Isand66's blog

A couple of weeks ago I tried TxFarmer's 36 hour sourdough version but I had some issues transferring the rested baguettes to my oven and the results were less than stellar.  After experimenting with a different formula for a couple of bakes I decided to go back to this recipe and see if I could get some better results.

I think this time I achieved something close to the crust and crumb that TxFarmer creates.  These ended up being the best one's I've made to date and tasted excellent with a nice light and crisp crust and chewy crumb.  The only thing I need to improve is my shaping and transferring from the couche to the peel and baking stone.  I just purchased a new larger couche and flip board so I'm anxious to see how that turns out.

I also want to try this formula with some changes and additions and see if I can still get a nice open crumb.  I also want to try this in a batard and boule when I get a chance, but maybe with a slightly lower hydration.

For the recipe and directions please visit TxFarmer's blog post above.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

Misty wants you to know she prefers mice to bread any day.

Last weekend I baked a multi-grain bread using white wine with sweet potatoes which came out as good as I could have expected.  This time I wanted to try using a red wine and what goes better with red wine but chocolate and cheese.  I used a cocoa rouge which is a special type of cocoa that has an intense bittersweet character with a rich deep red color and fudge-like flavor.

In my last bake with the white wine you did not really taste the wine due to the fact that i used so many different multi-grains so I wanted to make sure to keep this one a little simpler.  I two of my favorite flours, durum and white spelt added with some European style flour from KAF and some potato flour.

I also tried to make one loaf using a new cat cookie cutter I just bought, but that was probably a mistake.  The cookie cutter ended up leaving too much of an escape hatch for the cheese which ended up splattering all over the front of the bread.  I guess that's not the worse thing that could have happened.

The end result was a nice flavorful dark and rich bread with the added flavor of the Havarti cheese to put it over the top.  The crumb was nice and open and flavorful with a nice chew.

I used a Merlot from another local winery called Duckwalk on the east end of Long Island.

Directions follow below.

AP Starter

227 grams AP Flour

71 grams AP Seed Starter

151 grams Water at Room Temperature (80-90 degrees F.)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 8 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.  You can either mix in final dough or put in refrigerator for at most 1 day before using.  If your kitchen is warmer than mine which is usually about 70-72 degrees with my air-conditioning you can proceed sooner.

Main Dough Ingredients

425 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration) from above

103 grams White Spelt (KAF brand)

200 grams Durum Flour (KAF brand)

220 European Style Flour from KAF (can substitute Bread Flour)

50 grams Potato Flour

15 grams Cocoa Rouge (KAF, you can substitute any dark cocoa but use a good quality)

16 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

410 grams Merlot Wine

26 grams Walnut Oil

Havarti Cheese (sorry but I forgot to measure how much cheese I used.  I believe it was probably about 10 ounces)

Procedure

Mix the flours with the wine leaving 50 grams of wine for later in your mixer or by hand for 1 minute.    Let the dough autolyse for one hour in your bowl and make sure to cover it.  Next add in the salt and the starter with the balance of the wine and mix by hand for 2 minutes until everything is well incorporated.  Mix on speed #1 for 2 minutes and speed #2 for 2 minutes or by hand for 5 minutes.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.  I baked the bread about 24 hours later.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for  2  hours.

Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  If you want to make the pattern on top, press your cookie cutter into the dough and place it good side up in a floured basket to rise.  When ready to bake, score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.   The total baking time was around 45 minutes.  When both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove them from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 6 hours or so before eating as desired.

Please visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for all of my recipes.

Cosmo resting after a full meal :)

Here on Long Island, New York we have a ever-growing wine country on the East End of the Island.  My wife and I like to go visit a few different wineries and enjoy sampling the different varieties of wine available.  There is nothing more relaxing than to sit down with some good wine, cheese and bread and enjoy the cooler autumn air.

Last weekend we visited a few wineries we like after picking some pumpkins and it inspired me to try to incorporate one of the chardonnay from Mattebella vineyards into my next bake.

