idaveindy's blog

Wow. I haven't milled anything since fall 2020. The pandemic, moving during the pandemic, and life's hassles.

Milling is currently a 2 step process for me:

1. Crack the grain in a hand-crank 3-roller Shule brand mill. 
2. Run the cracked grain through a Vitamix blender for 30 seconds.

If I don't crack the grain first, the grain scratches and clouds the plastic container, takes longer to grind, and heats up more.

You can see the Shule "mill" in this other person's blog page:
https://seedforsecurity.com/blog/79
in the first photo. The Shule is the pink box on the left. And it's the mill featured in the 4th photo. Again, that page is not mine. I'm just using it as reference.

Here's the same mill at Amazon, where it goes by the name Norpro:
https://www.amazon.com/Norpro-1056-Grain-Grinder/dp/B001FB59K4

Label from bag: (purchased from www.countrylifefoods.com )

Here's the output of the 3-roller mill in a bag. I think I used setting "1." (Don't hold me to that. I won't be able to verify until the next time I mill, as I might have changed the setting when I cleaned it.) The fines and smaller particles settle to the bottom:

Here's the output of the 3-roller mill next to the whole kernals for size comparison:

Here's what passes through a #20 seive, it has been shaken so that the larger particles float to the top:

Here's a side by side comparison of what is retained in the #20 seive (on the left) with what paases through the #20 seive (on the right):

Jan. 24, 2022.  82nd bake.

Denisa's rye, take 2.  First bake for the Rye Community bake.

Her formula here:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67054/100-whole-grain-rye-sourdough-bread

My previous bake of it here:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69634/78th-bake-01062022-100-rye

The goal is to divide her formula by 3 and make one loaf of about 835 g.

Here's the stone-ground whole rye flour that I used for both the pre-ferment and the final dough:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69305/

Levain:

• 17 g rye starter. 
• 140 g spring water. 
• 140 g whole rye, Malsena brand from Lithuania. 
• 8:45 am to 5:47 pm, at about 71 - 73 F. Levain doubled. Denisa had 10 hours at 70 F.

Final dough:

• All the levain. 
• 242 g bottled spring water. 
• Mixed.
• 5 g salt. 
• 1.5 tsp ground bread spice. The original formula did not call for this. (By volume, prior to toasting: 1 part anise, 1 part fennel, 2 parts caraway, 4 parts coriander. Ground after toasting.)
• 10 g jaggery, plus 6 g water, to substitute for 16 g barley malt syrup.
• Mixed. 
• 275 g whole rye, Malsena brand, mixed in at 6:00 pm.
• Covered with plastic wrap. 

So bulk is about 1 hour, as per Denisa's recipe.

7:00 pm. - Panned, in a Lodge cast iron loaf pan, part # 4LP. Inside coated with butter, and then dusted with corn meal. (Original formula called for butter with AP flour.) Re-covered with the same plastic wrap. 

Here it is immediately after panning:

8:15 pm. Took the loaf pan out of the oven. Started oven preheat to 500 F, highest it will go. Oven is off by 25 F, so 500 on the thermostat setting is 475 F actual.

I forgot to take a photo of it at the end of the proof stage.

I also forgot to put a steam pan in the oven at the beginning of pre-heat. So I applied some water to the top of the loaf, and put on a layer of raw pumpkin seeds to protect the top. 

The paper plate is 9" in diameter.

 

Jan. 21, 2022. 81st bake.

• 200 g BRM stone-ground WW. 
• 51 g Sharbati Gold WW. 
• 50 g Sher Brar whole grain durum, "Fiber Wala." 
• 50 g Golden Temple durum atta, red/white bag. 
• 51 g Gold Medal bread flour. 
• 30 g starter, "Red." 
• 10 g rye starter. 
• 8 g salt. 
• 352 g spring water. 
• 1.5 tsp bread spice. (toasted first, then ground: anise, fennel, caraway, coriander.)  1.5 tsp was the measurement of the gound spices, not the whole spices.

Baked in a Lodge cast iron loaf pan, 4LP.

Jan. 8, 2022. 79th bake.

I bought some "Everything Bagel" seasoning mix, and it made me want to make crackers.

I decided to put the seasoning in the cracker dough, not just press it on top.

Recipe is basically seat-of-my-pants.

• 10 g dry old fashioned rolled oats. 
• 10 g dry quick oats. (Not instant.) 
• 10 g ground flax seed. 
• 5 g dry whole chia seed. 
• 20 g Sharbati whole wheat flour. 
• 48 g whole grain durum flour, Sher Brar Fiber Wala, roller milled. 
• 48 g BRM stone-ground WW. 
• 45 g whole rye flour. 
• 7.9 g (1 tbs) Everything Bagel mix. 
• 135 g water. 
• Mixed, covered, let rest 20 min. 
• 6.4 g grapeseed oil, kneaded in.
• Let rest.

