The Fresh Loaf

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Oat Porridge Sourdough #1

thepocketcrumb's picture
thepocketcrumb

Oat Porridge Sourdough #1

Have always been curious about the widely-raved porridge loaf and decided to give it a try!

This version is a mix of The Bread Code's last sourdough recipe and The Perfect Loaf's take on tartine's porridge loaf, because:

1. I am terribly afraid of high hydration recipes. Have had past experiences where i have broken down in tears after trying to slap and fold/ handling an extremely wet dough.

2. The Bread Code's recipe has worked very well for me, and I thought it'd be good to see if some of the methodology could be applied to The Perfect Loaf's recipe!

I'm also still a novice at baker's percentages, but here's a breakdown of the entire process:

10% Rolled Oats (50g cooked with 100g water)
80% Bread Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
20% Whole Wheat Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1% Salt (This is an approximate because the oats were cooked with a little salt!)
65% hydration

Instead of a levain, I used my starter directly.

1 hr autolyse — This is where I deviated from The Perfect Loaf's recipe and followed The Bread Code's. Was worried about adding the starter too early and starting fermentation prematurely. Did not add the full amount of water here as I had read that the oats would release quite a bit of water.

After autolyse — Added in the oats, along with the 1% salt. Dough felt a little dry so i added in a few drops of the remaining water just to make sure everything was incorporated.

5 sets of coil folds during bulk fermentation. Took 7 hrs for bulk fermentation!

Shaped dough. Tried to shape as tightly as possible. Forgot to top dough with rolled oats :/ Reminder to self to do this next time.

Proofed in banneton (in a plastic bag) at ambient temperature for 1 hr. Did 2 poke tests just to be very sure.

Cold ferment in fridge for 12 hrs.

Baked in dutch oven at 220C (Covered, 20mins) and then another 30mins uncovered.

Cooled loaf for 10 hrs before I couldn't wait anymore! Was very curious about the inside!

Comments

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Great looking loaf!  Nice oven spring and the crumb looks nice and open.  Congrats on the first attempt!

thepocketcrumb's picture
thepocketcrumb

Thank you very much! Just had it for breakfast, and oh my the soft texture was wonderful! Even after toasting, it was still moist.

Benito's picture
Benito

What a great looking bake, congratulations on your highly successful bake.

Benny

thepocketcrumb's picture
thepocketcrumb

Thank you very much! Made another loaf earlier in the week as well, after being very inspired by your Red Miso and Furikake recipe!

Benito's picture
Benito

Glad my recipe inspired you!

JonJ's picture
JonJ

Well done! The Perfect Loaf oat porridge recipe isn't easy to pull off (as evidenced by Maurizio's own struggles with it).

You seemed to have had a great outcome, although why 10 hours waiting time escapes me, this isn't a rye?!

Was the texture all the creamy and custardiness you hoped for?

-Jon

thepocketcrumb's picture
thepocketcrumb

Thank you! I was quite conservative with the amount of oats added, might try adding more next time!

As for the 10 hours waiting time... Good catch! Was erring on the side of caution, had read that it's best to let loaves cool overnight? Am still new to this, so not sure what the cooling sweet spot is!

And yes, the texture was lovely! Creamy and moist. Made for a wonderful breakfast.

naturaleigh's picture
naturaleigh

This is a gorgeous loaf of bread!  I've got some flaked grains that I am itching to make a loaf with and think this formula would be a great jumping off point.  I plan on toasting the flakes in some butter though, rather than soaking, so I will probably need to up the hydration.

I usually 'steam off' my bakes for an additional 10 minutes after baking is complete--just turn off the oven, open the oven door a few inches, and leave the loaves in there.  This seems to help take care of any excess moisture in the interior of the loaf.  

Beautiful bread, and it's wonderful that it apparently tasted as good as it looked!  Thanks for posting!

thepocketcrumb's picture
thepocketcrumb

Thank you!

Oh, i think whatever you're planning to do with the flaked grains sounds very exciting, will look out for your updates!

And noted on your tip for "steaming off" the bakes! Will it affect the crust though?

naturaleigh's picture
naturaleigh

I don't find that steaming off adversely affects the crust.  As an aside (kind of) I have cut back my total uncovered baking times by 5 minutes (so, uncovered at 450 for only 15 minutes as opposed to 20 minutes) because I felt like the crusts were a tad thick on the bottom.  This has helped quite a bit with that.  The steaming off though doesn't seem to make a lot of difference one way of the other, at least for me.  Since I often do inclusions and at least a portion of WW, the steaming off became essential to make sure the interior of the loaves was not overly moist.  That, as well as making sure to properly cool the loaves.  I usually bake first thing in the morning and I won't cut into a loaf until mid-afternoon at the earliest.

Hoping to bake with the flaked grains this weekend!