I decided to make a variation on my multi-grain soaker bread and also incorporated some roasted sweet potatoes in the mix along with freshly ground spelt flour and soft white wheat flour.

The soaker was made up of rolled oats, bulgur, millet and malted flakes.

I also decided to try being a little stylish with these loaves and used a snow flake cookie cutter to create an interesting effect.  On one loaf I brushed it with an egg white mixed with water and sprinkled on some chia seeds.

AP Starter

227 grams AP Flour

71 grams AP Seed Starter

151 grams Water at Room Temperature (80-90 degrees F.)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 8 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.  You can either mix in final dough or put in refrigerator for at most 1 day before using.  If your kitchen is warmer than mine which is usually about 70-72 degrees with my air-conditioning you can proceed sooner.

Soaker

70 grams Rolled Oats

50 grams Bulgar Wheat

30 grams Millet

25 grams Malted Wheat Flakes

275 grams Boiling Water

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and cover.  Let rest for 30 minutes or longer until ready to use.

Drain the liquid before mixing in the final dough.  (Note: most of the liquid will get absorbed by the soaker ingredients which will help make this a fairly wet dough)

Main Dough Ingredients

425 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration) from above

All of the Soaker from above with water drained

50 grams Rye Chops

141 Freshly Ground and Sifted Spelt Flour

50 grams Wheat Germ

225 European Style Flour from KAF (can substitute Bread Flour)

130 grams Freshly Ground Soft Wheat Flour

160 grams Roasted and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

14 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

268 grams White Wine (I used a Dry Chardonnay)

Procedure

Mix the flours with the wine and starter leaving 50 grams of wine for later in your mixer or by hand for 1 minute.    Let the dough autolyse for one hour in your bowl and make sure to cover it.  Next add in the salt, potatoes and the soaker with the balance of the wind and mix by hand for 2 minutes until everything is well incorporated.  Mix on speed #1 for 2 minutes and speed #2 for 2 minutes or by hand for 5 minutes.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.  I baked the bread about 24 hours later.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for  2  hours.

Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  If you want to make the pattern on top, press your cookie cutter into the dough and place it good side up in a floured basket to rise.  When ready to bake, make an egg wash or use some milk and brush on to the top of the loaf you want to add seeds to.  Sprinkle the seeds on and then proceed to score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.   The total baking time was around 45 minutes.  When both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove them from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 6 hours or so before eating as desired.

Since there are so many different grains and flours in this bread the wine flavor is not very apparent. The final bread did come out very nice with a nice moist crumb and thick crust.  This is a hearty bread and if you don't like whole grains you will not like this one.  I just ate some for breakfast with some nice Havarti style cheese.

Please feel free to visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for all my recipes.

Over the last few weeks I have been experimenting with making different styles and recipes for baguettes.  A couple of weeks ago I tried TxFarmer's 36 hour sourdough version but I had some issues transferring the rested baguettes to my oven and the results were less than stellar.  This time I decided to concentrate on a recipe from Dave Snyder for his "Rustic Sourdough Baguettes after Phillipe Gosselin".  This recipe is also similar to Peter Reinhart's formula for Pain a l' Ancienne from The Bread Bakers Apprentice where he uses yeast and no starter.

I wanted to give Dave's recipe a try using Yeast Water instead of a sourdough starter and I also wanted to incorporate some Durum flour into the mix.  I created a Durum Yeast Water starter over 3 builds and also used some KAF French Style flour in the final dough which is medium protein, high ash flour which is supposed to mimic the flour used in France for their world-famous baguettes.

The only mistake I made on this recipe was the forming of the baguettes.  I knew I should have re-read the directions from TBBA but I was too lazy and paid the price.  I didn't use nearly enough flour to control the extremely wet 75% dough and had a difficult time forming them into baguettes without man-handling them.  The final result turned out pretty good with a nice open crumb and sweet nutty flavor.  Keep in mind this dough is very wet and is not meant to form the baguettes in the normal fashion.  You basically just pat the dough out into a rough rectangle and cut 3-4 strip and carefully stretch them out to form a baguette.

