Elsie_iu's blog

After being persuaded by Ian for times, I finally gave in and made some caramelized onion for bread. In case you’re wondering, nope, he didn’t mention about the part about Jinhua ham and shiitake mushrooms :)

Jinhua Ham Shiitake Mushrooms Caramelized Onion SD

Dough flour (all freshly milled except pearl millet flour):

120g     40%       Whole spelt flour

90g       30%       Sprouted white wheat flour

60g       20%       Whole white wheat flour

30g       10%       Whole pearl millet flour

For leaven:

7g        2.33%       Starter

39g        13%       Bran sifted from dough flour

39g        13%       Water

For scalded dough:

30g        10%       Whole pearl millet flour from dough flour

30g        10%       Hot water

For dough:

231g        77%       Dough flour excluding pearl millet flour and bran for leaven

193g     64.3%       Water

85g       28.3%       Leaven

60g         20%        Scalded dough

9g             3%        Vital wheat gluten

5g         1.67%       Salt

Add-ins:

60g         20%        Re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms, sliced

50g      16.7%        Onion, thinly sliced

27g           9%        Jinhua ham, cubed

__________

303.5g       100%       Whole grain

265.5g      87.5%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour except pearl millet flour, reserve 39 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients.

Prepare the scalded dough by combining the pearl millet flour and hot water, set aside until needed.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 5.5 hours (26.5°C).

Prepare the add-ins. Heat 1/2 tsp of your cooking oil of choice (I used extra virgin peanut oil) in a pan. Sauté the onions and mushrooms until softened and caramelized. Pour in the Jinhua ham and a couple of tbsp of water (I used the leftover water from re-hydrating the mushrooms) to deglaze the pan. Remove the mixture from the pan when all the water has evaporated. Let cool completely and refrigerate until needed.  

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the leaven and salt, autolyze for 15 minutes. Knead in the reserved ingredients and ferment for a total of 2 hours. Fold in the add-ins then ferment for 1 hour 45 minutes longer. Construct a set of stretch and fold at the 15 minutes mark and 1 hour mark respectively. Fold in the add-ins at the 30 minutes mark.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 25 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 12 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Since the dough was fully-proofed, it had virtually no oven spring… Fortunately, the crumb still turns out quite open for a whole grain loaf.

I haven’t tasted the bread yet so I can’t comment on the flavour. The write-up will be uploaded afterwards. That said, the bread smells strongly of caramelized onion and shiitake mushrooms so it should be anything but bland.

Updated: The bread has a nice springy texture and seems particularly moist thanks to the mushrooms. Surprisingly, the Jinhua ham is pretty subtle while the mushrooms dominate. There is alluring aroma associated with the caramelized onions. For the bread itself, it has little, if any, sour and is mostly sweet from the sprouted grains and spelt. 

_____

Cheese stuffed potato mochi. Aren’t they cute?

Rava upma with assorted tomatoes and… curried fishballs? Errr… should be soya tikka :)

Home-fermented kimchi fried rice with tiny dried fish, Edam cheese and fried egg. This is good. I mean it.   

Brazilian-inspired dinner: grilled spicy chicken skewer & pork sausages, cinnamon rotisserie pineapple, chorizo & black beans, brussel sprouts, zucchini & yellow peppers sautéed with dried cranberries, onion seasoned fries and bulgur pilaf

White sandwich bread of the week: 15% masa harina 15% amaranth ciabatta with sun-dried tomatoes & rosemary

Extra: 20% toasted rye bagels

 Insanely chewy…

Thanks Ian for the inspiration!

