35% whole grain

Varda caught the the original Pope's Hat was really a Priest's Hat and then we found out it wasn't and Priest's Hat either so we got a chance to fix that, inserting Priest's for Pope's and also fixing that to remove the Priest's Hat entirely and our spelling and grammer errors too.  Hope this clears up the confusion in a confusing way.

We were making a stiffer levain Italian style and decided to revisit another Italian bread – Altamura style like David Snyder did here

Pane tipo di Altamura from "Local Breads"

 This bread is also one where the whole multi-grains were going to be in the levain.  We also decided to go more Italian style with a stiff levain - 51%.  Since the whole grains  only amounted to 35% or so and not too much rye or spelt,  we thought a good 30 hour retard would really bring out the whole grain flavor and the sour too.

First off you simmer the soaker seeds for 3 minutes and then let them soak for 24 hours.  We would normally use the excess water at the end of the soak for the dough liquid but forgot to this time - so we saved it for the next bake.  Remember to rum a paper towel or two through the well drained soaker seeds to get rid of as much excess liquid as you can, otherwise, the dough will bee wetter than it already will be.

Nothing like a big picture of the reject :-)

The levain was made over (3) 4 hour builds and an additional 10 second one at the end.   20 g of the water in build 3 was added and mixed it at the 12 hour mark.  The levain was very stiff at 51% before this addition and so the normal doubling we look for went out the window.   We got 50% and that is normal for this levain type.

The rest of the ingredients, less the soaker seeds, were autolysed for 1 hour before mixing with the levain.   Then 10 minutes of French slap and folds followed.  After a 15 minute rest 2 sets of S&F’s followed on 15 minute intervals.  Then the soaker seeds were added and 2 minutes of slap and folds were used to rebuild the gluten structure and incorporate the seeds.

The dough was then allowed to develop on the counter for an hour in a well oiled covered bowl where the plastic was oiled too.  The dough was then retarded for 30 hours in the fridge at 38 F.  It easily doubled in volume while in the fridge. 

After removing from the fridge and letting it warm on the counter for 2 hours we took out first shot at shaping a Pane tipo di Altamura.  This turned out to be the pre-shape since it ended up looking like 2 ugly stuck together baguettes. Plus it wouldn't  fit on the mini ovens 12” square broiler pan. 

So we took another shot at the shape a few minutes later and it came out a lot better - but not at all like it should have if we were writing home about it.  But, it now fit on the top of the broiler pan too – a really good thing.  It then went into a trash can liner for final proof and was placed on a heating pad set to low with some kitchen towels on top of the pad.

After and hour it had popped itself open at the seam so we tried to fix that by re-sealing and we were almost half way successful. Another hour and it had puffed itself up well enough to bake.  Into the 450 F preheated mini oven it went after throwing a ¼ of water in the bottom of the broiler pan and heating one of Sylvia’s steaming cups for the vented top where the bread would bake. 

After 12 minutes of steam the Pane tipo di Altamura had sprung nicely so we removed the steam and turned down the oven to 400 F, convection this time.   We continued bake for 10 minutes rotating the bread 180 degress every 5 minutes.

This my new apprentice.  As I was hiking in Sabino Canyon in Tucson yesterday , this Roadrunner followed me on the trail for about 1/4 of a mile.  I didn't want to scare it off but as I took a few step he would take a few too.   Next thing you know he was walking with me as I hiked along. 

They are expertly camouflaged and if they don't want you to see them - you won't.  I already miss my new hiking buddy :-(

Then we turned the bread over on its top and continued to bake for 8 more minutes to brown the bottom when the bread reached 205 F in the thickest part.  The bread had baked a total of 30 minutes.  The crust was nicely browned and crispy but no huge bubbles which is the norm for baking this way in the mini.   The crumb went chewy and soft as it cooled.

The crumb turned out very soft and moist with chewy bits of soaker seeds - just liked we hoped.  The surprising thing about this bread is that it tastes great.  The grain flavors and sour are front and center.   It has to be one for best tasting crusts and crumbs we have ever managed and my new apprentice would have approved as much as old one did. 

Formula

Never give up!

It has been a while since we last made a white bread that didn’t have some outlandish concoction of ingredients to make it healthier than your average slimy white slice.  So we toned this one down as it is meant for the wife’s daily bag lunch.

She is more traditional in her love of Oroweat Whole Wheat Bread to contain her sandwich fillings but we also wanted a bread that we could be sure to deliver some real whole grain goodness, wheat taste, extra light sourdough flavor, not too sweet, a soft, moist, yellowish, open crumb and a nice dark brown chewy crust once the bread cooled.

We hoped that our whole grain combination yeast water and sourdough starter in conjunction with soft white wheat (home ground), durum atta and WWW and the semolina, wheat germ, malts, bread and AP flour in the dough would provide what we were looking to get bread wise at the end of the day.

A little honey would supply a hint of sweetness and the whole soft white wheat berry soaker would supply some extra crumb texture and bite that we like so much.  We also used some yogurt whey water, from earlier Greek yogurt making this week, for part of the liquid trying to enhance the sour taste.  All together it is a simple white bread easily prepared that is fun to; make, bake, admire and devour.  