Procedure

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

60 grams Durum  Flour (KAF)

60 grams Yeast Water Starter

Mix the flour and Yeast Water in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 4 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed to build 2.

Build 2

Add ingredients below to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours.

100 grams Durum Flour

100 grams Yeast Water

Build 3

Add flour to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or until bubbly and either use immediately or put in the refrigerator for the next day.

60 grams Durum Flour

60 grams Yeast Water

(Note: I made extra starter since I wanted to use this for another bake.  You can cut the amounts down to make the 200 grams needed in the recipe)

Main Dough Ingredients

100 grams Durum Flour

300 grams French Style Flour (You can use AP flour to substitute)

200 grams  Yeast Water Durum Levain from above

275  grams Ice Water

8.75 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

Procedure

Build your Yeast Water levain the day before you are ready to bake or start in the morning the day before you want to bake the actual baguettes.

The evening before you want to bake, mix the mature levain with the flours and 225 grams of the ice water.  (I measured the water and added a few ice cubes for a minute and then removed the cubes and measured again).  Immediately put the flour mixture in the refrigerator in a covered greased bowl.  (Note: you can follow Dave's original recipe and substitute your 100% hydration sourdough starter for the Yeast Water starter).

The next morning, (Due to my schedule as we took a ride out east to buy some pumpkins and taste some wine I didn't prepare the dough until about 8 PM),  add the salt and 50 grams of ice water to the dough and mix using your hands until all the water is absorbed into the flour.  You will have to squish the dough and the water together for a few minutes until all the water is absorbed.  I did this in the same bowl the dough was resting in the refrigerator in, but you can transfer to a clean oiled bowl if desired.

Cover the bowl with the dough and ferment at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume which should take around 3 hours.  Every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours do a stretch and fold in the bowl.

About one hour before ready to bake, set your oven for 500 degrees F.and make sure you prepare it for steam.  I have a baking stone on the top shelf and the bottom and use a heavy-duty rimmed baking pan that I pour 1 cup of boiling water into right as I put the loaves into the oven.

After 3 hours or when the dough has doubled, transfer the dough to your well floured work surface (use about 1/2 cup of flour).  Sprinkle more flour onto the top of the  dough if necessary and using a wet dough scraper and wet hands pat the dough out into an oblong .  Be careful not to degas the dough or you will lose all of the nice big open holes you are looking for.  Cut the dough using your metal dough scraper into 4 strips and transfer them with floured hands to a piece of parchment paper on the back of a baking sheet.  Gently coax the dough until it is about 12-14 inches long.  You may need to let it rest for 5 minutes to relax before doing this step.  Score the dough as best as you can.  You may have to dip the blade in ice water between each cut.

When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 460 degrees.  It should take around 20 minutes to bake  until the baguettes  are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 205 degrees F.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 20 minutes or so before eating as desired.

The results were pretty good with a nice open crumb and light but crispy crust.  I will certainly try this one again and hopefully follow my own directions about shaping this time!

I just received my delivery from KAF and I wanted to use some of the new flours and ingredients I purchased.  I decided to make a multi-flour bread using white spelt, whole spelt, rye chops (chopped up rye berries) and some black cocoa. The black cocoa is the darkest version you can buy and really turned the dough a beautiful chocolate color.  The final dough was a nice dark color with a chewy crumb that was also just light enough to be perfect.

You don't really taste the cocoa very much but with the  addition of the rye chops and the 2 different spelt flours I was very happy with how the crumb and crust came out.

I used my standard 65% AP starter for this recipe.

Directions

AP Starter

227 grams AP Flour

71 grams AP Seed Starter

151 grams Water at Room Temperature (80-90 degrees F.)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 8 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.  You can either mix in final dough or put in refrigerator for at most 1 day before using.  If your kitchen is warmer than mine which is usually about 70-72 degrees with my air-conditioning you can proceed sooner.