The one thing I don’t like about whole grain bread is that it’d never be as chewy as white bread. That’s why I thought of putting springy fishcakes into the bread for added texture. Please hear me out before you turn away from this nonsense: fishcakes bread isn’t as strange as it might sound! If you don’t know this already, there’s actually a kind of popular Japanese-style fishcake bread. See? It makes total sense :)

50% Sprouted Red Wheat Fishcakes Sourdough

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

150g      50%       Sprouted red wheat flour

90g        30%       Whole red wheat flour

60g        20%       Whole Red Fife wheat flour

For leaven:

8g         2.67%       Starter

31g       10.3%       Bran sifted from dough flour

31g       10.3%       Water

For dough:

269g      89.7%       Dough flour excluding flour for leaven

160g      53.3%       Water

100g      33.3%       Whey

70g        23.3%       Leaven

9g              3%        Vital wheat gluten

5g          1.67%       Salt

Add-ins:

60g         20%        Fishcakes (I made my own using frozen tilapia fillets)

__________

304g        100%       Whole grain

295g       97.0%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 31 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 4 hours (27°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the leaven and salt, autolyze for 15 minutes. Knead in the reserved ingredients and ferment for 15 minutes. Fold in the fishcakes then ferment for 3 hours longer.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 25 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 10 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Since I was too impatient again, the crumb hadn’t quite set when I cut into it. It thus looked kind of compressed… The fishcakes gave rise to some interesting textures: the ones exposed on the surface puffed and crisped up slightly, while those buried inside stayed moist and bouncy.

The flavor of this bread is on the sweet side. It’s fruity but only slightly tangy thanks to the sprouted red wheat.

______

Curried pulled lamb quesadillas with smoked Gouda and cilantro (50% masa harina). I almost cried while eating it…It was full-flavored…

Corn, cheese & black pepper pancakes (60% Masa harina 40% dark rye) with smoked salmon and a soft-boiled egg. Savory pancakes are totally cool :)

Xiamen-style stir fried vermicelli: my favourite Cha Chaan Teng dish! 

... with homemade Char siu 

Honey lemon pan grilled chicken whole leg, soft-boiled egg & grilled corn salad, enoki mushrooms & smoked Gouda baked spring rolls, and fried shallots & raisins rice pilaf

White (green?) sandwich bread of the week: 20% toasted buckwheat 10% red wheat 2% matcha

Roasted broccoli & lotus roots sandwiched lemongrass pork patties

Ok, I’m going to be honest here. I didn’t really want to make flatbread. However, given that I had no choice but to retard this bake for around 20 hours, I knew for sure it’d turn itself into flatbread anyway. Who cares about the shape when you need bread desperately? (What? You do?)

30% Germinated Red Rice & Purple Rice SD with Smoked Gouda

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

210g      70%       Whole spelt flour

45g        15%       Germinated red rice flour

45g        15%       Purple rice flour (Glutinous black rice)

For leaven:

8g        2.67%       Starter

36g         12%       Bran sifted from dough flour

36g         12%       Water

For dough:

264g         88%       Dough flour excluding flour for leaven

206g      68.7%       Water

80g        26.7%       Leaven

5g          1.67%       Salt

Add-ins:

30g         10%        Smoked Gouda cheese

For toppings:

-g              -%        Raw white sesame seeds

__________

304g        100%       Whole grain

246g       80.9%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 36 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 5 hours (27°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients and ferment for 1 hours 50 minutes. Construct 1 set of stretch and fold at the 15 minutes mark and fold in the cheese at the 30 minutes mark.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes. Shape the dough, sprinkle some toasted white sesame on top, then put in into a banneton. Retard for 19 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

My apologies for the repetition: you really never have to worry about getting a close crumb with spelt :) It’s just so reliable for opening the crumb up and don’t forget we’re talking about whole spelt here! Despite being over-proofed, the crumb isn’t entirely bad.

If you like rice, I guarantee you’d like this bread. It’s the pronounced fragrance of rice, with the added sweetness and unique aroma of purple rice and germinated red rice. The smoked Gouda contributes a savory component which I always enjoy in sweet spelt bread like this.

