The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Maurizio's Oatmeal Porridge Bread

justkeepswimming's picture
justkeepswimming

Maurizio's Oatmeal Porridge Bread

This is my first time making a porridge bread. They always looked more challenging than I was ready to tackle. After reading the entire previous CB that featured this bread (read it several times, lol), I decided to go ahead and give it a try.

Levain:

75 gm, half bread flour, half WW, 100% hydration (9 gm seed culture)

Oat soaker:

125 gm oats (home flaked)

250 gm h2o

Pinch of salt

Dough:

350 gm bread flour

150 gm whole wheat (home milled, hard white wheat)

375 gm water - held back 25 gm

75 gm levain

11 gm salt

Added levain to mixing bowl, then added water and mixed til levain dissolved.

Added flours, mixed to shaggy mass, then rested (covered) 1 hr. 

Boiled water and poured over oats, allowed to soak x 10 min. Much of water was soaked up - added10 gm of held back water and cooked oats slowly (about 12 min), covered and cooled to 85F. Oats were more of a thick paste than creamy, wondered if it was a mistake to not use commercial oats. 

After 1 hour dough rest, added salt and 10 gm held water, mixed til sticky.

Transferred to bulk container and rested 30 min. Folded porridge in slowly (was certain my oat choice was a mistake and no way they would disperse evenly - and then they did). Rested 10 min, then began first S&F sets every 30 min.  

S&F every 30 min. X 6, then rest 1-2 hrs. (Me, bulk may finish fast w warm temp and fresh milled flour). After 2 sets of S&F, swapped ti coil folds x 3 sets total. Dough was extensible and not as slack as I had been reading. It wasn't tight either, but would firm up sine with each set of folds. Total bulk time 3.5 hours. Dough was getting puffy but wasn't jiggly yet, I think it would have benefitted from a little longer bulk. But it was getting late and time for bed.

Turned dough out onto floured surface, sprinkled top with flour and preshaped. It oozed outward somewhat but then stopped. Covered and rested 15 min then shaped, flipped onto towel covered with oats, and put into the banetton seam side up. Seam was sticky and needed extra stitching to get it to stay together. Banetton placed into plastic bag and into frig overnight. 

After 11 hr cold retard, oven preheated with DO at 475F x 1 hr. After preheat, banetton out of fridge, dough flipped onto parchment (it didn't stick ?), scored, sprayed, then loaded into hot DO. Bake covered 20 min at 450F, then uncovered 40 min. 

So far I m pretty happy. After reading some of the hydration issues and trouble getting the dough to cooperate after adding the porridge, I count myself lucky to have it all go this well on my first try. Fresh out of the oven - the proof will be in the crumb shot tomorrow. ?

 

Update with crumb below. The crust is still crisp but not overly so, with a very soft and moist crumb. It leaves a little gummy residue on the knife, but neither of us notice any gumminess in the chew. Hubby really loves this one, which fits. He's a big fan of any bread with seeds or decorative toppings. All in all, a successful bake. (Note to self, scale this down a little for loaf pan.)

 

Comments

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

That looks like a keeper Mary.  Nice and plump, golden color, and blisters alongside the oats.  Regardless of how the crumb turns out, betting it will taste great!

run4bread's picture
run4bread

Looks delicious! 

I've been making a lot of oatmeal porridge bread in honey whole wheat oatmeal porridge bread for food banks the past 6 months. I think your home-rolled oats are just fine. You don't need to cook the oatmeal after pouring the boiling water over the oats and letting them sit 10 minutes; the 10 minutes is plenty on its own. I use the pour-over instead of cooking because it's so easy! My formula adds honey and olive oil for pan loaves for better keeping quality. I stir in the honey and olive oil 5-10 minutes after the pour-over. The honey and olive oil prevent the oats from sticking to each other. I also pour the salt on top. Then I don't have to worry about getting the salt mixed into the dough. I wouldn't worry about adding honey and olive oil for your hearth loaf. As you found out, even sticky porridge eventually mixes in. But you might try adding the salt into the porridge. 

I prepare the autolyse. When it's done, I mix in the levain. When that's mixed, I stir the salt into the porridge and add the porridge to the dough. Then mix to blend. Then begin kneading. 

The oats eventually mix into the dough. And I get great gluten development even with the porridge in the dough. I just keep kneading until windowpane. 

You might try baking longer. I go for a dark golden brown. That will help dry out the crumb so it's not gummy. Porridge does make for a delicious, creamy, moist, long-lasting loaf (well, long-lasting if it's not eaten right away!).

Happy baking!  

justkeepswimming's picture
justkeepswimming

Wow, thank you so much! This is really helpful info, I will definitely follow your tips next time I make this. 

I just now sliced up what we hadn't eaten and froze it. It was really surprising to see how much longer it lasted. Still plenty moist and tasty. 

Mary

justkeepswimming's picture
justkeepswimming

 PS - quik question, how much oil and honey (% vs gm-ish) do you use? Thanks in advance!

run4bread's picture
run4bread

Hi, Sorry for the delay, second dose of vaccine laid me low. 

I used Txfarmer's whole wheat oatmeal sandwich loaf as a resource. Here's the link: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21575/sourdough-100-whole-wheat-oatmeal-sandwich-bread-whole-grain-breads-can-be-soft-too

She used 8% olive oil and 10% honey or molasses. I use 6% and 8%, but I also make it with 50% whole wheat. She used 100% whole wheat, and that might (?) explain the difference. 

I like % so you can scale for the pan size. 

Happy baking!

Benito's picture
Benito

Very nice bake Mary, I love seeing the oatmeal in the crumb.  You did a great job especially for a first time baking this.  I’ve been meaning to try Maurizio’s oatmeal porridge loaf but the many times I’ve made a porridge loaf I keep going back to Hamelman’s recipe.

Benny