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4 Grain Sprouted Sourdough with Altus, Scald, Toadies & Porter - Going Darker

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

4 Grain Sprouted Sourdough with Altus, Scald, Toadies & Porter - Going Darker

4 Grain Sprouted Sourdough with Altus, Scald, Toadies & Porter - Going Darker

 Taking last week’s bake to the Darker Side seemed right up Lucy’s alley.  We doubled the whole grains to 61% and upped the hydration to 83%.  So, I’m happy it was twice as healthy!  This weeks scald/bake was a half hour longer and included Toadies too so it should be darker.

 

Mis en place for the scalded bake - clockwise from the top, Pumpernickel altus, 4 whole grains (Kamut, rye, spelt and wheat), flour also from the 4 whole grains, red malt, white malt and Toadies..

It had been so long since we had used Toadies in a formula I had almost forgotten what was in them and was glad I found some in the freezer so I didn’t have to make some more and have figure out what it was.  The 4 whole and sprouted grains were: Kamut, wheat, spelt and rye in equal amounts – one of our favorite mixes.

 

Lucy specified a dark porter for the dough liquid, one we especially like from  Colorado Springs called New Belgium Portage.  I guess Lucy was serious about going darker which is good since it pays to get serious if you want to do anything worth doing.

 

This darker version has twice as much sprouted grain as last week with half the whole grains being sprouted.  All of the hard bits from the dried sprouted and whole grain 15% extraction were fed to the levain first as per our usual.  The levain was retarded for 24 hours after being built over (3) 4 hour stages and it made up a bit less than 15% of the total flour.

 

We upped the autolyse from 1 to 2 hours - no salt no levain., did our usual 3 sets of slap and folds of 8.1 and 1 minute and the 3 sets of stretch and folds from the compass points - all on 20 minute intervals.  The dough was pre-shaped and then shaped, placed ina rice floured basket, bagged and retarded for 24 hours.

 

Lucy decided to bake this one in a DO.  Once the dough had warmed up for 90 minutes we fired up BOB for a preheating too 500 F with the baking rack between the 2 stones.  We un-molded the boule onto parchment on a peel, slashed it T- Rex style and slid it onto the bottom of the combo cooker.

 

Once the bread hit the heat we turned the oven down to 450 F for 20 minutes of steam and once the lid came off, we baked it another 20 minutes at 425 F convection until; it read 205 F.

 

The bread sprang, bloomed and browned in its usual DO way with small blisters that are associated with high percent whole grain bread.  That wonderful mahogany crust color we love so much really came through with this bold bake.   We left then bread on the stone, oven off until it ht 208 F, our new preferred temperature for sprouted grain bread, to crisp up the skin some more.  Total baking time with oven on was 40 minutes - half steam.

 

We will have to wait on the crumb shots until after lunch.  The one bad thing about DO baking is that you can’t smell the bread bake until the lid comes off L  The crumb came out soft,moist,glossy and open but the taste was every bit as good as we expected too.  Just delicious!  Deep,earthy, hearty and complex flavor is there in spades.  We have made a load of different breads but no other bread came out like this one.  It was worth the 4 day schedule of events and all the associated work to make it happen.  You won't find this bread for sale at any bakery anywhere even though you might one day.  So to taste this one right now,you will just have to make it.  You wonlt be sorry!

 

With retarded starter, levain and dough, malts and Toadies in the scald, 4 different grains, dark beer for the dough liquid, half sprouted grains,  60% whole grains total….. this bread has about every flavor enhancing technique that Lucy has learned here at TFL……. except her beloved Low and slow DaPumperizing baking process  of course.  How far can that be behind this bake?

