The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Treehugger Special!

Runnerfemme's picture
Runnerfemme

Treehugger Special!

I love a seedy, nutty loaf.  A dear, old friend of mine would have teased me by calling this a "sticks and leaves" loaf.  Mind you, he was the one with the Birkenstocks, but I digress.  This Treehugger Special was inspired by my taste for heavily seeded, toothsome loaves, as well as my curiosity about porridge breads.  (Oh, and I bought a bag of buckwheat flour that I really wanted to experiment with -- I'm a newbie to buckwheat.  A nubuck.  I won't quit my day job.)   I've read many an Ode to Oat paying homage to Robertson's oat porridge loaf.  People wax on about the dreamy quality of a porridge loaf crumb using words like "custardy" and "cloud like."  I was also careful to take stock of the lessons of others and their reports of too-slack doughs attributed to an 11th hour surprise release of water from the cooked porridge.  (I imagine a bowl of polenta donning a mini party hat blowing an unfurling paper horn and squeeking, "surprrriiiise!")  Others have lamented the challenge of working a cooled porridge, much thicker in its cool state than when fresh off the stove, into a dough post-autolyse.  So, it's a long weekend.  My husband is a willing guinea pig.  I have a toaster.  I have butter.  I ask you: What else could a girl need to launch into a Treehugger Special?  So, off I went.

One warning before you proceed: when baking bread for "just me", I am far more permissive with the "a little of this, a little of that" muscle.  If this doth offend thee, shield your eyes now.  I can't be held responsible.

200g EACH of Arrowmills organic buckwheat flour,  One Degree organic sprouted spelt flour, KAF organic whole wheat flour, KAF Artisan Bread flour, KAF bread flour.

4 TBL (1/4c) vital wheat gluten http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/vital-wheat-gluten-16-oz

1TBL diastatic malt powder http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/diastatic-malt-powder-4-oz-jar

2TBL wildflower honey (eyeballed)

1 cup (eyeballed; measured dry) Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal

1/2 cup (eyeballed) KAF Harvest Grains Blend (whole oat berries, millet, rye flakes, wheat flakes, flax seed, poppy seed, sesame seed, and sunflower seed) http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/harvest-grains-blend-2-lb

300g 50/50 spelt/rye starter - very bubbly and strong and at 80-85% hydration (consistency of thick cake batter)

800g water (about 80-90 degrees) - (Note that this water measurement does NOT include water used for porridge or soaker)

24g fine sea salt

Method:

Cover seed/grain blend in hot or boiling water.  Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 2 hours (or up to overnight if you like); drain if needed.  I planned to toast my seeds first and, in my excitement, forgot.  I imagine it would really deepen the flavors of this loaf.

Cook cereal to a thick consistency and cool completely.  I added enough water - straight from the tap - to cover the cereal, stirred it in until it was the consistency of pancake batter, and microwaved it uncovered on high for 2 minutes. Stirred it again, covered with plastic wrap and let cool while I ran errands for a few hours ... Imprecise, yes, but easy.

Combine: all flour, honey, 800g water, cooled porridge, seed/grain blend, VWG, diastatic malt powder.  Autolyse for 2-3 hours.  I decided to add my porridge and seeds at this stage primarily because of the "baking for just me" factor, but also because I was hopeful I might get a truer read on the dough hydration/slackness if I threw all my water-logged ingredients in the pool from the start.  My thinking was that perhaps the unwelcome surprise water release experienced by others may have something to do with flours still being thirsty even post-autolyse. Maybe the whole grain flours draw out some moisture from the cooked porridge.  Then again, under that theory, the flours should then absorb the porridge release, so that's probably bunk logic.  Whatever.  My instinct said throw it all in. So I did.   

Post autolyse, add starter and salt. Pinch starter and salt into dough completely. Cover and stash somewhere warm-ish (75-80 degrees) for the bulk fermentation. Do 4 stretch-and-folds every 30-45 minutes; letting the dough rest for the balance of the bulk fermentation.  You can complete bulk fermentation on the countertop for a total of (approximately) 4-5 hours (or until whenever you say it's done!); or, following S&Fs, bulk fermentation can be completed in the refrigerator.   I did only 3 stretch-and-folds spaced at about 45-37-30 minutes.  No precision there - too busy retrieving my dog from the neighbors' yard and getting sucked into a movie.  I would have done more S&Fs, but we had to go to a wedding rehearsal and dinner, so after my 3 S&Fs, I popped the dough into the fridge to complete its bulk fermentation.  

Post bulk fermentation, divide and pre-shape. Let rest for 20-30 minutes seam down on lightly floured surface.  Mine rested only 20 minutes; and I didn't even bother to cover them, the poor things.

Following bench rest, do your final shape magic. Turn seam side down into rice flour dusted baskets/bannetons.  Cover with plastic.  Retard in fridge overnight.  For decoration and experimentation, I lined one of my bannetons with linen, leaving the other bare.  I dusted both bannetons with rice flour and scattered oats into both.  Mine retarded for about 10 hours.

Preheat oven to 500 for 60-90 minutes with covered cookers in the oven.  Dust bottoms of loaves (the side facing up while the loaves are still in their bannetons) with flour or cornmeal, turn out onto parchment, score, and get the babies into their cookers.  Reduce oven temperature to 475 and bake for 35 minutes.  Take the tops off the cookers, reduce temp to 450, and bake another 10-12 minutes.  Crack the oven door and bake for another 5-10 minutes.  I did not dust my loaves sufficiently with flour before turning out onto my parchment and had some parchment stick on one of the loaves but not the other.  This may be a function of the cooker.  The one that did not have parchment issues was cooked in an Emile Henry bread cloche; the other was baked in a Granite Wear cooker.  

