26% WM/ Spelt with porridge Oats and Apricots
This morning i had porridge left over from breakfast and i wanted to do something a little different so i decided to sort out the cupboard a bit and ended up with these 3 lovely loaves that would be ideal company for a cheese board its ended up being Apricot and Porridge Oat Bread with 26% Wholemeal Spelt. 3 X 510g loaves. it was going to be 2 x 750g loaves but thought 3 x 500g was easier for sharing. I didn't make this a sweet dough , there is not sugar or high fats usually associated with fruit breads. I worked out my dough formula but modified it as i went along as i only had 195g of w/m spelt so instead of 50/50 it ended up being 26% w/m spelt and 74% black and gold plain flour. cooked porridge was 20% and chopped apricots were 20% also butter ,salt, malt, milk powder, and yeast were all 2% each so it was a fast dough 1 hr Bu;k Fermentation the water was added at 50% but more was required which would have equaled another 4%. i was cautious as both the spelt and the porridge tend to give a sticky dough, but i did need to have a reasonably slack dough because of the dried apricots sucking in some of that moisture. Very happy with this stage just the cooling and taste testing to be done, oh and to break out the cheeses!
Comments
Beauties! They would be perfect with the cheese board as you suggest. Don't forget to add some charcuterie and wash it down with a fine Margaret River wine.
Cheers,
Gavin.
Looking good Derek and surprisingly light in colur for 26% WM spelt. I do have a bottle of Margaret River Chardonnay in the cupboard - Gavin is tempting me!
Lance
Beautiful loaves Derek, up to your usual high standard. I too am surprised at how light coloured the crumb is given the amount of whole spelt in it. Looking forward to your tasting notes.
Benny
Thanks guys for your comments, and nice to see an appreciation of Margaret River wines too, famous for Wines and Surf. We are spoiled for choice here for excellent wines, in fact my cousin has a vineyard in the lesser known but gaining noteriety ,the wine area of the Great Southern and his Shiraz goes to the wine maker "Harewood " at a lovely coastal area of Denmark and his choice of best location for his Shiraz is Frankland he also makes a very good Chardonay.
I did all the wiring at the vineyard some twenty years ago now.
looking down the vineyard
looking across the vineyard
Shiraz grapes on the vine
Contract Harvesting taking place in the cool of the night
But getting back to the bread I liked it and was great with some Brie My wife had some toasted the next morning and didn't rate it at all! it was a short fast ferment so perhaps lacked some flavour there, or perhaps she has a taste for the richer fruit bread. She can be my harshest critic though.
cheers Derek
Thanks for the winery info and pictures, Derek. The reference to Denmark threw me for a minute or two!
I guess what looks fun in pictures soon becomes a serious business when you have several tons (or is that hundreds of tons?) of grapes to harvest and process. No doubt with a great feeling of satisfaction when it's all in.
Regarding yeasted doughs, my current preferred method (from "Manna" by Walter Banfield) is to make a 3-4hr sponge with strong white flour and a spot of malt, then make the main dough with the weaker flours, a touch of butter, sugar and milk powder. The smell of the sponge when you pour it out is beautiful! But I'm sure you know this already.....
Lance
A good year yields just over 20 tonnes of shiraz but 2019 there were 2 nights of frost just as the vines were forming berries resulted in no fruit at all but all the rest of the years maintenance was still required. The following year the crop was severley reduced due to the ongoing effect of the previous frosting.. There has been little interest in the Sauvignon blanc and no interest at all in the Semillon, big decisions to be made regarding grafting over or pulling out those vines. a big problem as wine tastes seem to be cyclical and you can be chasing your tail !
I am quite a fan of using a sponge I think it contributes a lot to the end result. I do remember as an apprentice that my employer who entered bread in the Royal show spent days playing with sponges for doughs for the breads he was going to exhibit. i did find it quite amusing that it was only employed for this occassion rather than for the everyday bread.. I haven't read the book you mentioned but will keep a look out for it.
I have picked up some Italian flours recently quite cheaply that are close to code or aged should we say that have come from Supermarkets that have been donated to a charity outlet. i have noticed that quite a few of the supermarkets too have been selling off their stocks of imported flours now that the Covid rush for flour has subsided. Kind regards Derek
This makes me thirsty! Sunny here today and nearly lunchtime. I may just break out a shiraz soon as it's my wife birthday. I've got some beef ribs in the smoker for later.
Cheers,
Gavin.
Happy birthday Mrs Gav! perfect reason to have a Shiraz! The smoked ribs sound pretty good too. hope you enjoy both. Shame its a 3 day car trip plus quarantine restrictions or id be inclinded to join you.