Main Dough Ingredients

425 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration) from above

110 grams White Spelt Flour (KAF )

110 grams Whole Spelt Flour (KAF)

300 grams European Style Flour (KAF, you can substitute bread flour with a little whole wheat mixed in)

50 grams Potato Flour (KAF)

70 grams Rye Chops (KAF)

15 grams Dark Cocoa (KAF)

25 grams Olive Oil

16 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

400 grams Water  (Room temperature)

797 grams Total Flour

551 grams Total Liquid

69% Hydration

Procedure

Mix the flours, dark cocoa and rye chops with the water (leave out about 50 grams for later) in your mixer or by hand for 1 minute. Let it rest covered in your bowl for 20 minutes.   Next cut the starter into small pieces and put in bowl and also add oil, salt and the rest of the water.  Mix for 5 minute to incorporate all the ingredients. I mixed on speed #1 for 3 minutes and speed #2 for 2 minutes.   The dough should have come together in a ball and be tacky but not too sticky.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface or as in this case place it in an oiled bowl or container.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours (if it is already in a bowl just make sure to cover it).   After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.  I baked the bread about 24 hours later.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2  hours.

Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  Just make sure to not let them over-rise.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.    When both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove them from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 6 hours or so before eating as desired.

Feel free to visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for all of my recipes.

This is the second bread I made for Rosh Hashana to bring to my Cousin's house for dinner.  The other loaf was hearty multi-grain with Farro and Toasted Lager so I wanted to make something a little lighter for this loaf.  I used some Durum Semolina, Italian Style 00 flour, whole grain Spelt flour and roasted onions and greek yogurt.  I wanted to use the yogurt to try to make the crumb more delicate along with the 00 Italian style flour.

I used a scissor to make the prickly long loaf which is similar to something I saw on a video on Youtube.  Overall the bread came out nice and light but not quite as moist as I would have thought.  Next time maybe the hydration needs to be increased a bit.

AP Starter

227 grams AP Flour

71 grams AP Seed Starter

151 grams Water at Room Temperature (80-90 degrees F.)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 8 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.  You can either mix in final dough or put in refrigerator for at most 1 day before using.  If your kitchen is warmer than mine which is usually about 70-72 degrees with my air-conditioning you can proceed sooner.

Main Dough Ingredients

425 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration) from above

300 grams Durum Semolina Flour

100 grams Spelt Flour (Bob's Red Mill brand)

100 grams Italian 00 Flour (KAF)

65 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

95 grams Roasted Onions

70 grams Greek Style Plain Yogurt

20 grams Olive Oil

18 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

397 grams Heavy Cream (Room temperature)

792 grams Total Flour

548 grams Total Liquid

69% Hydration

Procedure

Saute 1/2 or about 100 grams of a sweet onion in olive oil.  I cut the onion into rounds and cooked at medium low until starting to brown and sweating its liquids.  Let cool in a bowl until ready to add to dough.  Make sure it is cooled off and not hot.

Mix the flours with the heavy cream (leave out about 50 grams for later) and yogurt in your mixer or by hand for 1 minute. Let it rest covered in your bowl for 20 minutes.   Next cut the starter into small pieces and put in bowl and also add oil, salt and the rest of the heavy cream.  Mix for 1 minute to incorporate all the ingredients.  Let the dough autolyse for 20 minutes to an hour in your bowl and make sure to cover it.  Next add in the salt, and the soaker and mix on speed #1 for 2 minutes or by hand and on speed #2 for 2 minutes.  Now add the onions in and mix on speed #1 for 1 minute until the onions are incorporated. The dough should have come together in a ball and be tacky but not too sticky.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.  I baked the bread about 24 hours later.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 - 2  hours.

Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  I made one in a circle shape and another in a prickly shaped crescent shape.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.    When both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove them from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 6 hours or so before eating as desired.

Please be sure to visit my other website at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for all of my posts.

