aromatic

This is yet another bread, and one still to go,  that resulted from the panettone bake where huge excesses of levain waste was required to build the Italian starter.  In this case we had some YW and SD levain hanging around in the fridge.  But the first thing we did was boil the scald for 5 minutes stirring all the time before covering and allowing it to cool on the counter.

The levain build was like a French casserole where any veggie in the fridge goes into the pot.  The two leftover levains, some more AP flour and some more YW and SD seed went into this levain casserole.   We’ve never zombied a levain like this before so it was fun, if not eventful, from a risen dead perspective.

The levain sat on the heating pad as we autolysed everything including the cocoa and instant coffee, except the scald and seeds, with the Guinness Black Lager- a beer we hadn’t tasted before.  This ended up being a 58% Whole grain loaf not including the whole grain scald and soak.  After two hours we deemed the autolyse ready for its zombie levain.

After mixing with a spoon to get things acquainted, we did 10 minutes of French Slap and folds to develop the gluten sufficiently.  After a 20 minute rest we incorporated the multigrain scald using a few S&F’s and a few slap and folds to get the dough back into shape.

The addition of the wet scald, that took the hydration up to what felt like about 82% or more, made the dough much slacker than its old self.  After another 20 minute rest, the aromatic seeds were incorporated into the dough with some more S&F’s and a few slap and folds which were more interesting with seeds and wet dough flying all over the place.

After another 20 minute rest we did one last set of slap and folds to get some shape into the dough and immediately  panned it into a large loaf pan that had been de-stickified with spray. We coverd the top with wheat adn oat bran and let it sit on the heating pad for about 3 hours until it had grown 3/4th of the way up the tin and then we retarded it for 12 hours.

When we retrieved it from the fridge it had risen to within ½” of the top of the tin rim.  We let it sit on the counter, no heating pad this time, for 2 1/2 hours before heating up the mini oven with Sylvia’s steaming cup.

The dough had risen to the rim by the time it went into the mini for 12 minutes of steam at 450 F.  It sprang about 1/2 “under steam.  Then we removed the steam and turned the heat down to 375 F, convection this time.

We continued to bake the loaf until it reached 205 F on the inside rotating the loaf 180 degrees after 10 minutes and also de-panning it to ensure even baking.  After 10 minutes we rotated the de-panned loaf again.  A total of 45 minutes and the loaf was done.

It browned up nicely but we will have to wait for the crumb shots.  Once cooled we will let this bread sit for 24 hours before cutting into it for lunch tomorrow.  Here it is the following morning and I couldn't wait for lunch since there was breakfast first :-) 

Plain, toasted with butter or with cream cheese... this bread is tasty - just plain delicious.  The crumb is open, glossy and very moist with chewy bits.  The crust went soft overnight which allowed for very thin slicing without crumbling.   I could eat this bread every day and if stranded on a desert isle, it would be one of the 50 breads my apprentice would lug along.  Can't wait to try it toasted with pate.

Formula