Lucy reminds us not to forget that salad

 

 

SD Levain Build

Build 1

Build 2

 Build 3

Total

%

4 Week Retarded Rye Sour Starter

8

0

0

8

1.95%

15% Extract Sprouted & Whole 4 Grain

8

16

7

31

7.56%

85% Extraction Sprouted and Whole 5 Grain

0

0

25

25

6.10%

Water

8

16

32

56

13.66%

Total

24

32

64

120

29.27%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Levain Totals

 

%

 

 

 

Flour

60

14.63%

 

 

 

Water

60

14.63%

 

 

 

Levain Hydration

100.00%

 

 

 

 

Levain % of Total Flour

14.63%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Flour

 

%

 

 

 

85% Extraction Sprouted and Whole 4 Grain

145

35.37%

 

 

 

KA Bread & La Fama AP 50/50

205

50.00%

 

 

 

Total Dough Flour

350

85.37%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salt

9

2.20%

 

 

 

Porter 250

250

60.98%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dough Hydration

71.43%

 

 

 

 

Total Flour w/ Starter

410

 

 

 

 

Porter 250 & Water

310

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration with Starter

75.61%

 

 

 

 

Total Weight

909

 

 

 

 

% Whole and  Sprouted 4 Grain

50.00%

 

 

 

 

% Whole Sprouted 4 grain

25.00%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scald / Bake is 15 g Toadies, 5 g of each of the 4 grain as flour and 5 g of whole

 

berries plus 5 g each red and white malt plus 25 g of pumpernickel altus

 

 

and 90 g of water remaining -180 g total weight added to the dough

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 whole and sprouted grains are: Kamut, Wheat, Rye and Spelt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

% whole grain equivalent with scald - 61%

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration with starter and scald - 83%

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was my wife's birthday this week so she got a green and brown cake with purple sprinkles and white roses  with pinkish centers

 

Comments

a_warming_trend's picture
a_warming_trend

I cannot even imagine how complex and wonderful this must taste. You'll have to describe it in detail when you post the crumb pic!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Complex and wonderful describes this bread well....along with hearty, healthy and about as good as it gets. We aren't so lucky nearly enough in my book but we are thankful to have been there at least once!  Lucy will try to improve on this one by upping the whole grains to 100%, baking it low and slow to see how it fares a pumpernickel style bread.  I suppose you could say we like this one almost as much as bourbon, ice cream, pie, chocolate and ribs - all on one plate - well maybe not but it is close:-)  Now we will have to fiest on your Pain au Chocolate!

Glad you like bread and

Happy baking

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Happy Birthday to Lucy's Mom!  Another great looking bake DA and Lucy....love that open crumb for such a high whole grain dough that's amazing.  Wish I could taste a slice of this one.

I have to post my last 2 bakes this weekend and try and get one more in before I fly off to China for 10 days.

Happy Baking.  Hi from Max, Lexi and the rest of the brood!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

It has been so hot here the salad greens are trying to bolt a month early.and the orange trees are starting to bud out.  Now that the birthdays are coming to a close around here with mine and my wife's 2 weeks apart in early February.I can get to work on my motorcycle which hasn't been running for a while.

Glad you like this bake Ian. Can;t wait to try it for breakfast toast this morning.  It sure made a great grilled Tuscan Chicken sandwich for lunch yesterday.  Lucy says high to her Frozen Friends on a Frozen iIland!

Happy Bakign Ian

greenbriel's picture
greenbriel

Amazing crust, love the blistering, I wish I knew how to achieve that. I agree, it's hard to imagine how great that must taste. I have a hazy idea of how it might smell and taste, I bet it is amazing. Kudos, and thanks to you and Lucy for all the detail.

-Gabe

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

I don't think one thing causes it but a long cold shaped retard and baking it while still cold (within a couple of hours of coming out of the fridge) is at the core of it.  High hydration is also part of the mix.  Mega Steam  or lots of steam in a small space might also help.  White bread or one with a small amount of whole grains makes for bigger blisters too.  I don't know if the autolyse which allows for the flour to soak up as much liquid as possible to release later helps or not.  