I decided to make a couple of breads to bring to my cousin's house for Rosh Hashana this weekend and she requested I make my Farro Hard Cider Multi-grain.  I didn't have any hard cider available nor did I have time to make a Farro starter so I used a nice Long Island toasted lager and substituted my stock AP starter which I recently refreshed.

I also ground some soft white wheat berries I just purchased at the store from Bob's Red Mill.  The package says this is similar to a pastry flour and it did seem to make a very soft flour.

For the soaker I added some rolled oats in addition to the cracked wheat I used last time.

I have to say the second version of this bread is definitely better than the first try.

This is a nice hearty bread great with some cheese or stew or for a nice pastrami or corned beef sandwich.

AP Starter

227 grams AP Flour

71 grams AP Seed Starter

151 grams Water at Room Temperature (80-90 degrees F.)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 8 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.  You can either mix in final dough or put in refrigerator for at most 1 day before using.  If your kitchen is warmer than mine which is usually about 70-72 degrees with my air-conditioning you can proceed sooner.

Soaker

60 grams Cracked Wheat

40 grams Rolled Oats

280 grams Boiling Water

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and cover.  Let rest for 30 minutes or longer until ready to use.

Drain the liquid before mixing in the final dough.

Main Dough Ingredients

425 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration) from above

100 grams Soaker from above

190 grams Freshed Milled Farro Flour

80 grams Quinoa Flour

75 grams Wheat Germ

21 grams Potato Flour

65 grams AP Flour

55 grams First Clear Flour (KAF Brand)

120 grams Freshly Ground Soft Wheat Flour

60 grams Pumpernickel Flour (Dark Rye or Course Rye Flour)

50 grams Molasses

16 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

445 grams Toasted Lager

Procedure

Mix the flours with the Lager and molasses in your mixer or by hand for 1 minute.  Next cut the starter into small pieces and put in bowl and mix for 1 minute to incorporate all the ingredients.  Let the dough autolyse for 20 minutes to an hour in your bowl and make sure to cover it.  Next add in the salt, and the soaker and mix on speed #1 for 3 minutes or by hand and on speed #2 for 2 minutes.  The dough should have come together in a ball and be tacky but not too sticky.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.  I baked the bread about 24 hours later.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 - 2  hours.

Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.   The total baking time was around 45 minutes.  When both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove them from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 6 hours or so before eating as desired.

Okay, so every time I go down to my basement I keep passing the bottle of Peppermint Mocha Kahlua staring at me from its perch on our bar.  It's red and white bottle was just yelling at me to try it in a bread or down some with ice, so I decided to do both.

I rediscovered some interesting nut flours that I had in my refrigerator and decided to mix  the toasted almond and hazelnut flours with some fresh milled rye flour.  I really like the effect a soaker/scald has on a multi-grain bread so I mixed up some cracked wheat, red quinoa and bulgur wheat with some hot water.  It is interesting how these ingredients sucked up every last bit of water as when I added them to the dough there was not a dry eye in the house or the bowl.  The official way of calculating the hydration of a dough is to not include the water sucked up by the soaker, but I warn you this bread is a wet one especially due to the soaker.

I also deviated from my normal starter and used a 100% AP starter instead of my normal 65% starter.  I also used a much smaller amount of starter mainly due to that I didn't have any more left to use.  I used 222 grams of this starter versus the usual 425 grams of my dryer starter.

I have to say the end result of this bake was very satisfying.  If you don't like moist bread, then this one is not for you as the final dough was probably the most  moist  I have made to date.  The crumb melts in your mouth and you can really taste the nut flours but not really the Kahula.  I thing the Kahlua definitely contributed to the moist crumb for sure.

And now for the directions if you are so inclined:

Soaker

100 grams Cracked Wheat

100 grams Red Quinoa

60 grams Bulgar Wheat

250 grams Hot Water

Mix water in a bowl with other ingredients and let sit covered at room temperature for 1 hours or overnight.