Pre-heated toaster oven to 400 F. 

Rolled out about 2mm thick. Cut into circles.

Baked on pre-heated cast iron griddle in toaster oven @ 400 F, using top and bottom heating elements,  4 minutes per side, 8 minutes total.

Let crackers cool.

Reduced oven  temp to 250 F.

Baked a second time, lower heating element only, 2 minutes per side, 4 minutes total.

The garlic and onion is a bit strong, so I'll use less next time.

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Jan. 6 - 7, 2022.  78th bake.  RYE!  

This will be my first attempt at a 100% rye. I'm kind of following Denisa's post here: 
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67054/100-whole-grain-rye-sourdough-bread

The goal is to divide her formula by 3 and make one loaf of about 835 g.

My first change, due to the fact that I did not plan ahead, and wanted to get started tonight, was that I did not prepare a fully fermented seed. I had a 100% whole rye starter (fully fermented, then put in fridge) going, but yesterday I added enough whole rye (no water) to the cold starter to make it stiff, and put it immediately back in the fridge, so the added flour was/has not fermented.

I intend to make up for that by using 20 g of under-developed stiff starter instead of 16.7 (50 / 3) g of ripe 100% hydration starter. That's just a guess.

I'm also not going to be able to maintain room temp (21 C, 70 F) over-night in the stove with the light on. So, I will need to extend the pre-ferment beyond the 10 hours specified in her formula, and hopefully look for the same development as shown in her video.

Here's the stone-ground whole rye flour that I used for both the pre-ferment and the final dough:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69305/

The pre-ferment, at 7:45 pm: 
    20 g stiff, not fully-developed, rye starter.  (would have been 50/3 = 16.7 g of 100% hydration rye seed/chef/starter.)
  148 g water.  420 / 3, plus extra to bring stiff starter to 100% hydration.
  140 g whole rye flour, stone-ground, Malsena brand.  420 / 3 = 140 g. 

--

Her timings and temperatures: 

• Pre-ferment: 10 hours at 21 C / 70 F. Should see bubbles through glass container.
• Mix. 
• First rise (bulk ferment), 1 hour at 29 C / 84 F. 
• Pan the dough, 2nd rise (proof), 1.5 hours at 29 C / 84 F.  Look for small cracks and pinholes.
• Bake with steam, 15 minutes, at 260 C / 500 F. 
• Remove steam, bake 45 minutes at 200 C / 390 F. 
• Remove from oven, wrap in towels for 24 hours, or a minimum 5 hours.

Jan. 7, 2022.

5:45 am. Checked oven. It was 70 F after all, and the pre-ferment was now at the 2.5 cups mark, and well aerated, so I put it in the fridge.

6:45 am. Took pre-terment out of fridge, now at 2 cups level. Warmed some water and began mixing. 

Final dough: 
  all the pre-ferment. 
  warm water:  725 / 3 = 241 g. 
  whole rye flour: 825 / 3 = 275 g. 
  salt: 15 / 3 = 5 g. 
  honey (or barley malt syrup): 50 / 3 = 16 g. 

7:00 am. Finished mixing. Dough temp = 69.9 F.  Bulk ferment (first rise) in oven, about 29 C / 84 F.

8:00 am. Greased a loaf pan with Crisco shortening (out of butter) and lightly floured it, as per video. (Video specified butter.)

8:07 am. Finished panning the dough. Back in oven, aiming for 84 F air temp.

8:52 am. Start oven pre-heat to 260 C / 500 F.  Hope to be ready by 9:37 am. Yes, I took the proofing dough out of the oven before starting the pre-heat. ;-)

Start bake:

I forgot to take a photo. Top of loaf has some pin-holes. Mostly toward edges. Not as many holes as in Denisa's video, but decided a slight under-fermentation was better than risking a collapse.

9:43 am.  Put loaf in oven. Poured 3/4 cup boiling water in steam pan. Oven thermostat set to 500 F, the highest it goes, but this oven is always low by 25 degrees, according to an oven thermometer, so it's only 475 F.  I'll give it 2 extra minutes to compensate, before lowering temp.

10:00 am. Lower temp to 200 C / 390 F. (415 F setting on my oven.)

Looking for a 95 C / 203 F internal temp according to the video.

10:43 am.  Take out. Internal temp 208.9 F.  The loaf collapsed evenly, and is at least 1/2" lower than when it went in the oven.