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This was the original move from bamboo couche to the floured basket - not horrible so far.  Then 4 hours later in the fridge the whole time..... and the oven wasn't even preheated .......

This is a fine everyday eater and we got what we mostly desired along with a great wheat taste.  We were surprised how balanced the taste was between wheat and sour. We loved it crumb color too.   It is delicious bread that is perfect for everyday lunch sandwiches of all kinds.

We also got to use our bamboo double barrel batard couche that has been unloved for some time but we only used one barrel for this1,126 gloaf that is 35% whole grains, 74% hydration and where the levain is 30% of the total weight except……..

That is not what happened!

Well, that was the way it was supposed to be.  After shaping and loading the bread in the bamboo couche, it proved to be too small, so I switched it too a larger batard shaped woven basket lined with a rice flour coated towel and chucked it into the plastic bag and right into the fridge after reshaping for the 18 hr retard.  There was no proofing on the counter.

When I checked it in 4 hrs, right before bed time, this thing had exploded out of the basket like the Nile in full Spring Flood!  It might have been over proofed – a heck of a lot!  Immediately we fired up big old Betsy since this blob wasn’t going into the mini and got 2 of Sylvia’s steaming pans going for the 40 minute warm up.

When pre heat was over the dough was really loose and still spreading.  I overturned it onto parchment and a peel and scored it, why I don’t know since it was already spreading like a ciabatta and scoring only made it worse.  By the time I got it into the oven, throwing another 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of the oven as the door slammed, it was only 1” high and a full 10”wide.

It sprang great to almost 3” high before settling back to 2 ½” in height.  It was late by the time it cooled and was wrapped.  I’m guessing the yogurt water, inconjunction with the honey and the (2) malts enzyme action had something to do with making this dough look like a meth crazed, whack job on steroids.  Never had a dough go berserk while in the fridge for retarding after shaping before.  I didn’t have a clue anything was wrong until I checked on it at the 4 hr mark.  The method that follows is the one that should have been.

I got a fairly nice badly scored ciabatta out of what was supposed to be a sandwich loaf.  Next time this is going into a loaf pan from the get go and watched carefully.

The ribs would have almost fit this bread perfectly if the loaf had been split length wise like a ciaabatta :-) The ribs turned out sort of normal  - before the bread fiasco thoiugh.

A nice brie and Colby jack grilled cheese sandwich using this bread with left over potato salad and BBQ baked beans, 1/2 ea of the 3 P's - pear, peach and plumb each stuffed with blue berries, 1/2 banana, black grapes, another 1/2 pear with brie and Colby jack , cantaloupe chunks with carrot pieces and a nice little salad with yellow and red papper topped with tomato and feta.  A decent lunch for a decent sandwich bread.

The Method

Making this bread is pretty straight forward compared to our insane kitchen sink recent bakes.  First you build the combo YW and SD levain using (2 ) 3 hour builds, mixing in the 3rd build  WWW flour and then immediately refrigerating it.

Then you make the soft white wheat soaker and let it sit out for 4 hours before refrigerating it overnight.  No scalding or microwaving required if you have the time and patience for it to soak a long while.

I also ground up the soft white wheat berries from the freezer and added the rest of the flours, home made malts, and salt to the ground flour in a bowl.  The water and yogurt whey was added, mixed in well and allowed to autolyse on the counter for 2 hours before being refrigerated over night.

The next day, the now nearly doubled in volume levain and the autolyse were removed from the fridge and allowed to come to room temperature – about 2 hours.  The two were mixed together in the mixing bowl with a dough hook on KA 2 for 4 minutes and KA 3 for 2 minutes until it pulled away from the sides.

The dough was then allowed to rest for 20 minutes in an oiled bow lbefore (3) sets of S&F’s were done 15 minutes apart.  The soaker was drained and dried with a paper towel and incorporated on the 2nd S& F.  After the 3rd S&F, the seeds were well distributed and incorporated nicely.  The dough rested in an oiled bowl between S & F’s.  The dough was then formed into a ball and allowed to ferment and develop for 60 minutes on the counter in the same oiled bowl.

It was then pre-shaped and final shaped into a batard, and placed into the parchment lined, bamboo couche seam side up.  The couche was then wrapped in a tall kitchen trash bag, allowed to proof for 330 minutes before being refrigerated overnight while the bartard doubled in volume.

The next morning the mini oven (MO) was preheated to500 F, and 2 of Sylvia’s steaming Pyrex cups, half full of water with a rolled up hand towel inside, were heated to boiling in the microwave.  The batard was removed from the fridge and the trash can liner, turned over by rolling on the underlying parchment, poorly slashed and placed onto the top vented mini broiler pan with the 2 steaming cups.

The baking apparatus was placed into the MO and allowed to steam for 12 minutes with the temperature being turned down to450 Fafter 4 minutes.  At the 12 minute mark the steam was removed and the temperature was turned down to425 F(convection this time) and allowed to bake another 20 minutes.  The batard was rotated every 5 minutes until the internal temperature in the center of the loaf reached205 F.

The MO was turned off, the door positioned ajar and the loaf left inside for 10 minutes to crisp the skin.  The bread was then moved to a cooling rack.

Formula follows the pix’s as usual.