Better than a brick
Far from perfect, but significantly improved over last week, this week's bake is not a brick, but a bread!
Basic ingredients remained the same, BF, WW (this week Red Fife from Grist & Toll, in Pasadena), some wheat germ, farro berries (cooked, not sprouted - wanted to keep things simple), about 85% hydration, which should have been higher.
Changes included cooking the wheat berries, autolysing the flours except for the sprouted wheat, and skipping the bulk ferment entirely. Shaped the loaf and into the refrigerator it went for 12 hours, out for an hour while the oven heated to 500F, steamed for 15 minutes (dropping to 450 after 5 minutes), then baked at 425F for 30 minutes and left on the stone for 5 minutes as the oven cooled.
Have tried it and it is tasty, indeed, enough so to keep trying to make improvements. I think I overbaked and it toughened the crust, but I did get a nice dark crust with blisters. The crumb is soft, but not gummy and a bit chewy.I think more hydration would have helped the texture, handling the dough was easy, but a bit too easy.
Many thanks to those who offered suggestions and more...
Cathy
Comments
They look appetizing. And nice job with the photo layout!
Cathy: Love the crust and crumb. Must have tasted so good. Congrats! Best, Phyllis
So how much sprouted WW is in this loaf? Has to taste terrific. Well done and
Happy baking
I was anxious to discover this world of sprouted grains, so reserved the 'ends' after slicing and tucking the rest into the freezer for office toast breakfasts. It has a deep, earthy, wheat-y aroma and flavor and a sturdy, yet soft crumb.
When I make it again, I'll follow my instincts and up the hydration. As DAB had done with his beautiful bread last week, I held the sprouted flour out of the autolyse, but added the full measure of water to the rest of the flours and germ. Not sure if it was thirsty Red Fife (that I had not used before), or the wheat germ, but left to hydrate for 2 hours, it wasn't soupy, but soft, extensible and almost silky. But I still had to add the rest of the flour.
Once I added the salt, sprouted flour and starter, the dough came together quickly and became much firmer than I had anticipated, which meant it tightened rapidly with slap & folds... hence less development and uneven holes. The farro (cooked) was fairly wet and would be added during stretch & folds, so I hoped it would adjust the hydration sufficiently. It helped, but not enough.
DAB, to answer your question, I used basically the formula you laid out last week, with slightly different ingredients, so 125 g sprouted wheat flour out of 450 g total dough flour (or 500 g if the wheat germ is included). The dough would easily have taken another 50 g water, perhaps more.
Next time, I'll add sprouted grain, rather than cooked - it worked well, but I must live on the edge, how else does one know where it is?
Cathy