I envision that water is trying to escape from below but steam on the outside, initially at a low temperature just above boiling,  keeps the the skin cold and resistant enough in the beginning to hold water trying to escape under the skin.  This subsurface water is temporarily trapped so that it can expand as steam making blisters.  Or that the exterior steam penetrates the skin before it sets and gets trapped below the skin which sounds unlikely.  Maybe it is the bread gods and their magic at work:-)  I've never been able to find a definitive answer of what causes it.

What is odd it that blisters used to be considered flaws in the baking process and could get you in big trouble with your master.   I guess they thought bread blisters reminded them of the pox in the olden days or something and this notion of horror sort of hung around the bread baking world until quite recently.

It takes a few days, which most folks don't have, to make a bread like this but, if you are retired, the one thing you have plenty of is time:-).   You would like this bread but you won't find it for sale at the local artisan bakery so you will have to give it a go when you get the time.  

Happy baking and good luck with SJSD baguettes. 

greenbriel's picture
greenbriel

I have enough other things to improve upon before I start striving for something as fickle as blisters :) I had heard that they were considered a flaw until recently. Funny how that happens, isn't it?

Thanks for the good luck wishes. Going to start a new levain tonight. I can't get over the taste of these things. So good!

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Just had a few pints of porter last night.  I think it's a sign dabrowny...that I drink too much beer.

Nice to see a darker side of you.  I have not tried adding a dark beer to any other loaf other than a Rugbrot.  Did you notice the addition?

Classy dahubby moves too.  Nice.

Happy baking.

John

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

and never having made it without the porter, I can't say that any taste comes through in any noticeable way but the color does.  This bread tastes good like a real dark bread should :-)  Will make you want to drink the other 5 porters in the 6 pack too!  The wife loved the attention on her birthday and it is fun to make a weird looking cake now and again.....

Glad you like the bread John and happy baking.   

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Beautiful results, DA. I love that crust and crumb. well done!

and Happy birthday to your wife.

Khalid

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Thought of you we we saw the big hi rise fire in Dubai - very frightening for such a large building with sprinklers to have such a huge fire!  Doesn't make sense unless there was a big failure of the fore suppression system.  A miracle no one was killed.  Hope all is well with he new oven and bread baking business.  

Happy baking 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

We thought of you when we saw the big fire in the Dubai ho rise.  I can't figure out how such a huge fire could get started in a building with a modern, sophisticated fire suppression system?  Doesn't make any sense like SD bread sometimes.  Glad all is well and hope the new oven takes your bread business to the next level.

Happy baking 

Nominingi's picture
Nominingi

Please enlighten me as google can't

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

a Fresh Loafian - toad.de.b  They originally were made up of wheat germ and wheat bran mixed and dry toasted until golden.  I added sifted middlings and oat bran to the mix and called it Toadies after toad.de.b. Now it could be just about anything dry toasted.  Toadies are one of the great bread flavor enhancers of all time and work especially well in scalds and low temperature bakes.  Toadies typed into the search box on this site will turn up more info than a Google search ever will:-)

Happy baking 

CAphyl's picture
CAphyl

dabrownman:  I've been away from the site and missed so many bakes over the last few weeks.  This bread looks fab.  Love the color, the crust, and the open crumb.  Wonderful salad, too.  The cake and roses were really nice, so I am sure your wife loved both. Impressive as always.  Best,  Phyllis

p.s.  we have had the nice sunsets recently, too.  And we had rain yesterday. Wouldn't you know that it would rain in Southern CA on the day of the Oscars? It hardly ever rains here, but it sure did rain on the celebrity parade....

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

but they lie so much about rain around here you never know for sure what will happen?  We won't have great sunsets here until July 1st or so - once the Monsoon starts -our favorite time of year.  Wouldn't u know it, Lucy does her best baking in a few long years and you are gone...off doing who knows what and miss it all :)  We have 2 weeks of blow out cakes around here every year the first 2 weeks of February with my wife's and my birthday so close together.  We will be eating cake for a few weeks longer as a result.  

Here is another white rose photo for you showing the pink center in a better light) and happy baking now that you have came back from where every you were having so much fun:-)