Main Dough

Ingredients

222 grams Starter at 100% Hydration

200 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

65 grams Toasted Almond Flour (KAF)

65 grams Roasted Hazelnut Flour (KAF)

269 grams Freshly Ground  Rye Flour

256 grams Peppermint Mocha Kahlua at room temperature

100 grams Water at room temperature

14 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

Procedure

I mixed  the flours and starter together with all the liquids  except for 50 grams of Kahlua and let them autolyes for 20 minutes.    I then added the soaker and the rest of the Kahlua with the salt and mixed on speed #1 for 3 minute and #2 for 2 minutes.  I then did a stretch and fold, rested the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  Since this dough is very wet I put it in an oiled bowl and did another stretch and fold, covered the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  I did one more stretch and fold and let it rest out for another 2 hours after which I put it in the refrigerator until the next day.

The next day I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours I formed it into a miche boule and put it in a floured banneton which has a cloth insert and let it rise covered for 2 hours.  Make sure to either use a cloth insert or use a loaf pan as this dough is very, very moist.

After 2 hours or when the dough passes the poke test, score the loaf as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I warm my oven to 500 F. and once I put the loaf in the oven I add 1 cup of boiling water in a heavy-duty pan on the bottom shelf of my oven and lower the temperature to 450 degrees F.

Bake the loaf for around 40-50  minutes until the crust is nice and  golden brown and reaches an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

After reading about how much better freshly ground flour is compared to store-bought I finally decided to wiggle a couple of toes in the water and try grinding some of my own.  I used my Krupps coffee grinder to make some Farro flour and also some Hard Red Wheat from grains I had purchased at Whole Foods previously.

To make it interesting I used a portion of my standard AP starter along with a much larger portion of a Farro starter I prepared.

I didn't have enough whole grains to grind all my own flour so I used King Arthur flour for the rest of the ingredients.

I also made a soaker using some cracked wheat.

I have to say I made a mistake by thinking the extra liquid from the soaker would increase the hydration of the dough which only comes in at 57%.  Since the freshly milled flour also sucks up more water than store-bought the final dough ended up much drier than I would have liked and the crumb was denser than my usual multi-grain bakes.  Next time I will increase the liquid amount probably another 15-20%.

I think I shall have to invest in an attachment for my wife's Kitchen Aid to mill my own flour which should be much easier to do larger batches than the Krupps.

In any case the final bread while not being one of my favorites still tasted very earthy with a nice sour flavor and nutty undertones from the Farro and Wheat Germ.

Farro Starter

184 grams Farro Flour ground from fresh kernels

71 grams AP Starter

117 grams Water at Room Temperature (80-90 degrees F.)

Mix ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 10 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed.  You can either mix in final dough or put in refrigerator for at most 1 day before using.  If your kitchen is warmer than mine which is usually about 70-72 degrees with my air-conditioning you can proceed sooner.

Soaker

90 grams Cracked Wheat

280 grams Boiling Water

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and cover.  Let rest for 30 minutes or longer until ready to use.

Drain the liquid before mixing in the final dough.

Main Dough Ingredients

75 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration)

351 grams Farro Starter from above (should be all of it)

90 grams Cracked Wheat Soaker from above

75 grams Quinoa Flour

70 grams Wheat Germ

40 grams Potato Flour

200 grams French Style Flour (You can substitute AP flour)

195 grams Freshly Ground Hard Red Wheat Flour

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour (Dark Rye or Course Rye Flour)

50 grams Molasses

16 grams Sea Salt or Table Salt

430 grams Hard Cider

Procedure

Mix the flours with the Hard Cider and molasses in your mixer or by hand for 1 minute.  Next cut the starters into small pieces and put in bowl and mix for 1 minute to incorporate all the ingredients.  Let the dough autolyse for 20 minutes to an hour in your bowl and make sure to cover it.  Next add in the salt, and the soaker and mix on speed #1 for 3 minutes or by hand and on speed #2 for 2 minutes.  The dough should have come together in a ball and be tacky but not too sticky.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  After the rest do another stretch and fold and cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.  Feel free to do some additional S & F's if you feel it is necessary.  I baked the bread about 24 hours later.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 1.5 - 2  hours.  Next, form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours or until they pass the poke test.  Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.  Since these loaves were a little lower in hydration and were not cooking as quickly as normal, I lowered the temperature to 430 degrees.  The total baking time was around 45 minutes.  When both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 degrees F. you can remove them from the oven.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 6 hours or so before eating as desired.