_______

Black pepper & leek fried rice with homemade fishcakes, and Sichuan eggplant and home-sprouted bean sprouts

Korean fried chicken, mussels in fish broth, kimchi, broccoli & bean sprouts salad, and sweet & spicy dried sardines with walnuts

White sandwich SD of the week: 34% whole grain (10% each pearl millet & amaranth, and 7% each white wheat & rye)

Next time...Next time we shall see an ear!

Scrambled eggs, smoked ham, arugula, smoked Gouda & whole grain mustard

Smoked salmon, arugula, wasabi yogurt & toasted sesame seeds

Lamb koftas, pickled radishes, cucumbers & honey mustard

For every bread with sprouted kamut or durum I baked, I find its sweetness a tad overly dominating. This time, I paired Earl Grey with these sweet sprouted grains in the hope that the resulting flavour would be more balanced.

Earl Grey 30% Sprouted Kamut SD

Dough flour:

120g      40%       Freshly milled whole white wheat flour

90g        30%       Freshly milled sprouted kamut flour

90g        30%       Indian gold atta

For leaven:

10g       3.33%       Starter

25g       8.33%       Bran sifted from dough flour

25g       8.33%       Water

For dough:

275g      91.7%       Dough flour excluding flour for leaven

160g      73.7%       Whey

100g      33.3%       Water

60g           20%       Leaven

9g              3%        Vital wheat gluten

5g          1.67%       Salt

2.5g       0.83%       Earl Grey tea leaves

__________

305g        100%       Whole grain

290g       95.1%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 25 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 2.5 hours (27°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients and ferment for 3 hours 20 minutes. Construct 1 set of stretch and fold at the 15 minutes mark.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 14 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

The dough was rather sticky, which I associate with the use of Indian atta and sprouted grains. For some reason, this bread felt very heavy out of the oven. The crumb was slightly sticky, probably because I cut into it too soon again…The crumb isn’t open but it’s acceptable to me for a low gluten loaf.

This bread has a hint of added bitterness from the tea leaves, which I find to be pretty pleasant. It also tastes a bit lemony, making it a refreshing loaf.

_______

Garlicky zucchini fusilli with mozzarella omelette & roasted red pepper sauce

Spicy bulgar pilaf with grilled leeks

Braised beef shank with carrots and dai kon radish, five spices sesame flaky YW flatbread, Veggies in broth, stir fried vermicelli, and grilled pork cucumber bean sprouts salad

Fully-stuffed :) SD naan (half ww) with sheep’s milk cheese

White sandwich loaf of the week: 30% Indian gold atta:

Smoked duck breast, cucumber & mozzarella

Fried egg, melted mozzarella & caramelized cabbages

OK… Can we all forget about the crust and focus on the crumb instead? I was hoping that the weak dough would gain some strength itself with time… Yet it didn’t. Oops…

50/50 Red Fife & Spelt Walnuts SD

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

150g      50%       Whole red fife flour

150g      50%       Whole spelt flour

For leaven:

12g            4%       Starter

44g       14.7%       Bran sifted from dough flour

44g       14.7%       Water

For dough:

256g      85.3%       Dough flour excluding flour for leaven

221g      73.7%       Water

100g      33.3%       Leaven

5g          1.67%       Salt

Add-ins:

30g        10%        Toasted walnuts

__________

306g       100%       Whole grain

271g       88.6%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 44 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 4 hours (24°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients and ferment for 2 hours 30 minutes. Construct 3 sets of stretch and fold at the 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hour mark.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 8 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

The crumb is quite open despite the collapsed structure. You never have to worry about getting a close crumb with spelt bread :) Taste is sweet for a loaf with no sprouted flour. There is only mild acidity, which is probably owing to the use of Red Fife wheat instead of regular red wheat.

