Soaking seeds, process?
Sourdough Pals:
I had an earlier thread about increasing fiber in my bread. I decided to go with 50% whole wheat and 50% white. I then decided to add seeds. Now, I typically make 2 loaves with about 1000 gm of flour. I used this time an additional 200 gm of seeds, with 100 gm being raw sunflower seeds, 50 gm raw flax seeds, and 50 gm whole sesame seeds with hulls on. That calculates to around 3.8 gm fiber per slice of my bread, which is pretty good. I had read in some recipes that soaking the seeds overnight is the way to go. So, I put the 200 gm of seeds into a bowl and filled with water. The next morning when I made the bread I drained the water, and weighed the mixture. Amazingly the seeds had imbibed 300 gm of water to a total of 500 gm! So, I made the bread, and reduced the water a tiny bit, but the dough was pretty slack. Still manageable with care, and the bread is truly delicious with a nice crumb, although a bit undercooked. Still quite delicious, and the seeds added great flavor and gave a nice texture. So, going forward I plan to soak the seeds with 300 gm water, and use a bit less water in my dough, and cook a little longer.
But I am curious as to how others do this. Some recipes call for 200 gm seeds soaked in like 100 gm water. It would seem to me that the seeds would be tooth breakers under that circumstance, especially the flax seeds!
Thoughts?
This is how I handle seed soakers. Put your bowl or pot on your scale and tare it out. Add the required weight in seeds, then tare the scale out again. Now add as much water as you want, the amount is up to you. For example let’s say to have 300g seeds and 300g water. If you use a warm or hot soaker water will be lost through evaporation. Even a cool soaker generally losses a little water.
When you prepare to start your final mix weigh the soaker and subtract the weight of your seeds. This will be the actual amount of water you are bringing into the dough. Adjust your final dough water accordingly. I know it’s a little anal, but that’s how I roll...
May I suggest a great seeded loaf that is a favorite of many bakers on this site? See this link. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/59038/community-bake-hamelmans-fivegrain-levain
Danny
OK, That is interesting. But is there a one to one correspondence to the water? I mean, doesn't quite a bit of it stay in the seeds and not affect the dough? For example, my 1000 gm of flour uses 710 gm of water. If I have 300 gm of water in the seeds, I should think my dough would be really dry if I only added an additional 410 of water. I will check the recipe you linked. Thanks!
Sunflower seeds soak up little water and the same with sesame seeds, flax on the other hand forms a gel around the outside of the seed, it can hold 3 to 4 times the weight of the seed and gives it back to the dough during baking. Flax seeds can also be slippery little things so I tend to add them dry and not soak them. I will add some extra water to the dough which usually disappears in the first half hour and makes for a stiffer, easier to handle dough but keep in mind the water is still available and will be used during the bake. A stiff dough will not translate into a dry loaf.
If I was adding your 200g of seeds, 100 sunflower might get washed and drained well in a sieve to remove dust and rocks, the 50g sesame too if the seeds are big enough not to fall thru the sieve. Then run the 50g flax thru my coffee grinder or blender to break up the seed hulls coarsely and add them all into the dough without soaking. I would double the weight of the flax to calculate extra water and give that carefully to the recipe dough. So only an extra 100g water, tops, bake the bread and then judge if more or less water is needed for the next loaf.
Mini
Mini’s information shows that there are many variances in the water retention of various seeds. For this reason a known good formula, such as one above is a good starting point.
As far nutrition, it is my understanding that flax seeds should be crushed or broken for better digestion.
OH! Good question about your example in your initial reply to me. In a case where a known good formula is not used, I would do the following. Use my initial advice, then mix the dough only until there is no dry flour. Rest the covered dough for 20 minutes. Continue kneading and slowly add water until you get the consistency (hydration) desired. If you write down the weight of the extra water, you can add that weight to your original water. Now you have a formula that is reproducible.
Determining the amount of residual water is a soaker is most important when using a hot soaker because of evaporation. Many people don’t go to the trouble to do this, but as I said, “I am anal” :-D
Danny
You guys are the best. Great information here!
Thanks so much for this reply. Just the kind of information I am looking for. I will try this.