Help needed formulating a porridge bread

I have been using the method for porridge breads in Tartine 3. Essentialy just use your normal formula and then add the cooled porridge during stretch and fold after you have good gluten development. Unless you weigh your porridge after cooking to hit a target hydration the amount of water you start with is not very important since you loose a lot during cooking.

My porridge formula varies depending on the grain. If it's oats I usually do about twice the amount of water as oats (by weight) and cook them for only a couple of minutes until creamy. They tend to make the dough quite sticky and they will dissolve into the dough quite easily. If it's, say, rye flakes, I will use more water and cook for longer (up to 20 minutes). Sometimes I'll use a lot of water and simply drain the extra off after the flakes or grains are cooked the way I want them. Then I just weigh the finished porridge instead of trying to calculate the overall hydration of the dough, etc.

I'm a bit of a heathen and will sometimes mix the porridge into the dough water before adding the flours, just because it's easier. However, if you are folding the porridge into partially developed dough you'll have to watch out for lumps in the porridge and might want to use more water in the porridge to make it softer.

I used an alternative method to the Tartine's (500 gm of porridge: use 200 gm grains and 500 gm water) which has worked better for me. First, I cook the grains in a rice cooker, or in a pan on the stovetop, to the texture of rice, then dehydrate or let it air dry as much as I can. Weigh and fold the porridge in the dough at the second stretch and fold. I've been more successful in controlling hydration using this alternative method.

https://www.everopensauce.com/farro-porridge-hazelnut-bread/

Hope this helps!

Keep in mind she was NOT a good breadbaker but occasionally got lucky and made the best ever. This loaf was one of the best. It was a TT recipe (Toss Together).

MOM"S RECIPE FOR OATMEAL BREAD:

Make enough oatmeal (porridge) to serve an army.

Army doesn't show up (oh, that's right, they grew up and moved out)

Same day-Make enough bread dough to feed an army.

"Hold the train! What should I do with the leftover porridge?" "Waste not-want not!"

Solution-just throw all the leftover porridge into the bread dough she had already mixed in a bowl. Unknown if she added any extra flour/water but her porridge was as thick as library paste-she cooked all starches for about an hour-rice, noodles, potatoes, porridge, etc Many times the noodles actually came thru the holes in the colander when they were drained. She had no teeth so maybe "al dente" didn't mean much to her. Everything was well cooked and everything stuck to our ribs. Come to think of it - Mom may have discovered tangzhong!.

Rise to double-punch down-rise to double-punch down-put in loaf pans-rise to double again (Everyone back then used a lot of dry yeast in a recipe-you could have risen it 10 times probably and not run out of yeast-power).

Bake 350F til brown and sounds hollow when thumped. All her bread was thumped and everyone that was home had to give an opinion-did it sound hollow enough?

Best bread ever! I visited that day and remember. I gave my thump vote.

My point, I guess- just add some porridge (eating consistency or thicker) to existing dough,at any point, and integrate well. She did not have a clue as to why her bread did or didn't turn out well. You are way ahead of that and know how ingredients generally behave so I'm sure it will turn out well.

My mom was the reason I wanted to KNOW how to bake bread-not just bake it willy-nilly and HOPE this was a good loaf.

Now if she made biscuits (the bread rolls kind-not cookies), hers would float off the baking sheet and melt in your mouth. Her cookies and cakes were superb. She was just not so good with bread.You were more likely to get good bread made by Uncle Joe (an old army baker) or the local bakery.

Have fun!

Oats and khorasan are one of my favourite flavour combinations - and the porridge just gives it so much moistness in the crumb, doesn't it?  I've found that I need to figure out what my hydration ends up with on the porridge before I start mixing the autolyse, though - otherwise my overall hydration can get a bit out of hand (hit around 103% on one bake --- yay for tins!).

I had thought about the difference between a porridge and a tang zhong, too, and feel that it is primarily that the tang zhong uses finely ground flour and so gelatinizes more easily.  The porridge generally uses larger pieces or whole grains, and so there is less external gelatin and more moisture held within the grain (to be at least partially released during the bake).  I could be wrong on this, but this is what I've observed while using both techniques.

I'm considering trying a bake with both options, but that will most definitely need a careful eye on the hydration!

All the best, Laurie