dough would have been soup with that extra 50 grams! 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves 

Soaker 

60 g Spelt flakes

60 g Kamut flakes

60 g bulgur

60 g honey

300 g boiling water

Dough

700 g unbleached flour

150 g freshly milled Spelt flour

150 g freshly milled Kamut flour 

650 g filtered water

30g local yogurt

22 g salt

250 g 100% hydration levain (3 stage)

Two mornings before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of strong baker’s flour and let rise until doubled (about 6 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. I use homemilled flour so if you are doing the same, measure out the stated amount for each type of flour in berries or grain, and mill it on the finest setting of your home mill. If buying flour, get the freshest that you can and try to ensure that it is wholegrain. 

2. Place the required amounts of the wholegrain flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 

3. Cover and set aside.

4. Combine all of the soaker ingredients together in a heat proof bowl and cover. Let soak overnight.

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, take the levain out of the fridge to warm up before being used in the dough.

2. Using a stand mixer, mix the water with the flour, and mix on speed 1 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let this autolyse for a couple of hours. 

3. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 7 more minutes.  

4. Add the soaker to the mixing bowl. Mix on speed 2 until it is evenly distributed. This takes two or three minutes.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then more 2 sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 30%. Total bulk was about 4 hours and 30 minutes for me

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~830 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

For this one, I figured using just the Einkorn and the Barley were boring so I tossed on some locally made beer. I don’t know if it was the beer, the lower hydration, the sticking to under 12 hours for the refrigerated proof or removing the loaves from the fridge 20 minutes before popping them in the oven, but wow! Did I ever get fantastic oven spring! Probably the best oven spring I’ve had for a long time!

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Porridge

75 g barley flakes

150 g water

Main dough

710 g strong baker’s unbleached flour

300 g freshly milled Einkorn

140 g filtered water + 45 g

470 g Sleeping Giant Brewery Northern Logger beer

22 g salt

30 g local yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Two mornings before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of wholegrain rye flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of strong baker’s flour and let rise until doubled (about 6 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. Measure out the stated amount of einkorn berries, and mill them on the finest setting of your home mill. 

2. Place the required amounts of the einkorn flour in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 

3. Cover and set aside.

4. Make the barley porridge and cook until thick. Cool and refrigerate overnight.

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, take the porridge and the levain out of the fridge to warm up before being used in the dough.

2. Using a stand mixer, mix the water with the flour, and mix on speed 1 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let this autolyse for a couple of hours. 

3. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 4 minutes. Einkorn apparently doesn’t like being overmixed. In the meantime, add the extra water to the barley porridge to loosen it. 

4. Add the porridge and mix on speed 2 until they are evenly distributed. This should only take a minute or two.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with lights on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then more 2 sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 30%. Total bulk took a lot longer than expected because one of my oven lights (there are two in there) died. I was wondering why the dough was still cold at the third coil folds. Thankfully, hubby keeps spares around and replaced it right away. So any stated time for bulk would not be accurate so 30% rise is what you will need to go by. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~740 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. I always set the oven on a timer the night before so I can sleep in for the hour the oven is heating. Well I woke up with a start thinking I’d over slept and ran to get the loaves out of the fridge. Actually I hadn’t overslept and the loaves sat out for about 20 minutes while the oven finished heating for an hour. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

This smells like deep fried onion rings when you are making it! I decided to try my old method of levain builds to see if I got more activity that way, but I found that although it rose the same height, it seemed less active during the builds. Bulk was about the same. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Dough:

700 g strong bakers unbleached flour

200 g fresh milled Kamut 

100 g fresh milled Einkorn

85 g dry Lundberg Wild Blend Rice (~240 g cooked)

20 g dehydrated onions flakes

700 g water

30 g yogurt 

50 g honey

24 g salt

250 g of 3 stage 100% hydration levain (procedure below)

Rye flour (or any other wholegrain flour) to feed the levain

Two mornings before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of wholegrain rye flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of wholegrain rye flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of strong baker’s flour and let rise until doubled (about 6 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. I use homemilled flour so if you are doing the same, measure out the stated amount for each type of flour in berries or grain, and mill it on the finest setting of your home mill. If buying flour, get the freshest that you can and try to ensure that it is wholegrain. 

2. Place the required amounts of the wholegrain flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 

3. Cover and set aside.

4. Cook the rice in plenty of boiling water until tender. This took a good 45-50 minutes. You can also follow the instructions on the package but I don’t have any luck steaming rice, so I boil it in plenty of water. Drain, add the dehydrated onions, and refrigerate overnight.

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, take the rice and the levain out of the fridge to warm up before being used in the dough.

2. Using a stand mixer, mix the water with the flour, and mix on speed 1 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let this autolyse for a couple of hours. 

3. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt, the yogurt, the honey, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 9 minutes.  

4. Add the cooked rice and onions to the mixing bowl, and mix on speed 2 until they are evenly distributed. This should only take a minute or two.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then more 2 sets at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 30%. Total bulk was 4 hours and 15 minutes for me. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~770 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 

2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

Time to put cranberries in bread. They actually taste awesome with Feta and toasted sunflower seeds. I got the inspiration from a little French lunch place in my home town. They use this combo in their house salad. Soooo good!

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add ins:

150 g dried cranberries

75 g crumbled feta

60 toasted sunflower seeds (I buy raw and toast them in a dry frying pan)

Main dough:

700 g Strong Bakers Unbleached Flour

200 g freshly milled Spelt flour 

100 g freshly milled Durum flour 

700 g filtered water + 25g 

20 g pink Himalayan salt

30 g yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra wholegrain and unbleached flour to feed levain

Two afternoons before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of any kind of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for about 8 hours. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature overnight. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of unbleached flour. Let rise until doubled (about 6 or 7 hours). 
2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. Mill the Spelt and Durum berries and place the required amount in a tub. 
2. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. Cover and reserve. 

Dough Making day:

1. In the morning, take the levain out of the fridge, give it a good stir and put it in a warm spot to get nice and bubbly. It will rise again but not necessarily double. 
2. Put 700 g of filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Cover and autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature (73F).
3. After the autolyse, add the salt, the extra water, the yogurt, and the levain to the dough. Mix on the second speed for 9 minutes. 
4. Add the cranberries, feta and toasted sunflower seeds to the bowl and mix until well combined. 
5. Remove dough from bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot to begin bulk fermentation. My warm spot is the oven with the door cracked open and the lights on. I get an ambient temperature of around 82F. 
6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minutes intervals and then 2 more sets of coils folds at 45 minute intervals. Then let the dough rise by 30%. Total bulk was about 4 and a half hours. 
7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~785 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let it rest 15 minutes on the counter. 
8. Do a final shape by flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities or big bubbles. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
9. Sprinkle a mix of rice  and all purpose or baker’s flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover with plastic bowl covers or shower caps. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight.

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475 F with the Dutch ovens inside for an hour.
2. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
3. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.