Seedy Whole Wheaty Sourdough
I haven't been able to get pumpkin and sunflower seeds out of my head since Franko posted about the combination here [1]. In the end I went in a little different direction, using 25% whole wheat instead of rye and adding flax seeds. No special reason for either change - the flax seeds just happened to be beside the other seeds in the freezer, so in they went, and I've been on a light whole wheat kick lately that isn't quite out of my system. So, I came up with this:
The pumpkin and sunflower seeds were toasted in the oven at 375ºF for 6-7 minutes. The flax seeds were soaked in all the cold water they could absorb for about 8 hrs. I drained the flax seeds before adding them to the dough so the water used does not figure into the formula at all. I should note that the weight in the formula is the dry weight of the flax seeds. I didn't think to weigh them after the soak... hmm... throws my formula off, doesn't it... sorry, too late now. Between the toasted seeds and the wet flax I think I came out about even on the hydration.
For the final dough the white flour and water were autolysed for 20 minutes. The starter and salt were then added. I kneaded until the WW starter and white flour portion were fully incorporated. Easy to see because of the color difference. Then I added all of the seeds by flattening out the dough, spreading the seed mixture over it and folding repeatedly. When it turned into a sticky mess with seeds falling out everywhere I gave it a five minute rest. It behaved much better after the rest and I kneaded another minute or two until everything was evenly incorporated. The dough was given 3 S&F's at about 45 minute intervals before I went to bed.
The weather had turned chilly so I decided to use an overnight bulk ferment in one of the cooler corners of my house. That corner turned out to be considerably cooler than I expected and by morning was 42ºF. Oops. So much for shaping the dough first thing in the morning! It took a couple of hours more in a warm place before it looked even close to ready . Probably could have used longer but I was tired of waiting.
Final proof was about 3 hrs (75ºF - 80ºF). I baked at 450ºF for 15 minutes with steam, then about 40 minutes at 410ºF.
The result was delicious! The smell filled the house and was almost too much to bear. The "bread" turned out mild and tasty but the seeds are, of course, front and center. I mixed a little honey and butter "just to see how it would go with the bread" and went weak in the knees. More seeds please!
Marcus