July 28, planned bake #2: 100% Whole Wheat

While it's not my husband's favourite, I definitely have a soft spot for a 100% whole "wheat" bread.  I use the loose definition of "wheat" to include spelt, khorasan (Kamut), durum, and the modern hard red and soft white varieties, and like to mix them up for their various flavours and what they bring to the dough.

My "wheat" starter is durum, so I built the levain entirely with fresh milled whole durum, using the really warm days leading up to my planned bake day.  I didn't plan on needing much, since this was to be a smaller loaf, mostly for myself.

I also wanted this to be a "learning loaf", so planned on taking the hydration up past my comfort zone, and see how it felt.

LEVAIN: Start with 4g of 60% hydration durum starter, and feed up to 95g total at 90% hydration (50g whole durum + 45g water). Use about 2 hours after peak.

AUTOLYSE:
Mix 150g whole kamut, 115g whole soft white, 100g whole hard red, and 85g spelt with 350g water. Allow to rest covered for 2 hours.

MAIN DOUGH:
Add levain and 10g salt to autolyse, and mix until fully incorporated. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

Knead until gluten feels about mid development (300 turns), adding water until it feels "right". Added 35g water during kneading. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

Knead again until dough feels smooth, then transfer to clear fermenting container. Do 4 sets of stretch-and-fold (every 30 minutes for 2 hours), then refrigerate overnight.

SHAPE & PROOF:
Pull dough from refrigerator when it is fully fermented (light, airy, some bubbles on top). Transfer to clean work surface, and pre-shape in to tight boule. Cover and bench rest for 30-60 minutes.

Lightly flour work surface and top of dough, then flip, de-gas as much as possible, and stitch then roll in to final loaf shape. Transfer to banneton with damp towel on top to proof.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees with roaster inside.

If dough has over-proofed while oven was heating, then dump back out on to lightly floured work surface, de-gas, and re-shape in to loaf.  Return to banneton to rise yet again.

When loaf is fully proofed, score and transfer to roaster. Cover and bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes, until internal temperature is 202 degrees.

Fully cool on rack before covering. If crust feels dry, then store in sealed plastic bag.  If crust has dampish feel to it, then store wrapped in clean cotton towel.  Do not slice until next day.

This was a fun loaf to play with, since it LOVED the heat on the 27th "mixing day", when it was about 29 deg C in my kitchen.  The dough was practically leaping upwards during the stretch-and-folds, so I made a point of really punching it down before putting it in to the deepest, coldest part of the fridge.

It was massively active by morning, even though I left it in the fridge for the whole time that I was getting the porridge loaf shaped and proofed, and managed to seem over-proofed in the banneton by the time the oven got back up to temp after the porridge loaf was done.  It was so bubbly and wobbly that I dumped it back out on the counter, beat the gas out of it, re-shaped it again, and the let it sit for only about 15 minutes before it hit the heat.

As you can see by the funky holes in the crumb, I didn't get the big bubbles beaten out nearly as much as I thought I had, but - well, it still tastes fantastic and I just have to keep the mustard away from the holes...

All in all, lots of fun and lots of learning.  It's not a pretty loaf, by any means, but that doesn't make it any less fun or delicious...