The crust the next day was very hard and the crumb like I said before was much denser than I would have hoped but this bread still makes some nice pastrami or corned beef sandwiches for sure along with a nice sour pickle.  Now I have to go get some to eat for lunch!

Last weekend I baked some of the best rolls I've made to date using instant yeast instead of my usual sourdough or yeast water.  I didn't have time to refresh my starter which is why I had used the instant yeast.  I wanted to try a similar formula using a combo of sourdough starter and yeast water levain.  I decided to leave out the cream and the eggs for this version since I didn't want the bread to be quite as soft as the rolls even though with the oil, potatoes and polenta the final bread ended up pretty soft anyway.

The final bread tasted great with a nice sour tang but not too overpowering with a slight hint of sweetness from the honey.  The crumb was nice and open and moist and the crust per above was soft.  The dough did spread out more than I would have liked but overall this ended up being a nice tasty loaf.  If I were to make it again, I might reduce the moisture content slightly but other than that this one is a keeper.

Procedure

I used a combination of my white sourdough starter which I keep at 66% hydration and did a 3 stage build with my fruit flavored yeast water starter.

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

50 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

50 grams Yeast Water Starter

Mix the flour and Yeast Water in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 4 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed to build 2.

Build 2

Add ingredients below to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours.

100 grams Bread Flour

100 grams Yeast Water

Build 3

Add flour to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or until bubbly and either use immediately or put in the refrigerator for the next day.

75 grams Bread Flour

Main Dough Ingredients

170 grams Refreshed AP Starter (65% hydration)

255 grams  Yeast Water Starter (you may have some extra from above)

400 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

100 grams Spelt Flour

160 grams Mashed Potatoes (I like to mash them with the skins on and used red potatoes)

50 grams Olive Oil

180 grams Cooked Polenta (I used some butter and parmesan cheese in mine)

16 grams Salt (Sea Salt or Table Salt)

40 grams Honey

397 grams Water (80 to 90 degrees F.)

Procedure

Mix the starters with the water and stir to break it up and make sure to hold back about 50 grams of water.  Next mix in the flours into the starter mixture and mix for 2 minutes with your mixer or by hand.    Let the dough autolyse for 30 minutes to an hour in your bowl covered with a cloth or plastic wrap.  Next add in the salt, mashed potatoes, polenta and oil and mix on speed #1 for 3 minutes and #2 for 2 minutes or by hand.  This dough is very wet but it should start to come together after mixing but will still be very wet.

Next take the dough out of the bowl and place it on your work surface.  Do a stretch and fold and rest the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  Place the dough in an oiled bowl after the rest and do another stretch and fold and cover the dough in the bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Do one more stretch and fold and put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and let it sit at room temperature covered for 2 hours.  (If the dough is still too lose, you can do several more stretch and folds until you are ready to put in the refrigerator). After 2 hours you can put the dough into the refrigerator for 24 hours or up to 2 days before baking.

The next day (or when ready to bake) let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours form the dough into your desired shape and put them in floured bannetons, bowls or on a baking sheet and let them rise covered for 2 hours.

Score the loaves as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

Set your oven for 500 degrees F. at least 30 minutes before ready to bake.  When ready to bake place the loaves into your on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees. (I made a large Miche so I ended up lowering the temperature half way through to 435 degrees).  It should take around 20 - 30 minutes to bake  until both loaves are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an hour or so before eating as desired.

Crumb Close-up

Boris the Guardian of the Sandman Residence. Natasha keeps watch in the back of our house.