Fresh Milled Whole Wheat-Spelt with Blue Hopi Corn Tangzhong

Considering I somehow managed not to hit the start button on my stove and baked these at 540°F instead of 450°F, they came out pretty good .

Made with fresh milled whole wheat, spelt, and blue corn flour. Freshly milled corn flour smells amazing and is unlike anything you can buy in the store.

The Tangzhong using the corn flour was a new experiment, and I really like how it turned out.

The fresh-milled Clark’s Cream WW flour for the main dough and the spelt were milled in my Mockmill 200 and sifted once with a #30 drum sieve, and re-milled at the finest setting. The Hopi Blue was milled once at the finest setting and used in the Tangzhong.

The total amount of fresh milled flour in this bake was 74.5%.

I used my Ankarsrum to mix up the dough and oven-baked it on a baking stone with steam.

I was very happy with the final outcome of this bake. The crumb was soft and flavorful. It had a relatively open crumb with a slight blue hue from the corn, and the added potatoes with the Tangzhong really created a wonderfully crumb.

Formula

Levain Directions 

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.

Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled. Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

Tangzhong Directions

Add the water to the corn flour in a small saucepan and cook on medium-low until the starches gelatinize and it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and cool until it’s about room temperature. You can put it in the refrigerator to speed up the process.

 Main Dough Procedure

Note: I use an Ankarsrum Mixer, so my order of mixing is slightly different from than of using a Kitchenaid or other mixer. Add all the water to your mixing bowl except the 70 grams of water. Add all your flour to the bowl and mix on low for a minute until it forms a shaggy mass. Cover the mixing bowl and let it rest for 20 – 30 minutes.   Next, add the levain, Tangzhong, salt, sour cream, potatoes, and the remaining water (as needed), and mix on medium-low (about speed 3) for around 12 minutes until you have a nicely developed, smooth dough. If necessary, let it go another 5-10 minutes until you have good gluten development.

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl, and do several stretch and folds.  Make sure the dough is as flat as possible in your bowl/container, and measure the dough in millimeters and take the temperature of the dough as well. Based on the chart from http://www.thesourdoughjourney.com, determine what % rise you need and make a note. If you have a proofer, decide what temperature you want to set it at and what rise you are aiming for. If the dough is fully developed, you don’t need to do any stretch and folds, but if it’s not, do several sets 15-20 minutes apart. (See time and temperature for this bake in the formula.)

Once the dough reaches the desired bulk rise, pre-shape and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Finish shaping and place in your banneton, bowl, or on your sheet pan, and cover it so it is pretty airtight (note: I just read a post that suggests it is not necessary to cover the dough when refrigerating it. I have not tried this yet, but that is the way most professional bakeries do it, and they do have dedicated retarders for dough). This dough is very sticky, so make sure you use plenty of rice flour in your banneton or bowl to prevent it from sticking.

When you are ready to bake, an hour beforehand, preheat your oven to 540°F and prepare for steam. Let your dough sit at room temperature while the oven is warming up. When ready to bake, score as desired. Prepare your oven for steam. I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water into the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.  I then lower the temperature of the oven to 450°F for a miche or 455°F for smaller individual loaves. Bake until they are nice and brown and the internal temperature is at least 205 – 210°F. Note: As mentioned, I accidentally didn’t lower the oven temperature and baked this very boldly.

Take the bread(s) out of the oven when done and let them cool on a baker’s rack for as long as you can resist.