The Fresh Loaf

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Spelt Flakes: To soak or not to soak?

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Spelt Flakes: To soak or not to soak?

I have a mix of leftover flours and whole grain flakes or groats that I want to use up. I plan to toast and soak the buckwheat groats, drain and then toss them in some crème fraîche before adding them to the dough. My question is do I also soak the spelt flakes and treat them as an extra or do I just use them dry and consider them part of the flour amount?

These are the ingredients that I want to use up to make up to 1 kg of flour:

113 g of whole grain Kamut flour

183 g of whole grain Spelt flour

142 g of Spelt flakes

50 g Dark Buckwheat flour (I have more but since it doesn't have any gluten, it is being added for flavour and to use some of it up)

76 g Buckwheat groats 

35 g crème fraîche 

300 g unbleached flour (This can be adjusted but I am aiming for a 70% whole grain bread)

12 g local partially sifted stone ground whole grain wheat flour (This can also be adjusted depending on what happens to the spelt flakes)

21g salt

1/2 tsp yeast

360 g sourdough 80% hydration levain (200 g local sifted flour)

660 g water or so to make a 75% hydration dough. 

Any other thoughts on this mess are very much welcomed such as should I add some vital wheat gluten to lighten things up? =-)

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

and I am adding the equivalent weight in partially sifted flour. It will be an interesting experiment. 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

and... adjust the salt to include the groat/flake weight with the flours.

 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Thank you! I will do that. 

possum-liz's picture
possum-liz

Both ways work for me. Lately I've been counting the flakes as flour and pouring boiling water (about double the weight of the flakes) over and cooling before finishing the mixing. Just remember that you have already used part of the water. I've forgotten, found I had a slop for dough, then had to do some quick calculations to figure out how much flour and salt I needed to correct the mistake!

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

is very close to what I have. I drained the groats and spelt flakes well but I probably should have cut back on the water for the dough itself.   My dough is rising well but it is very loose. This might get to be quite interesting when it comes to shaping it. I have given it 5 sets of folds but it is barely holding itself up after the folds. Will keep you posted. 

PS I just popped it in the fridge to slow down the fermentation as it seems to be going pretty fast. Hopefully that will also help the dough when it comes to shaping. I plan to proof in the fridge too so I can get some sleep. 

This baking session is the craziest ever. I have the slowest bread in the world going (raisin yeast water saga that I will post about another time) and this one who thinks it is off to the horse races. 

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

When I make my oatmeal raisin bread I soak the oats, wheat bran and oat bran in the amount of water called for in the recipe. Then when I make the dough I add the milk called for. I also soak the raisins first, but squeeze most of the water out when I add them. After all that, I sometimes have to add a bit more water to get the dough to the consistency I want, but generally the water in the soaked oats etc., the milk and the plumped raisins is enough. It's surprising how that water hydrates the dough.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I think the soaker should have the same hydration as the dough.  If the basic dough recipe is 65% hydration, then add up the additions grains/flakes to be soaked and figure 65% hydration.  Then soak in that specific amount.  

Can be that the danger with an uncontrolled soaking (more than dough hydration) separately from the recipe liquid is that the grain/flakes could soak up too much water then turn around and add it to the dough when they are mixed with the salt.  

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

The dough actually wasn't too bad when I pulled it out of the bucket to divide it. The initial shaping went just fine, however, the final shaping after a 15 minute rest was a sticky mess. I managed to get them into the proofing basket and into the fridge. That Spelt certainly puts the proofing into turbo mode though and the loaves probably over proofed somewhat again after only 3 hours in the fridge. By the time I got the oven heated up, another half hour had gone by so the oven spring wasn't great but it is pretty typical of what I have been getting with loaves that have a high percentage of whole grains. I will post a picture tomorrow once I get some sleep. 

Note to self: When using spelt, plan on no sleep and baking in the middle of the night (again) or start mixing the dough much earlier in the day. 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Here are pictures of the loaves made from odds and ends of things that I had left over from other baking sessions. They actually turned out not too bad and they taste great!

The loaves themselves are not very high and the crust is a bit thick. I used cornmeal in the bottom of the dutch oven to prevent sticking. First time doing this and it worked very well.

The crumb is quite nice. I am happy with it considering I was winging this recipe and that it is slightly more than 75% whole grain when I add in the buckwheat groats and the spelt flakes.