Let cool completely and dive in.  

Next time, I will toast my seeds, but for now, I am groovin' on my Treehugger Special!  The porridge is not identifiable on its own, but definitely lends to a creaminess to the crumb.  The crumb is light and delicate, open but not gaping, with seeds suspended throughout.  This makes incredibly flavorsome toast.  I might like some chopped toasted nuts in this as well.  This could (will) be delicious sandwich bread too.  I imagine a hunk of this would be truly satisfying next to a fall stew.  Happy baking!

Comments

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

I love your sense of humour and your write up! And your bread looks scrumptious! Well done!!!

I wish I had read your post before I started my autolyse thus morning as I would have tried adding vital wheat gluten to mine. I did, however, remember to toast my 10 grain cereal and like you, put it in at the beginning with the autolyse. Mine will be baked tomorrow. 

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

This one is a whole meal in itself! And it turned out beautiful too. :)

I'm assuming you put the flours in at the autolyse stage too, right? :D How was the handling? Did the all the add-ins make it wet and slack, or firm and stretchy?

I like how you fit bread into your life; with all those 'other' things going on it's a good thing bread dough is pretty forgiving!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

side which shouts flavor to me!  This bread has to taste as good as it looks.  That crumb is nothing to shack a stick at either.  Great all the way around.

 Well done and happy baking 

Runnerfemme's picture
Runnerfemme

I've only been baking bread since May of this year, so all my bakes are truly a first go for me.  For that reason, all of your comments are so encouraging!  Yes, Lazy Loafer, all of my flours went in with the autolyse.  The dough was very pleasant to handle - not at all too slack.  Very workable and yet just on the side of sticky and moist to be a harbinger of a good, creamy crumb.  Shaping was far easier than I anticipated (having done loaves nearing 90% hydration, this seemed a cinch).  I had just enough flour on hand to keep the shaping taught without adding anything to dry out the dough and without sacrificing the surface tension that comes from shaping with a clean board.  I've gotten better at using my bench scraper to avoid using flour when shaping.  Using the scraper as my hand has been somewhat counterintuitive for me, but I have learned that it really aids in flipping the dough and forming my "envelope" for the pre-shape.  Using it to scoop and stretch out the dough works really well.  I'm hoping I will only get better.  This afternoon, I made my husband a lunch of egg salad and thinly sliced Maryland tomatoes with a grind of pepper on this toasted bread.  Only crumbs and "mmm" were left by the end.  Success!!  I sliced the second loaf and froze it in a good freezer bag, so we can enjoy toast in the coming weeks.  I keep imaging lentil stew with a hunk of this meaty bread along side.  Aaaah, the fall is coming, and I love it!

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

what was your hydration because my dough was super sticky and I ended up using tons of flour to preshape and shape it. Thank goodness for my scraper since I could barely touch it.

My hydration was 75% not counting the water in the 10 grain cereal porridge. The cereal felt pretty dry as I used it but maybe you are right that it releases water when added to the rest. 

The four loaves are proofing in the fridge so baking tomorrow should go okay because the dough will be cold. 

Hopefully, mine turn out as well as yours. 3 are for the soup kitchen and one will go to a friend of my daughter. That one, I will cut up to freeze for her. 

Runnerfemme's picture
Runnerfemme

My hydration was 80% not including the seed soaker and porridge.  My bread was fairly sticky, but not so much that I had to add a lot of flour - although I did flour my hands and the bench scraper, without which i could not have done it.  I bet your loaves will be lovely, as always -- but, even if they are not up to your high standards, the fortunate gift recipients likely will have no earthly idea.  They'll enjoy it all the same.  And you're very generous to give your loaves to the soup kitchen.  I didn't mention this before, but reading that you do that, inspired me this afternoon to take my extra loaf to a local food pantry a few miles from my house.  No one was there to accept it, so I didn't get to leave it, but you started something.  I will for sure donate loaves in the future.  A lovely idea.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

gives me an excuse to bake because there is no way we can eat all the bread that I want to make. This way, I get to play and someone benefits. A win win!

And I am glad I inspired you to donate too. Maybe we can start something. Bake a loaf, give a loaf. ;-)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

a couple of miles away....... and when the freezer gets full they get quite a variety of breads to sample:-)  Bake a loaf, give a loaf sounds great!

Ru007's picture
Ru007

I also love a seedy loaf! Yummy! 

Your loaves look absolutely beautiful. Its so impressive how quickly your loaves have gotten so good since you only started baking in May. My first sourdough loaf was also early this year :) Baking bread is fun isn't it? 

Anyway, enjoy the loaves and happy baking :)

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

to enjoy your write up and photos.  Delightful!  I'm also a secret member of a seedy group of bread makers, perhaps not so secret but nuts... seeds and twigs are stored very close to my bread ingredients.  Such creative names for your loaves!  Treehugger Special is by far one of my favourite names and the loaves are absolutely Beautiful!   

Only since May!  Wow!  Congratulations on the learning curve.  I had better change out of my bathing suit and get busy.  Got that apron here somewhere...  :)

Runnerfemme's picture
Runnerfemme

I love the crunchy nutty bits of bread like this. Thanks for your kindness.  Thank goodness, swimming season is at its end over on my side of the world.  Oh, and pass the butter!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Which one?

Salted?  Unsalted?  or  Chocolat Nut Butter?    :)