The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Friendship Loaf..

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Friendship Loaf..

The friendship loaf is from the Sarah Owens "Sourdough" bread book. 

I baked this about two weeks ago for Danni3II3, but I 'cooked' my starter by leaving it in too hot a spot. I was in a rush and wanted it to hurry along. I thought I could salvage it and went on to bake, but I gave Danni a dud.  Rushing is never a good idea!

So this past weekend, I gave it another go. This loaf has bread flour, dark rye, whole wheat and buckwheat flour (just a pinch). It went through a 32 hour cold retard in the fridge and I baked it early Tuesday morning before work. The crust is soft and a bit chewy. It's not chewy in a bad way, just not something I normally get from my bakes. I think it's because it only gets baked 12 minutes without the lid on the DO. I checked the internal temp when I pulled it out, and it was at about 200.  The aroma is mild, nutty and a bit sweet. The flavour of the crumb is very subtle - a change from the high whole wheat content breads I've been eating of late that really pack a flavour punch!  And it was soft too (somewhere between a normal loaf and a loaf with a fair amount of spelt).  Hydration is high at about 82% but the bread isn't at all too moist. The dough had a very silky feel to it. I gave it a four hour autolyse too. It's a nice bread. I'd make it again, but change up the flour mix to give it a bit more bold flavour punch.

I've never baked with buckwheat flour before this bread - for those of you that have or do, what does it taste like, or do to your bread?.  With about 880g of flour and only 25g of buckwheat in the recipe, I'm not sure I get the point of adding it. I couldn't discern anything particularly unique that would make me think "ahh.. buckwheat".. or am I missing it?

With that.. Danni33 - I'll keep enjoying this for you... and thanks again!

 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

And the crumb looks just scrumptious! For me, buckwheat bring a nutty flavour to the bread but that might be because I toast it before adding it to the bread. Your other loaf did look and smell amazing. I am glad this one worked out to your satisfaction.

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Funny you should ask - I just baked a batch of Buckwheat Cranberry sourdough this morning! The bread ends up quite moist and the buckwheat adds a lovely earthy, slightly sweet taste and a nice colour. There is a total of about 20% buckwheat flour and 80% bread flour in this one - half of the buckwheat flour is in the levain.

bread1965's picture
bread1965

That's a good idea. I should make a loaf with only buckwheat and bread flour. And maybe use the same ratio of buckwheat and bread flours for my levain. The question then would be, is there an upper limit to how much buckwheat I could use as a percent of total flour? Any thoughts? That would make buckwheat the star and help me understand that flour more.. Thanks for the inspiration!

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

since buckwheat has no gluten whatsoever. I believe that it was LazyLoafer who pushed it to 7.5% and she was successful with it.

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I have a recipe from Emmanuel Hadjiandreou (from "How to Make Sourdough") that uses only buckwheat flour, water, salt and a buckwheat sourdough starter. I've never tried it as I've never been able to successfully culture a pure buckwheat starter, but apparently it's possible! He says it is batter rather than dough and bakes it much like a 100% rye, high-hydration loaf in a pan.

Daniel Leader also has a Buckwheat batard in "Local Breads" but it is only 10% buckwheat flour.

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Thanks for the information. Maybe I should buy some buckwheat groats, toast them, and then eat them. I think that would give me a sense of them (to understand their flavour profile) in a way that maybe baking wouldn't provide. I'll look up those recipes and post if I ever bake them..

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

I add buckwheat groats (? I am not sure about terminology)  to my multigrain bread but haven't tried using the flour so that is one more on the list to try.   it sounds like a great combo of flours. lovely bake Bread1965

Leslie

bread1965's picture
bread1965

I haven't tried "groats".. I keep seeing people adding them to their breads.. I should give that a try, and you the flour.. Lots of breads on my bread bucket list! It keeps getting longer! Thank you - bake happy!

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

I can see why you went back to it again, and came out with such a great result!

One of the easiest ways that I have found to "test out" the flavour profile of a non-gluten flour is to make a tiny batch of simple muffins, using half AP and half the flour I want to try.  I'll taste them over a few days sliced open with different fillings or toppings, to get a feel for what sweet or savoury additions it would work with.

I personally find buckwheat to be somewhat bitter and "earthy", and well suited to heavy flavourings like gingerbread.  I always like to include it when I'm using pumpkin or butternut squash, and I really like it with savoury Asian spices. 

Have fun finding some new combinations that you really like!

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Another good idea.. thank you for the idea and your comments!!

Flour.ish.en's picture
Flour.ish.en

is one of my favorite grains to play around with. I use it to make crepes, waffles, tart shells, cookies and of course, bread. Buckwheat crepes are hard to beat. About the only thing I haven't done (on my list) is to add buckwheat flour to make pasta or noodle.

They are all doable, but somewhat more tricky with bread. However, I have sprouted the grain to make sprouted buckwheat bread, up to 30% of flour weight. Buckwheat imparts a mellow earthy flavor and a darker color to the bread, which I like. The image of this bread (https://www.everopensauce.com/caramelized-onion-levain-bread-bbb/) with a 15% percentage of buckwheat is haunting; I can't think of a better word. But this is not a bread that I can easily forget. You felt less gluten in your hand, fermentation schedule was shorter and it kept you on edge the whole time. You just don't know what to expect. Like having an unpredictable and temperamental friend around in your kitchen. But the end result was stunning.

We should all bake more friendship breads! It's lovely.

bread1965's picture
bread1965

There's something to be said about seeing the words haunting and bread in the same sentence. The idea of having your memory being haunted by an image of bread is irresistible.. I'm like "I want some of what she's got!" :) 

Will definitely have to move buckwheat up the bread bucket list to see if it makes feel the same way! 

But who am I kidding? I just had a late lunch of toasted friendship loaf with tomato salad and some marinated eggplant (and copious amounts of drizzled olive oil I might add), and was overwhelmed by how good it was three days later.. the truth is, all good sourdough bread makes me gasp and grin.. !

Rake_Rocko's picture
Rake_Rocko

That's a fantastic looking loaf! Love how you can clearly see the whole grains in it! As far as buckwheat goes, I've been playing around with fresh milled sprouted buckwheat myself in the past few bakes. Ive found that 5% is a good percentage like Danni suggested above, not only for lack of gluten in the buckwheat, but also for flavor and aroma. For me, anything greater than 5% gets a little strong. To me, the earthy-ness is overwhelming above 5%. It gets almost grassy/dirt smelling (hence the "earthy" haha) but its just a bit much for me. 5% is at that threshold though and I really adore buckwheat. I think that at 25 grams (2.5% ish?) that would work wonders. With buckwheat, a little goes a really long way.

eric

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Thank you - I was smelling the bread at lunch trying to think through what it reminded me of.. I kind of get the grassy description  a little bit.. definitely earthy.. can't totally put my finger on it..   I'll bring the buckwheat up to 5% to amplify the aroma to help me better understand it, and then dial it back going forward..

breadandwonderment's picture
breadandwonderment

I make this often- it's become a favorite at our house! It makes such a nice sandwich bread-I particulary love it for a tomato sandwich. --

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Great crust and crumb and it must taste fantastic.