The Fresh Loaf

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1-2-3 sort of Raisin Date Cider Seed Bread

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

1-2-3 sort of Raisin Date Cider Seed Bread

Well this was almost a bust! I am not sure what happened but my bread didn't rise very much at all. I thought it might have been that the alcohol in the cider killed the yeast but there are sourdough recipes out there done with hard cider. This was on top of messing up the hydration when I realized I was short 65 g of levain and took some of my stiff starter from the fridge and added water to it. So this is not a true 1-2-3 sourdough. This is what I did.

Ingredients for two loaves
135 g of partially sifted whole grain flour levain at 100% hydration
65 g of the same starter cold from the fridge and diluted to 250% (Should have done the math first instead of winging it)
400 g warmed cider
400 g unbleached flour
150 g multigrain flour (Robin Hood)
50 g dark rye
50 g toasted pumpkin seeds
25 g toasted sunflower seeds
111 g chopped dates, soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes and drained
48 g sultana raisins, soaked in boiling water 5 minutes and drained.
12 g salt

Toasted seeds in frying pan on medium high heat until lightly browned.
Soaked dates and raisins in boiling water. Drained after 5 minutes.
Mixed levains into cider and added flours. Mixed well by hand until dough looked shaggy and let rest in warm place for 30 minutes.
Added salt and add-ins and incorporated by folding and pinching the dough. Dipped hand in water occasionally to reduce sticking.
Placed dough in a warm place and did 4-5 stretch-and-folds every half hour for a total of 6 times. Dough seemed very loose.
Let dough rise until poofy and about one and a half time its original volume. This took a long time.
Turned out on a floured surface, divided into two parts and pre-shaped. Let rest for 10 minutes and shaped using the letter fold method. I had to repeat this because the dough was quite slack and sticky. Hydration probably ended up too high due to my error with the levain. Placed in floured baskets and put into fridge to retard overnight.
The next day, I took them out of the fridge and noted they didn't rise at all so I left them to rise at room temperature for almost 5 hours until there was some semblance of a risen loaf.
I heated oven to 500f with the Dutch ovens inside. When oven was heated for at least 45minutes, I turned out the dough onto parchment paper. Scored the dough.
I carefully placed the dough inside the Dutch oven using the paper as a sling, put the lid and baked for 20 minutes at 500f. Dropped temp to 450f and baked an additional 10 minutes. Removed lid and baked till dark which was another 10 minutes.

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Nice save!  Crust looks awesome, but how did your crumb turn out and how did it taste?

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

It looks a lot better than I expected! And the taste is awesome! You can really taste the sweetness of the dates and raisins. I expect the cider contributes to the flavour too.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

That's a perfect looking crust.  Looks nice and moist with all those goodies packed in.

Ru007's picture
Ru007

I'm with Dab, bread can fool you sometimes!

This loaf looks lovely, inside and out. Well done for being patient and leaving the dough to do what it needed to do. 

Maybe the loaf wasn't taller because your dough was a bit on the wet side? In any case, the result you got looks yummy!

Enjoy :)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

challenge baking.  I keep forgetting the 123 and honey challenges.  We did a wine bread that didn't do any rising at all too - no matter how long We left it toi proof.  I've had good luck with hard cider though.  It's like beer at 5-7% alcohol rather than the 12-15% for wine.  This one has a lot of add ins too.  The crumb might not be too bad after all.

Still,it has tio be tasty and will make some fine sandwiches and toast no matter what.  Cross the fingers for the crumb.......and happy baking 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

at the same time I was putting up the crumb shot. Have a look and tell me what you think!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

a bit mire dense but these breads can fool you.  We have made so many versions of bread like this one I had a feeling it would be better than you thought.  This has to be one fine tasting bread!

Well done and happy baking 

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Oooh, that crumb looks really good. I can just imagine how that would be toasted. Mmmmm...

Maybe try it again with a good soft cider (whole pressed apple juice) instead of the hard cider. I made a bread a while back with natural apple juice (cider) and dried apples and it seemed to be okay. Mind you, I make a lot of bread with beer poolish and that turns out good too (of course, it's made with dry yeast and not wild yeast. Hmmmm, too many variables).

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

You can't complain about it at all!    Goes well with the nice crust.

Apple Butter comes to mind.                           Do folks still make their own apple butter?  

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I don't make apple butter, but I do make Spiced Pear Butter that is sooooo good on toasted home made bread or English muffins!