The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Kamut-Fresh Milled Flour Sourdough

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Kamut-Fresh Milled Flour Sourdough

  I received a Nutrimill for a present from my wife last week....another new toy to play with!  I've ground fresh flour in small batches in my coffee grinder, but it is no comparison to using the Nutrimill.  I have yet to purchase any drum sieves to sift the flour and I definitely want to buy some bulk grains as soon as I can find a good source.

For my first attempt I used whatever I had on-hand which was Kamut, Hard Red Whole Wheat and Hard White Whole Wheat.  I used the Kamut to make the levain and also made a scald with some of the white whole wheat.

I added the scald ingredients to the hydration calculations but I think I did something wrong as I'm coming up with a crazy number for the hydration with add-ins.  The potatoes were calculated at 81% water content which as something to do with it.  In any regards, the dough is a bit on the wet side but the fresh grains really soak up the water, so it's not that hard to handle.

I added the potatoes which I had left-over from making potato pierogies over the holidays and it had cream cheese, butter and milk in them.  This was probably the best tasting pierogies filling I've made to date.

I also used some honey to try to cut some of the bitterness from the whole wheat and made the scald for the same reason.

All in all, for the first loaf made with my milled flour it was very good.  The loaf is very tasty with a moderately open crumb and a nice crust.  I sent one of these off to Arizona as a belated present to Max's friend Lucy and DA.  I hope they enjoy it along with the Orange Shandy Durum Semolina bread.

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Formula

Kamut-Fresh-Milled-Wheat-SD

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Levain Directions

Mix all the Levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it sit at room temperature for around 7-8 hours or until the starter has doubled.  I usually do this the night before.

Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

Scald Directions

Boil the water in a small sauce pan and add the flour.  Mix until you end up with a paste.  This should take only a minute or two and then you can remove from the heat and let it cool down before using in the main dough.

FreshMilled

 Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flours, and water together in your mixer or by hand until it just starts to come together, maybe about 1 minute.  Let it rest in your work bowl covered for 20-30 minutes.  Next add the salt, starter (cut into about 7-8 pieces), potatoes, and honey and mix on low for 3 minutes.  Mix on medium for another 3 minutes and then remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold.  After a total of 2 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours.  Remove the dough and shape as desired.  I made 1 large boule shape.   Place your dough into your proofing basket(s) and cover with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  The dough will take 1.5 to 2 hours depending on your room temperature.  Let the dough dictate when it is read to bake not the clock.

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 550 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

Right before you are ready to put them in the oven, score as desired and then add 1 cup of boiling water to your steam pan or follow your own steam procedure.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 500 degrees and after another 3 minutes lower it to 450 degrees.  Bake for 35-50 minutes until the crust is nice and brown and the internal temperature of the bread is 210 degrees.

Take the bread out of the oven when done and let it cool on a bakers rack before for at least 2 hours before eating.

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Comments

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Ian,

Didn't take you long to start milling :)

Can you tell any difference between your flour being fresh rather than store bought?  Flavor wise?

You mentioned adding honey to cut the bitterness of the ww but I have read that freshly ground ww does not have a bitter taste while store bought ww does.

I ask because I have never baked with anything other than freshly ground ww and I have never tasted with I have baked…..so no way to discern myself….

Glad you are having fun and in full tilt with your 'toy'.

Janet

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Janet.  You are probably right about it being less bitter.  I know PR uses a lot of sweeteners in his whole grain baking which I dislike but I think the small amount of honey added a subtle sweetness.  This bread came out very sour but in a good way.

Regards

Ian 

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

I recall others here commenting on the sweetness of his breads too.  Since I can't taste them I looked into Laurel Robertson's Bread Book to see what % she uses in her loaves and she uses about 8% honey as well….so I have kinda stuck with that in my enriched sandwich loaves unless I add fruit in which case no other sweeteners are added.  I think Karin was the one who made the comment that a bit of honey does take the edge off and I was wondering if it still held true with freshly ground grain.

Janet

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Lucy wonders how stale this fine bake will be by the time it gets here:-)  Lucy ships bread that gets better with age.... like stollen and fruit cakes.  My SD breads start going down hill after the 2nd day if I don't freeze them.  Can't wait to try it at any rate since it looks so fine,is high whole grain and has potato in it!.

So how do you like the new mill? 

Very nice balking.   Lucy sends her best to you, yours and especially Max 

Happy New Year Ian

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I think Lucy will be okay with the freshness.  It's so cold out it will probably be frozen in transit.  The above bread is very sour so you should love it.  It's just about 100% whole grain as I didn't sift anything out.  I have to order some fine sieves per Varda's and Khalid's suggestions.  I think you will enjoy it as well as soon as you dive right in.  I hope both of you enjoy the bread and please be sure to let me know what you think either way. 

Happy New Year to you and your family.

 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Welcome to the world of freshly ground flour, Ian! This looks like a fabulous bread. Yes, they can be sour due to the rampant activity of a freshly ground flour, but the sweetner will do the job. You can also reduce the excess sour if you use a young levain and cold bulk the dough, followed by a short warm final fermentation. That is what i learned from Tartine book'S whole wheat bread recipe. 

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Khalid.

Funny you should mention the method Tarine suggests for reducing the sour as that is exactly what I did.  The levain was built and set to ferment overnight and used the next morning.  The dough was bulk fermented overnight and shaped and rested for 1.5 hours at 83 degrees F.  I think next time the bulk ferment needs to be shorter.  We will see soon enough.  Thanks again for your kind words and advice.

Happy New Year to you and your family.

Regards,
Ian

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

On minimizing the sourness when using whole grains:

I will add a couple of things I do….I only let my leavens ferment 3-4 hours before being used in the final dough.  I do 2 builds then final dough.  Bulk ferment just as Khalid says followed by proofing and baking in the morning.

Second thing I do is that I use YW as the liquid when I feed my leavens which has made a big difference - especially when one of my builds goes over time a bit due to schedule hecticness….

I also keep my leavens at 70% HL.

Final loaves usually contain only about 15% pre-fermented flour so the leaven makes up about 26% of the total formula. Some loaves I do spike with a bit of IY (0.1% −0.2%) if they have a lot of enrichments in them that slow things down.

Janet

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Janet for sharing your advice.

Regards

Ian

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hi Ian,
This is a very special loaf, you're shipping off as a gift!
The bread looks really good and I love the golden yellow hue of the crumb.
I wish you the very best, milling with your new Nutrimill (another lovely gift!).
:^) breadsong

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thank you breadsong for your kind comments and wishes.

I hope you have a healthy and happy New Year and I look forward to following your continuing baking adventures.

Regards,

Ian

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Thank you, Ian, and the same to you! :^)