I love a seedy, nutty loaf. A dear, old friend of mine would have teased me by calling this a "sticks and leaves" loaf. Mind you, he was the one with the Birkenstocks, but I digress. This Treehugger Special was inspired by my taste for heavily seeded, toothsome loaves, as well as my curiosity about porridge breads. (Oh, and I bought a bag of buckwheat flour that I really wanted to experiment with -- I'm a newbie to buckwheat. A nubuck. I won't quit my day job.) I've read many an Ode to Oat paying homage to Robertson's oat porridge loaf. People wax on about the dreamy quality of a porridge loaf crumb using words like "custardy" and "cloud like." I was also careful to take stock of the lessons of others and their reports of too-slack doughs attributed to an 11th hour surprise release of water from the cooked porridge. (I imagine a bowl of polenta donning a mini party hat blowing an unfurling paper horn and squeeking, "surprrriiiise!") Others have lamented the challenge of working a cooled porridge, much thicker in its cool state than when fresh off the stove, into a dough post-autolyse. So, it's a long weekend. My husband is a willing guinea pig. I have a toaster. I have butter. I ask you: What else could a girl need to launch into a Treehugger Special? So, off I went.
One warning before you proceed: when baking bread for "just me", I am far more permissive with the "a little of this, a little of that" muscle. If this doth offend thee, shield your eyes now. I can't be held responsible.
200g EACH of Arrowmills organic buckwheat flour, One Degree organic sprouted spelt flour, KAF organic whole wheat flour, KAF Artisan Bread flour, KAF bread flour.
4 TBL (1/4c) vital wheat gluten http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/vital-wheat-gluten-16-oz
1TBL diastatic malt powder http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/diastatic-malt-powder-4-oz-jar
2TBL wildflower honey (eyeballed)
1 cup (eyeballed; measured dry) Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal
1/2 cup (eyeballed) KAF Harvest Grains Blend (whole oat berries, millet, rye flakes, wheat flakes, flax seed, poppy seed, sesame seed, and sunflower seed) http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/harvest-grains-blend-2-lb
300g 50/50 spelt/rye starter - very bubbly and strong and at 80-85% hydration (consistency of thick cake batter)
800g water (about 80-90 degrees) - (Note that this water measurement does NOT include water used for porridge or soaker)
24g fine sea salt
Method:
Cover seed/grain blend in hot or boiling water. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 2 hours (or up to overnight if you like); drain if needed. I planned to toast my seeds first and, in my excitement, forgot. I imagine it would really deepen the flavors of this loaf.
Cook cereal to a thick consistency and cool completely. I added enough water - straight from the tap - to cover the cereal, stirred it in until it was the consistency of pancake batter, and microwaved it uncovered on high for 2 minutes. Stirred it again, covered with plastic wrap and let cool while I ran errands for a few hours ... Imprecise, yes, but easy.
Combine: all flour, honey, 800g water, cooled porridge, seed/grain blend, VWG, diastatic malt powder. Autolyse for 2-3 hours. I decided to add my porridge and seeds at this stage primarily because of the "baking for just me" factor, but also because I was hopeful I might get a truer read on the dough hydration/slackness if I threw all my water-logged ingredients in the pool from the start. My thinking was that perhaps the unwelcome surprise water release experienced by others may have something to do with flours still being thirsty even post-autolyse. Maybe the whole grain flours draw out some moisture from the cooked porridge. Then again, under that theory, the flours should then absorb the porridge release, so that's probably bunk logic. Whatever. My instinct said throw it all in. So I did.
Post autolyse, add starter and salt. Pinch starter and salt into dough completely. Cover and stash somewhere warm-ish (75-80 degrees) for the bulk fermentation. Do 4 stretch-and-folds every 30-45 minutes; letting the dough rest for the balance of the bulk fermentation. You can complete bulk fermentation on the countertop for a total of (approximately) 4-5 hours (or until whenever you say it's done!); or, following S&Fs, bulk fermentation can be completed in the refrigerator. I did only 3 stretch-and-folds spaced at about 45-37-30 minutes. No precision there - too busy retrieving my dog from the neighbors' yard and getting sucked into a movie. I would have done more S&Fs, but we had to go to a wedding rehearsal and dinner, so after my 3 S&Fs, I popped the dough into the fridge to complete its bulk fermentation.
Post bulk fermentation, divide and pre-shape. Let rest for 20-30 minutes seam down on lightly floured surface. Mine rested only 20 minutes; and I didn't even bother to cover them, the poor things.
Following bench rest, do your final shape magic. Turn seam side down into rice flour dusted baskets/bannetons. Cover with plastic. Retard in fridge overnight. For decoration and experimentation, I lined one of my bannetons with linen, leaving the other bare. I dusted both bannetons with rice flour and scattered oats into both. Mine retarded for about 10 hours.
Preheat oven to 500 for 60-90 minutes with covered cookers in the oven. Dust bottoms of loaves (the side facing up while the loaves are still in their bannetons) with flour or cornmeal, turn out onto parchment, score, and get the babies into their cookers. Reduce oven temperature to 475 and bake for 35 minutes. Take the tops off the cookers, reduce temp to 450, and bake another 10-12 minutes. Crack the oven door and bake for another 5-10 minutes. I did not dust my loaves sufficiently with flour before turning out onto my parchment and had some parchment stick on one of the loaves but not the other. This may be a function of the cooker. The one that did not have parchment issues was cooked in an Emile Henry bread cloche; the other was baked in a Granite Wear cooker.
Let cool completely and dive in.
Next time, I will toast my seeds, but for now, I am groovin' on my Treehugger Special! The porridge is not identifiable on its own, but definitely lends to a creaminess to the crumb. The crumb is light and delicate, open but not gaping, with seeds suspended throughout. This makes incredibly flavorsome toast. I might like some chopped toasted nuts in this as well. This could (will) be delicious sandwich bread too. I imagine a hunk of this would be truly satisfying next to a fall stew. Happy baking!