First post! Sunday experiment. Sourdough multigrain with chocolate and cranberries.
This is my first post ever, though I have been consulting the site for quite a while now. So hi, everybody, I'm glad to be here and hope to be a part of this awesome baking community!
This is a sourdough loaf with whole grain wheat, rye and oat flour, with chocolate and cranberries.
70% hidration; 50% wheat, 25% rye, 25% oats. For about 400 grams of dough, I used 40 grams of mexican chocolate from Oaxaca (it's mostly used for making hot chocolate beverage, it has cinammon and a more crumbly texture which I love; I also make pain au chocolat with it and its great); and 30 gr. of dehidrated cranberries.
I keep a whole wheat 100% hidration starter, I took 40 gr. and added 40 gr. of rye flour and 40 gr. of water and lef at room temperature for about 6 hours. Then I mixed in the preferment with the rest of the flour, salt and water, kneaded for about 5 minutes and let rest for 30 min. Then I made 4 strech and folds at 30 minute intervals, added the chocolate and cranberries before the second S&F, After the fourth S&F I let it sit about an hour, then shaped and retarded proofing overnight and baked in a dutch oven this morning.
The flavor is great, although I would have like a more open crumb. I might substitute part of the WW for bread flour next time; and perhaps I'll be more generous with the chocolate and cranberries too.
All in all, it was a good experiment and I'll definitively try again, maybe adjusting a few things. Any suggestions?
Happy baking! I'ts nice to finally share something here.
Comments
That's one question that occurred to me when reading your instructions. Whole wheat breads are the hardest from which to get a nice rise. I've read that soaking the flour/dough helps. When I use ingredients like dried crancherries or cranberries or raisins, etc., I "plump" them with a boil soak in a measured amount of liquid then cool down.
breads for 4 hours,no salt no levain and make sure they soak up as much water as possible to improve a n already restricted lift of the whole grains. You can probably get to at least 80-85% hydration this way and the lift should be better and the spread no worse. These kinds of whole grain breads i like to proof to 85% in the fridge and bake them cold right out of the oven to reduce the spread or only let them warm up for an hour and half if they don't proof to 85% in the fridge. Mexican chocolate and cranberries is a great combination. Well done and happy baking
I've been baking a lot of bread lately, so the starter gets fed about 3 times a week (more often renewed than just fed, actually, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not). So it is quite active even when taken directly from the fridge to make the preferment. I'll try the long autolyse next time and more hidration. I did soak the cranberries in hot water for a couple hours and then drained them half an hour before mixing them in the dough, I imagine they add a little more water like this, but I'm not sure how much.
I also suspect it might have overproofed a little; I think it was in the fridge for about ten hours or so. And I may have handled it a bit too much before putting it in the pre-heated dutch oven, but I guess that is a matter of practice.
Thanks for the advice! I'll keep experimenting. Happy baking.