Cranberry, pumpkin seed & oatmeal loaf
A bread to use up some ingredients I had in the cupboard... I'm actually not a big fan of cranberries, but I had made a promise to an Italian friend for mince pies with homemade filling, and they were left over. (Also left over from the mincemeat is 3/4 of a bottle of brandy hooray).
I made a large loaf, unwise perhaps as I won't have much help eating it.
i built a levain the night before, with 30g starter, 200g water, 90g whole rye and 60g whole wheat. I also toasted 100g of coarse oatmeal and soaked with 60g cranberries in 150g nearly boiling water.
the next morning I added:
190g water
380g strong white bread flour
70g whole rye
and left to autolyse for an hour.
Then added the oatmeal, cranberries and salt and pinched in (tearing the dough a lot!)
I added pumpkin seeds as a last minute thought in the second and third of 6 stretch and folds. The dough was still tearing, but gaining strength too.
I left to prove in the fridge for 7 hours in the fridge while I went out, then 2 hours at room temperature.
shaped and put in a makeshift banneton for another 1 1/2 hours, then baked inside the Dutch oven until it reached 94c.
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the crust on this bread is totally delicious, with the very toasted oatmeal stuck on the outside.
Inside, it is only very mildly sour (it was rushed & no space in the fridge to retard overnight). I think it is slightly bland and needed more salt (I used about 11g) and maybe a bit of honey. Next time I would like to use rolled oats, but less, to help with the dough and crumb structure. It would be nice with chopped dried cherries or raisins (I prefer either to cranberries).
Still, I am improving with every loaf, and this one is very good with cheese or peanut butter.
Comments
That looks like a very nice loaf! I include my add-ins right from the start to prevent that tearing you experienced but I must admit that this practice is unconventional. I just finds it works for me.
Do you manage to develop the gluten as well including add-ins from the beginning? I will have to try that next time I do a loaf with a lot to mix in!
It works better for me that way. The last time I included add-ins later, the dough was so stiff while mixing in the rest of the stuff that It ended up tearing and I baked bricks. A lot of the hydration was in the add-ins so the remaining water was not enough to make the dough supple enough to fold it nicely. You will find what works for you.
You might find that you can actually get add-ins well and evenly incorporated just using stretch-and-folds (with no pinching in), as you did with the pumpkin seeds. I generally put stuff in on the second round of S-F, and by the 4th round everything is pretty evenly mixed, and there is little or no tearing of the dough. I notice, though, that there will be more tearing in a lower hydration formula (65-68%) than in higher ones.
For the sour, you might want to try dropping the amount of prefermented flour (ie. using a smaller levain). I find that, depending on room temperature, going down to 5-10% prefermented flour gives me more fermenting time, and thus more sour flavour. I also find fermenting or proofing at a higher temperature (around 84 deg F) is ideal for higher acid production, even if this does somewhat speed up fermentation.
Sorry to hear that you're not a big cranberry fan, but it looks to me like you learned a ton on this loaf so your next version with a fruit that you like more will be truly spectacular. Nice job!
I felt that the flavour was better developed & it was really lovely. But the next one I will try with a smaller levain, because I do enjoy the sourness. Thanks for the advice! I didn't go for a really high hydration here because I was worried about how much water would come out of the oats. I just need to eat it all up now so I can keep playing and see what works best. :D