No Knead Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
I'm an Aussie Grey Nomad (retired and travelling Australia in my RV) and have followed No Knead methods and recipes since I became interested in bread making.
Because we are on the road with limited storage space I do not have a Stand Mixer nor a large Food Processor and that's how I found No Knead bread. Time is my friend and the greatest friend of No Knead exponents.
Recently I had dinner with my sister and she produced a Multigrain bread that was to die for - Peter Reinhart's Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire (MBE). She prepared and cooked it as per his formula.
She has all the gear, Dough Hook and even a steam oven (boy are those things expensive).
Well, I fell in love with this bread, the crumb is perfect, the taste divine and as toast it has no equal that I've tried.
So I tried Peters formula for MBE (then ditched the dough) and altered it to reduce the amount of sweetener (the original has 2.5 ounces of brown sugar/honey) and fluid (from 10 ounces of combined water and buttermilk to 7 ounces). I use a 14% protein bread flour and, with the original weight (I prepare by weight, not volume, other than salt and yeast) my dough was more like a thick pancake batter. I threw it out as it was un-kneadable.
Started again with the reduced quantities and it was still very sloppy, a la no knead dough. I have a repairing broken shoulder and found the hand kneading required to get the dough to the right consistency took about 45 minutes - ridiculous and painful after using no knead for 2 years.
The finished product was good, just not as good as Jen's.
So, No electric means of mixing/ kneading plus a bad shoulder means I need to try a no knead version of this recipe.
What would I need to do to convert Peter's recipe to a No Knead version of the same thing; attempting to retain the same/similar ingredients, albeit quantities altered?
I've pasted Peter's recipe below
I would really appreciate some advice!
regards
Mike
Peter Reinhart's Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
"Tweaked formula for Multigrain Extraordinaire (BBA)
Multigrain soaker:
50% polenta
37.5% rolled oats
25% wheat bran
100% water
Final dough
100% Bread Flour
23.5% multigrain soaker
5.9% brown rice
4.1% brown sugar
2.2% salt
1.9% yeast
23.5% buttermilk
5.9% honey
35.3% water
This formula makes an excellent dough that needs very little flour on the bench when shaping. It's not as
sweet as the original, which was much too sweet for my taste.
DAYS TO MAKE: 2
Day 1: 5 minutes soaker
Day 2: 10 to 15 minutes mixing; 3 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 20 to 60 minutes baking
I am always exploring the multigrain genre in a never-ending quest for better and better ways to deliver
nutritious bread in a delicious package. Adapting some of the advanced concepts we’ve discussed, such as the
soaker technique, to activate enzymes and break out natural sugars seems a natural progression. This is a
variation of perhaps my best-known bread, struan, whose flavor in the original version I thought impossible to
top. This version preserves that flavor and opens up possibilities for grain variations not possible with the
direct-dough technique of the original struan, as described in Brother Juniper’s Bread Book and Bread Upon the
Waters. Substituting, for instance, millet, quinoa, amaranth, or buckwheat for the corn or oats (or simply adding
them to the blend) can be accomplished with the soaker method without pre-cooking those grains.
I say this with the confidence born of hundreds of customer testimonials: this bread and its variations make
the best toast in the world. Because it is sweetened with both honey and brown sugar, it caramelizes quickly,
both while baking and especially when toasting. The many grains hold moisture so that, while the slices crisp
up when toasted, they also retain a moist sweetness. The flavors marry extremely well with mayonnaise-based
sandwich fillings, such as egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, and BLTs. I nearly always top the loaves with
poppy seeds because they add a complementary appearance and taste and look more attractive than, say,
sesame seeds. The dough can be formed into rolls and freestanding loaves for specific applications, but I
believe that the most perfect use of this bread is either for sandwiches or toast (or even better, toasted
sandwiches).