______

Cold soba noodles salad with pressure-cooked soft-boiled eggs, roasted veggies and grilled baby cuttlefish

Mapo tofu with steamed rice

Thai glass noodles salad with pressure cooked sauries, lemongrass baked chicken, mixed veggies with shrimp paste and turmeric coconut basmati rice

This is an extra loaf of mainly-white SD to make sandwiches for lunch at school. This week’s had 10% rye and 20% red wheat:

Gotta work on building dough strength...Tons of blisters but no ear :(

Lemon thyme mushrooms, caramelized cabbages & grilled halloumi

Smoked chipotle egg salad & roasted broccoli

It’s been ages since I last baked a porridge loaf so I’ve decided to bake one again. This is the first time I worked with amaranth flour. I went for bagged flour since it’s 4 times cheaper than buying the grains and grinding them myself… Despite that, its flavor has really surprised me.

25% Amaranth 15% Sprouted WW Oat Porridge SD

Dough flour:

180g      60%       Freshly milled whole white wheat flour

75g        25%       Amaranth flour

45g        15%       Freshly milled sprouted white wheat flour

For leaven:

10g       3.33%       Starter

40g       13.3%       Bran sifted from dough flour (excluding amaranth flour)

40g       13.3%       Water

For scaled amaranth dough:

75g          25%        Amaranth flour from dough flour

75g          25%        Hot water

For oat porridge:

15g            5%         Extra thick rolled oat

15g            5%         Hot water

For dough:

185g      61.7%       Dough flour excluding bran for leaven and amaranth flour

150g         50%       Scalded amaranth dough, cold from the fridge

123g         41%       Cold water (3-4°C)

90g           30%       Leaven

30g           10%       Oat porridge, cold from the fridge

9g               3%        Vital wheat gluten

5g          1.67%       Salt

__________

305g        100%       Whole grain (excluding oat porridge)

243g       79.7%       Total hydration (excluding oat porridge)

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 40 g for the leaven. If not adequate, supplement with amaranth flour.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 5.5 hours (24.5°C).

Make the scalded dough and the porridge by combining the hot water with the flour and oat respectively. Let them rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour, then keep them refrigerated until needed.

Roughly combine all dough ingredients let it ferment for 3 hours. Construct 3 sets of stretch and fold at the 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hour mark.

Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 11 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

To avoid proteolytic degradation of the dough again, I kept everything cold. Moreover, I was being very cautious about adding more water. Thus, the dough was quite stiff, which is not what I’m used to. Next time, I’ll very likely up the hydration for easier handling and a more open crumb.  

I didn’t know what to expect about amaranth but I was guessing it’d be sweet. Wrong. It’s very sweet. Even sprouted kamut and durum are no competition for amaranth. This means huge because, remember, the amaranth flour I got is neither freshly milled nor sprouted. I also sensed a sunflower seeds note from it.

 ______

Pizza time! 100% www SD pizza with Parmigiano Reggiano and homemade ricotta

Tangy cheese lightens a pasta dish…? Linguini in sun-dried tomatoes & rosemary zucchini sauce with Tomme de Crayeuse

Mexican rice, sautéed cabbages with cherry tomatoes, blackened swordfish, and… What is that burnt mess??

Ah, not burnt :) Ribs in a rich ancho & guajillo peppers sauce

Yogurt marinated chicken skewers with grilled veggies and Le Bleu d'Auvergne

Sumac hummus veggies platter with 50% www SD naan and grilled halloumi

And I’ve only noticed now: what a cheesy week!

Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present to you… another over-fermented loaf! :) You see, that’s what happens when you think to yourself, “No big deal, the dough can wait for another 30 minutes,” but it’s in fact more than enough time for proteases to go wild and destroy the structure of your dough…

30% Sprouted Buckwheat + White Wheat SD

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

120g      40%       Whole white wheat flour

90g        30%       Whole spelt flour

45g        15%       Sprouted white wheat flour

45g        15%       Sprouted buckwheat flour

For leaven:

10g       3.33%       Starter

30g          10%       Bran sifted from dough flour

30g          10%       Water

For dough:

270g         90%       Dough flour excluding flour for leaven

100g      33.3%       Whey

145g      48.3%       Water

70g        23.3%       Leaven

5g          1.67%       Salt

__________

305g        100%       Whole grain

280g       91.8%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 30 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 4 hours (24.5°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the salt and let it ferment for 15 minutes. Fold in the salt and ferment for 3 hours 45 minutes longer. Construct 3 sets of stretch and fold at the 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hour mark.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 8 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Since I left the dough at room temperature for too long, enzymatic activities took over yeast fermentation. The dough showed signs of break down after the retard and collapsed in the oven. Despite that, the crumb isn’t too bad and is moderately open.

