Seeds, Seeds, Seeds Sourdough (revisited)

It was time to throw some seeds into some bread again. I checked out my previous methods on adding seeds and decided to go with a dry seed addition rather than using a soaker. It seems that I got a more open crumb doing this rather than doing the soaker. Hopefully, this holds true.

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Seed Add-ins

70 g Sunflower seeds

50 g Sesame seeds (I used half black and half white)

50 g freshly ground flax seeds

30 g Amaranth seeds

30 g Buckwheat groats

15 g Millet seeds

15 g Hemp hearts

Main dough

600 g strong baker’s unbleached flour

150 g wholegrain Durum flour 

150 g wholegrain Kamut flour 

100 g wholegrain Rye flour 

800 g water

23 g Pink Himalayan salt

30 g plain yogurt

250 g levain (Procedure in recipe)

Extra wholegrain rye flour for levain builds

Mid afternoon the day before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of wholegrain rye flour. Let rise in a warm place. 
2. I use homemilled flour so if you are doing the same, measure out the stated amount for each type of flour in berries or grain, and mill it on the finest setting of your home mill. If buying flour, get the freshest that you can and try to ensure that it is wholegrain. By the way, if you can’t get Durum flour or Kamut flour, they can be replaced with whole wheat flour. You could even sub in Spelt flour for either the Durum or the Kamut.
3. Place the required amounts of the wholegrain flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 
4. Cover and set aside.

The night before:

1. Toast all the seeds except for the ground flax either in the oven or in a dry frying pan until fragrant. Be careful not to burn them. Cool, add the ground flax, and set aside.
2. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of wholegrain rye flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of strong baker’s flour and let rise until double in a warm spot. This took 6 hours.
2. A couple of hours before the levain is ready, mix the water with the flour, and mix on speed 1 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let this autolyse until the Levain has doubled. 
3. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute or two to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 9 minutes.  
4. Add the toasted seeds and mix on speed 2 until they are evenly distributed. This should only take a minute or two.
5. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes. 
6. Do 2 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals and then 2 sets of sleepy ferret folds at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 30%. It should have irregular bubbles visible through the sides of the container and  bubbles on top as well. 
7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~780g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 
8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.
9. Sprinkle rice flour, then extra sunflower seeds and sesame seeds in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

Oven spring was not too bad for a dough with that many seeds in it.