Makes one 2-pound loaf or 6 to 12 rolls
SOAKER
3 tablespoons (1 ounce) coarse cornmeal (also packaged as “polenta”), millet, quinoa, or amaranth
3 tablespoons (.75 ounce) rolled oats or wheat, buckwheat, or triticale flakes
2 tablespoons (.25 ounce) wheat bran
¼ cup (2 ounces) water, at room temperature
DOUGH
3 cups (13.5 ounces) unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
3 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) brown sugar
1½ teaspoons (.38 ounce) salt
1 tablespoon (.33 ounce) instant yeast
3 tablespoons (1 ounce) cooked brown rice
1½ tablespoons (1 ounce) honey
½ cup (4 ounces) buttermilk or milk
¾ cup (6 ounces) water, at room temperature
About 1 tablespoon poppy seeds for topping (optional)
1. On the day before making the bread, make the soaker. Combine the cornmeal, oats, and bran with the water
in a small bowl. The water will just cover the grain, hydrating it slightly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and
leave it at room temperature overnight to initiate enzyme action.
2. The next day, to make the dough, stir together the flour, brown sugar, salt, and yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or
in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the soaker, rice, honey, buttermilk, and water. Stir (or mix on low speed
with the paddle attachment) until the ingredients form a ball. Add a few drops of water if any of the flour
remains separate.
3. Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin to knead (or mix on medium
speed with the dough hook). Knead for about 12 minutes (or mix for 8 to 10 minutes on medium-low speed),
sprinkling in flour if needed to make a dough that is soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. The individual
ingredients will homogenize into the greater dough, disappearing to an extent, and the dough will smooth out
and become slightly shiny. (If you are using an electric mixer, hand knead the dough for a minute or two at the
end.) The dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77° to 81°F. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the
dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and press it by hand into a rectangle about ¾ inch thick, 6 inches wide,
and 8 to 10 inches long. Form it into a loaf, or into another desired shape. Place the loaf into a lightly oiled 9
by 5-inch loaf pan, or onto a sheet pan lined with baking parchment if you are making rolls or freestanding
loaves. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle on the poppy seeds. Mist again, this time with spray
oil, and loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap or a towel.
6. Proof for approximately 90 minutes, or until the dough nearly doubles in size. If you are using a loaf pan, the
dough should crest fully above the lip of the pan, doming about 1 inch above the pan at the center.
7. Preheat the oven to 350°F with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes. Small rolls probably will be finished at this point. For everything else, rotate the
pan 180 degrees and continue baking for another 15 minutes for freestanding loaves and 20 to 40 minutes for
loaf-pan bread. The bread should register at least 185° to 190°F in the center, be golden brown, and make a
hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.
9. When the loaves are finished baking, remove them immediately from the pans and cool on a rack for at least
1 hour, preferably 2 hours, before slicing or serving.
COMMENTARY
If you do not have wheat bran on hand, you can sift whole-wheat flour through a fine sieve and extract the
bran. The flour that sifts through can be used in rye breads or in pain de campagne (or it can be stirred back
into the whole-wheat flour).
This formula uses such a small amount of cooked rice that it’s hardly worth cooking it just for the bread (unless
you are making a larger batch of bread than this version). I suggest making brown rice for a meal and holding
some back for special uses like this bread. You can keep it refrigerated for up to 4 days (any longer and it
develops enzyme characteristics detrimental to the dough development), or freeze it in small packets for use
over the next 6 months. You can also substitute cooked white or wild rice, but brown rice blends in the best.
You can leave out the milk altogether and replace it with an equal amount of water. The bread will be slightly
chewier and lighter in appearance without milk, as the milk not only tenderizes and enriches the dough, but
also adds a small amount of lactose sugar that helps caramelize the crust.
BAKER’S PERCENTAGE FORMULA
Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
% SOAKER
Cornmeal 50
Rolled oats 37.5
Wheat bran 12.5
Water 100
Total 200
DOUGH
Soaker29.6
High-gluten flour100
Brown sugar11.1
Salt2.8
Instant yeast2.4
Brown rice7.4
Honey7.4
Buttermilk29.6
Water44.4
Total234.7"