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Hamelman's Soudough Seed Bread

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hamelman's Soudough Seed Bread

This morning I proofed and baked  Jeffery Hamelman's "Sourdough Seed Bread" from his book, "Bread." This is basically a pain au levain with toasted seseme and sunflower seeds and a soaker of flax seeds. Hamelman is clear that this bread's flavor benefits from slow fermentation. You can spike the dough with commercial yeast, but it's better not to. You can bake it the day it's mixed, but it's better to let it cold-retard. I went for all the flavor I could get, and I got it in abundance!

 

 This bread is really full of seeds. The fermenting dough is lumpy with 'em. It rose pretty well during bulk fermentation, but, after overnight in the frige, the boules rose maybe 30% in 3.5-4 hours, so I dumped, slashed and baked. They had amazing oven spring and bloom. After cooling, I sliced and had some with freshly made Italian bean soup for lunch.

 

I really expected this to be a rather dense bread. I thought all the seeds would wreck havoc with the gluten strands, and the minimal rise seemed to confirm that. It turned out to have a much more open crumb than I expected and, while certainly a substantial, chewy bread, it was lighter chewing than expected. And the flavor! The toasted sunflower seeds really came through. The seseme seeds were just an overtone.  Flax seeds baked into bread have a flavor I love, especially in a whole wheat sourdough. The bread itself had a nice tang and sweet, crunchy crust.

 

 I Hamelman's Sourdough Seed Bread

Hamelman's Sourdough Seed Bread

Hamelman's Sourdough Seed Bread

Hamelman's Sourdough Seed Bread

Now Fleur-de-Liz claims Hamelman's multi-grain levain is even better tasting than this one. It's hard to imagine, but, if she says so, I'm going to have to bake that next. (Hey! No crowding in line!)

David

Comments

fleur-de-liz's picture
fleur-de-liz

WOW!!!   The Seeded Sourdough looks delectable.  I don't think mine looked so good, but I made it only once and it was earlier in my bread baking adventures.    If you like 'seedy' breads, I do think you will like Hamelman's Five Grain Levain.  But it will have a hard time competing with this beauty!

Liz 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Gee, Thanks, Liz!

I am going to make the Five Grain Levain, maybe next weekend.

I have a ton of family visiting - about 25 people, although not all at the same time - between Dec. 25 and Jan. 3. I want to have some large loaves ready, so I'll have a complex baking schedule over the next 2 weeks. Maybe my first attempt at the Five Grain Levain should be a multiple recipe batch. It will be a good test for the new Bosch Universal Plus which arrived Saturday, but after the dough was kneaded for the two breads I was making.

David

Dave W's picture
Dave W

do we have a recipe for this ?

Cheers

dave W