Multigrain sourdoughs have a delightful complexity of flavor, wonderful texture and phenomenal keeping quality because of the moisture retained in the soaker, as well as the effect of the levain. They are delicious fresh-baked, but their flavor only fully develops after a day or two when the distinctive flavors of the grains and seeds have had a chance to meld.

I had made Jeffrey Hamelman's 5-grain Levain from “Bread” a number of times. Hamelman describes the flavor as “delectable,” which is not an over-statement. So, although my original intent was to make the Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread from Michel Suas' “Advanced Bread and Pastry” this weekend, when I saw his formula for “Sourdough Multigrain Bread” a few pages later, I couldn't resist it.

1. Mix all ingredients well with a DDT of 70ºF. (Tip: First mix the water and starter completely. I find a dough whisk is great for this. Then add the flours and mix thoroughly.)

2. Ferment 12 hours at room temperature.

1. Toast the Sunflower and Sesame seeds for 4-6 minutes at 350ºF to bring out their flavor.

2. Suas says to soak the seeds and oats for at least two hours. I soaked them overnight.

Method

1. Make the levain the night before baking and ferment it overnight, as above.

2. Mix the flours, water, yeast and salt.

3. Add the levain and mix thoroughly.

4. Mix to medium gluten development, then add the soaker and mix only until incorporated. DDT is 75-78ºF (24-25ºC).

5. Ferment for 2 hours.

6. Divide into two equal pieces and pre-shape into loose balls.

7. Rest the pieces, covered, for 20-30 minutes.

8. Shape as bâtards. (Gently pat each ball of dough into a disc. Fold the right and left sides to meet in the middle. Then, roll the pieces up, away from you. Make sure the seam is sealed as you roll the loaves into bâtards and place in well-floured bannetons or on a floured couche.)

9. Cover tightly and proof f

   or 60-90 minutes at 80ºF.

10. One hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF with a baking stone and your preferred steaming method in place.

11. When the loaves are expanded by 75%, transfer them to a peel and to the baking stone.

12. Immediately steam the oven and turn the temperature down to 460ºF.

13. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 205ºF and the bottom sounds hollow when thumped.

14. When the loaves are fully baked, turn off the oven, but leave the loaves on the stone with the oven door ajar for 5-10 minutes to dry the crust.

15. Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack, and cool thoroughly before slicing.

     

This bread has a crunchy crust and chewy crumb. There is a distinct but mild sourdough tang, and the flavor of the oats and seeds is very present. Compared to Hamelman's 5-grain Levain, Suas' bread has a higher proportion of seeds, and I toasted the sesame and sunflower seeds darker than I had for Hamelman's bread. Suas also uses a firm starter while Hamelman uses a liquid starter, which accounts for the relative sourness of Suas' bread.

While the comparisons are interesting, I can't say either is “better.” Both are outstanding breads and highly recommended.  

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

Can anyone offer me a good recipe for a porridge-style recipe for a multi-grain bread?  I recall making one years ago using a 9-grain mix of flours and coarse grains and soaking overnight, then making the dough using this pseudo-starter and yeast.  I am unable to track down the original recipe or one like it.

This is my first attempt at multigrain bread using an overnight "soaker" for the grain.  These loaves are made from Mark Sinclair's recipe for Multigrain Bread, taken from his wedsite Back Home Bakery (under recipes).  I followed his recipe except I used King Arthur's (KA) mixture of multigrain (total of 188 grams), which I recently purchased in one of my orders from KA.  This bread is delicious.  Thank you Mark for sharing this great recipe.  The recipe produces 4 1/2 pounds of dough.  I divided it into three 1 1/2 pound loaves and used 2 unlined brotforms and an unlined boule bannton for the loaves. I dusted the brotforms and banneton using a mixture of half KA AP flour and half rice flour.  Incidentally, as you can see from this photo, I use a large plastic bin to cover the loaves during final proofing, which works well for me.

Brotforms after final proofing.  At 1 hour final proofing time (75 deg. F) the loaves were ready for the oven.

The scoring needs practice but the loaves came out pretty well.

The crust was excellent and I was very pleased with the crumb and this bread tastes delicious.  Again, thank you Mark for this terrific recipe.

Multigrain No. 1

I'm always excited when my coffee tastes as good as it smells. The same applies to bread. For some reason the aroma and flavor of things don't always line up to be what I expect. Recently I tried Mark Sinclair's Multi Grain Bread from the recipe he has posted on his "The Back Home Bakery" website. I have tried a few other combinations of grains and methods that were pretty good but this was on the next level for me. It has a great heady aroma and it tastes wonderful. You can see the dough is not to dense and makes a great sandwich or toast. The toaster brings out the rustic nature of the grains and it tastes as good as it smells!

Mark has some first rate instructional videos on his site also that I have found very helpful for shaping and kneading. I appreciate that he is sharing his talent with us home bakers.  

Here is the Bakery web site where you will find the recipe. http://www.thebackhomebakery.com/
Enjoy!

Multigrain

Multigrain Crumb

I baked a loaf of Struan, following Peter Reinhart's recipe and I have to agree with what he said in his book Brother Juniper's Bread Book, "Struan became the mainstay of our bakery, and I still think it is the most beautiful and delicious bread I have ever made or tasted."

This multigrain bread is simply delightful, from the first to the last bite!

Noy