Usually I toast buckwheat before grinding it into flour, which imposes a robust and smoky flavour to bread. This time the buckwheat was only sprouted but not toasted as I was curious how buckwheat tastes in its “raw” form. It appears that the drying effect associated with buckwheat is entirely attributed to the toasting process. This bread is very moist, unlike other buckwheat bread I baked in the past. It also has a clean sweet taste instead of the sometimes overwhelmingly earthy flavour toasted buckwheat carries.

______

The pressure-cooked lamb was so tender and flavourful…Kashmiri Mutton Rogan Josh with white wheat & rye SD naan 

Ah that cheese! Emmental cheese mushrooms fusilli bake

If only all dishes look so colouful… Blackened shrimps tacos with cucumber lettuce slaw on homemade corn tortillas

Italian dinner: yellow datterini tomatoes & grilled zucchini with aged balsamic, honey lemon roasted chicken with red onions, (over-stuffed) pepperoni & mozzarella pizza, salmon pasta in white wine cream sauce, and chopped salad with tomato camone (super tasty!!), yellow bell peppers, cucumbers and lettuces

Indian egg kothu paratha or Mexican migas or neither? Made using bajra (pearl millet) roti instead of corn tortillas or paratha

Sprouted spelt was used in this bake because… well, that was all I had on hand at the moment. See! It’s wise to sprout some grains ahead of time in case you don’t have time to do so someday :) 

Sprouted Spelt & Red Fife Wheat SD

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

120g      40%       Whole red fife wheat flour

120g      40%       Whole spelt flour

60g        20%       Sprouted spelt flour

For leaven:

4g         1.33%       Starter

38g       12.7%       Bran sifted from dough flour

38g       12.7%       Water

For dough:

262g      87.3%       Dough flour excluding flour for leaven

133g      44.3%       Whey

100g      33.3%       Water

80g        26.7%       Leaven

5g          1.67%       Salt

__________

302g        100%       Whole grain

273g       90.4%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 38 g for the leaven. Soak the rest, if any, in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 9 hours (23.5°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the salt and let it ferment for 15 minutes. Fold in the salt and ferment for 2 hours 15 minutes longer.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 10 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

For whatever reason, the dough spread in the oven. The crumb is not bad for whole grain bread with sprouted grains though.

Before tasting the bread, I thought it’d surely be very sour as the leaven smelled pretty acetic. However, it turns out to be rather balanced in flavour: both sweet and sour but not too much of either. As with all bread with sprouted spelt, this loaf filled the house with a pleasingly malty aroma.

_____

Pad Thai, seasoned with home-extracted tamarind paste, not ketchup…

Super juicy garlic chives stuffed YW spelt flat bread

Three cheeses pizza (Provolone, Blu Di Bufala, 24 months Parmigiano Reggiano) with half spelt SD crust

Blu Di Bufala risotto topped with pan grilled king oyster mushrooms

Pork Carnitas with limes and cilantro, Mexican spiced rice with fried eggs and shrimps, homemade flour tortillas and mixed veggies

Indian appams (barley, urad dal and rice) with mushrooms korma

 It’s Chinese New Year again! Traditional celebration food is usually either heavy in sugar or fat… Why not celebrate it with healthy Chinese-New-Year-inspired SD bread instead? :)

Triple Red Grains Sourdough

Dough flour (all freshly milled):