Let it sit out about 2 hours to cool. And then put in a plastic bag.

5:15 pm. I couldn't wait, and I cut it open. Crumb is nice, but a little moist. I should have wrapped it in a kitchen towel like Denisa said to in the video.

Crust is thick. Taste is good. I can smell and taste the honey.  I miss the caraway and coriander, so I'll include bread spice next time.

 ---- 

Pre-ferment starter at 1 cup level:

 

Top of pre-ferment, right after mixing:

 

Cold pre-preferment, it shrunk from 2.5 cups to 2 cups while in fridge:

 

Top:

 

Bottom:

 

Side:

 

Jan 4, 2022.

This is a remake of #71, scaled for 3 clay pots (4" diameter at top), but will be baked in regular sized muffin cups.

Soaker: 

• 15 g old fashioned rolled oats. 
• 15 g quick oats. Not instant. 
• 12 g whole chia seeds. 
• 7 g ground flax seeds. (ran out of poppy seeds.) 
• 15 g yellow corn meal. 
• 20 g shredded coconut, unsweetened. 
• 1 tsp whole fennel seeds. 
• 33.3 g powdered instant fat-free milk, Kroger brand. 1/3rd cup.
• 254 g spring water. 

The rest: 

• 50 g WW durum. Roller-milled, Sher Brar Fiber Wala. 
• 110 g Bob's Red Mill stone-ground WW. 
• 50 g Arrowhead Mills organic AP. 
• 30 g almond flour, blanched. 
• 5 g salt. 
• 1-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, Kroger brand. Could have used a tiny bit more. 
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger. 
• 2-1/2 tsp baking powder. 
• Mixed well. Baking powder still clumped a little bit. Should have sifted it. 
• 101 g water. 
• 45 g honey. Should have used more. Used 53 g in #71.
• 20 g peanut oil. 
• 11 g grapeseed oil. 

Used paper cup liners in a 12 cup muffin tin. Filled each paper liner about 75-85% full.

Pre-heated oven to 400 F, with a baking stone on next to lowest rack.

Baked on a rack one space  above the stone (so that the muffin pan did not get direct radiant heat from the lower heating element), at 375 F for 26 min. Internal temp 205 F, and the thermometer probe came out clean.

The dark moist areas did not appear on other mufffins that were cut open after further cooling several hours later. The uneven holes lead me to believe that the baking powder was not evenly distributed.

Crumb looks better the next day:

Dec. 29-30, 2021.

Goals:

• About 1200 g of mostly whole grain dough to fill an 8" inner diameter banneton which matches well with the pot of the 3.2 quart Lodge Combo-cooker.  This is also the maximum size that fits in a 1-gallon zipper seal plastic bag. After the loaf cools (2 hrs), I like to keep it in a plastic bag to soften the crust.
• 25% Malsena brand (Lithuanian) whole rye, 55% BRM stone-ground whole wheat, 5% whole grain durum (roller milled, Sher Brar Fiber Wala), 15% white flour (AP + bread).

----

Dec. 29, 2021. Wednesday.

Soaker:

• 12 g whole dry chia. 
• 40 g water. 
• 1-1/8 tsp whole dry raw (untoasted) caraway. 

This time I implemented two new-to-me things:  1) adding flour to the water, as the Italian bakers and the Ankarsrum users do.  2) sifting the flours into the water to aerate and minimize clumping.

• 508 g bottled spring water in the main mixing bowl. 
• Weighed the following into separate bowls/cups, then sifted them into the main bowl with a #12 sieve: 
• 31 g whole grain roller-milled durum, Sher Brar brand Fiber Wala. I lost my love affair with whole grain durum, and just need to use this up bit by bit.
• 155 g whole rye flour, Malsena brand from Lithuania, purchased from a nearby Russian grocery store. 
• 341 g Bob's Red Mill stone-ground WW hard red wheat. 
• 30 g Arrowhead Mills organic AP flour.  I'm not enamored of this flour either. I only bought it because it was on close-out and ridiculously cheap. But I need to use it up. Just FYI, it is not malted, and my starter did not grow well with it 
• 41.5 g Gold Medal Bread flour. 
• 10.5 g salt. I decided to go lower than 2% due to getting flavoring from the bread spice.  It's a mixture of 2/3 Himalayan pink salt, and 1/3 iodized table salt.
• ---
• Hand mixed to homogeneity. It was rather sticky. 
• Let soak/autolyse from 2:35 pm to about 3:30 pm.
• Around 3:30 pm worked in the soaker. 
• Worked in 44 g of cold 100% hydration starter from 3 sources. 20 g was from a rye starter that I made using my Cultures For Health San Fran Sourdough starter as a seed.  Was going to just use the rye starter and the CHF San Fran starter, but ran too low on the latter. 
• The dough felt a little too loose, so I added 10 g of corn meal when I folded in the 1.5 tsp of bread spice*. I wanted to use 1.75 tsp, but ran out.
• Kneaded some, let ferment, and kneaded every once in a while. Added a little bread flour each time I kneaded because it was sticky.
• 7:30 pm, fold, shape, and put in lined and dusted 8" inner diameter, 8.5" outer diameter banneton. Used a 50/50 mix of AP flour and rice flour for dusting banneton. 

Total calculated weight should be 1213 grams. Less what stuck to hands, plastic gloves, spatula, and bowls. And not counting caraway seeds, bread spice, and bread flour added during kneading. I forgot to weigh dough when I put it in the banneton, and when I took it out of banneton to bake.

---

Dec. 30, 2021.

To be continued.

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* Bread spice: 2 parts by volume whole coriander seed, 1 part fennel seed, 1 part caraway. Roast in a dry pan on stove-top burner until fragant, let cool, grind in a coffee/spice grinder.

---

Note: the paper plate is 9" in diameter.

Gonna try wating 22 hours before cutting open.

Shortcut url: www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69565

Dec 23 - 24, 2021.

Goals:  500 g final dough flour, 60 % BRM WW, 20% whole rye, 20% AP/bread flour.  7% direct starter (not a levain), 3 days since fed. Bulk ferment at room temp. Overnight proof in fridge.

--

12/23/2021.

12:45 pm:  Start soak/autolyse of flour/water/salt.

• 300 g Bob's Red Mill stone-ground WW. 
• 100 g whole rye from Lithuania. 
• 40 g Arrowhead Mills Organic AP. 
• 60 g Gold Medal bread flour. 
• 10 g salt. Mix of Himalayan pink salt and iodized table salt. 
• 425 g spring water. 

Made soaker:

• 10 g whole dry chia seed. 
• 40 g spring water. 
• 1 tsp whole dry raw (ie, not roasted) caraway seed. 

1:30 pm: added, kneaded in, 35 g cold/refrigerated starter, fed 3 days ago. GM bread flour, 100% hydration. 

Total flour: 300 + 100 + 40 + 60 + 17 (starter) = 517 g.

% Whole grain: 400 / 517 = 77%. 

% rye: 100 / 517 = 19%.  

Dough weight: 1020 g, not counting caraway, bread spice, and flax seed.

1:38 pm, kneaded in 1.5 tsp ground roasted bread spice. (by volume, 2 parts whole coriander, 1 part whole caraway, 1 part whole fennel. First roasted in a dry frying pan on stovetop, then cooled, then ground.) 

1:44 pm: kneaded in chia/caraway soaker. 

1:53 pm: kneaded in 1.5 tsp ground flax seed.

3:23 pm: stretch and fold. 

4:30 pm: stretch and fold. 

5:30-ish pm: stretch and fold. 

6:00 pm: Shape, put in dusted/lined banneton, 8" inner diameter at rim. 

6:05 pm: cover banneton with plastic film and rubber band, put in plastic grocery sack, and into fridge.

--

12/24/2021.

Oven and 3.2 qt Lodge combo-cooker preheated to 470 F.  Baked in the deep part.

Did not warm up the dough, baked it cold. 

9:33am: bake covered, 450 F, 10 min. 

9:43am: bake covered, 425 F, 10 min. 

9:53am:  bake covered, 400 F, 10 min. 

10:03am: uncover and bake uncovered, 375 F, 10 min. 

10:13am: internal temp 208.0 F, bake uncovered, 375 F, 10 min. 

10:23am: internal temp 209.4 F, bake uncovered, 375 F, 8 min. 

10:31am: intenral temp 209.1 F.  Bottom thumps well. Call it done. 

Let it cool 1.5 hours. Then put in plastic bag for the rest of the day. 

7:47 pm. Was going to let it sit overnight too, but I couldn't resist. Crumb was overly moist, but taste was great.  Other than the moisture, the crumb is perfect for me.

12/25/2021. 

AM: Tastes even better. Wow. Still a tad too moist. Should have let it sit more prior to bagging, and maybe baked longer, or let it sit in the cooling-down oven with door open.   

The soaked chia seeds added too much water, as the dough seemed about at a good hydration at the time I added the soaker.

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Short url: www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69533

Dec. 18, 2021. 74th bake.

A remake of #72.  

I think the rye is detracting a bit from the sweetness, so next time I'll leave it out and increase the durum, BRM WW, and AP flours.