90g       30%       Whole red fife wheat flour

90g       30%       Whole spelt flour

45g       15%       Red quinoa flour

45g       15%       Germinated red rice flour

30g       10%       Sprouted spelt flour

For leaven:

20g       6.67%       Starter

20g       6.67%       Bran sifted from dough flour

20g       6.67%       Water

For dough:

280g      93.3%       Dough flour excluding flour for leaven

100g      33.3%       Whey

166g      55.3%       Water

60g            20%       Leaven

9g                3%       Vital Wheat Gluten

5g           1.67%       Salt

__________

310g        100%       Whole grain

296g       95.5%       Total hydration

Sift out the bran from dough flour, reserve 20 g for the leaven. Soak the rest (I got 22g) in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, around 2 hours (23.5°C).

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the salt and let it ferment for 15 minutes. Fold in the salt and ferment for 4 hours 15 minutes longer.

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 14 hours.

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 208°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

In the past few bakes, I’ve tried to omit vital wheat gluten from the formula. Since the amount of gluten-free flour is relatively large this time, I reincorporated it into the formula. As I was working with the dough, I noticed a significant improvement in the dough structure when compared with my other recent bakes. I therefore feel that it’s wise to continue using in it in the future.

The crumb is not widely open but it’s pretty moist and tender. This bread is sweet, with hints of coconut taste coming from the germinated red rice. To my surprise, it’s also quite tangy, which I can only guess is due to the warmer weather we’re having currently.

______

Pan-grilled honey garlic pork chop

Spicy cabbages shiitake mushrooms pork dumplings

Smoked paprika white wine linguine with pan-grilled baby cuttlefish

Happy Chinese New Year!

I have very little experience working with white flour. There’re two reasons why I used so much white flour in this bake. The first is to stay true to the community bake’s formula. The second is to suit the palate of most people as I’ll give this loaf away to my aunts.

25% Spelt Multi-Seeds Sourdough

For dough:

225g        75%       Bread flour

75g          25%       Freshly milled spelt flour

239g     79.7%       Water

30g          10%       Active starter (half whole rye, half whole wheat)

5g         1.67%       Salt

Add-ins:

21g         7%       Toasted white sesame seeds

21g         7%       Toasted black sesame seeds

21g         7%       Toasted sunflower seeds

21g         7%       Toasted golden flaxseeds

__________

90g         28.6%       Whole grain

315g       100%        Total flour

254g       80.6%       Total hydration

Roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the salt and let it ferment for 30 minutes. Fold in the salt and mix by the dough using Rubaud method for 5 minutes. Ferment for 30 minutes. Fold in the add-ins and proof for 6 hours longer (22.5°C).

Preshape the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Shape the dough then put in into a banneton. Retard for 10 hours.

Before retarding

After retarding

Preheat the oven at 250°C/482°F. Score and spritz the dough then bake straight from the fridge at 250°C/482°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 203°F. Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Originally, I mixed 233g of water with the flour. However, the dough felt very stiff after the seeds were added. Therefore, I tried to put 6g more water into the dough by spraying water on top of the dough, with not much success. That’s why I failed to distribute the seeds evenly and some parts of the dough were stiffer than the others.

Though there was some spring, the dough tended to spread in the oven. It also has no ear so I sliced the bread rather soon to mask this flaw :) Since I plan to give the entire loaf away, I didn’t get to taste it.

_______

My second ciabatta (totally unplanned and almost hands-off). 15% whole gains (half rye, half white wheat) This Looks better…

But this definitely Tastes superior. Your choice. I always pick this one :) 60% whole wheat (half sprouted & half red half white), 10% each barley and germinated red rice, 20% spelt 

Smoked salmon, olive cilantro pesto, red onions topped scrambled eggs and toasted ciabatta

Almond moong dal beetroot hummus & falafels on toasted naan

German crispy-skinned cured pork knuckle, pesto sautéed broccoli & mushrooms, home fermented sauerkraut, beetroot hummus and onions rice pilaf