It's been a sad few weeks of my starter being underused. Now with work winding down and the parties beginning, it's time for some serious baking again.
Just made this basic biga bread for lunch. 60% of the flour is pre-fermented with an overnight biga, and the next day the other 40% is added with water and salt. Overall hydration is about 70%. Takes 4 hours from mixing to taking it out of the oven.
It's a 50% wholegrain, 50% bread flour loaf. The wholegrain consists of khorasan, buckwheat, einkorn and rye - all in the biga. The kids have started to really like khorasan, so it's a permanent fixture in my pantry now (I add it to everything - pancakes, sandwich bread...). I also really like what buckwheat does to the crust - especially how it tastes the next day! - so I've been adding it to my loaves too.
The cranberries and roasted pistachios and hazelnuts were added during shaping. All in all a pretty hands-off loaf.
What a joy to be eating fresh, wholesome bread!
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Great to have you back Lin and what an entrance! Gorgeous loaf. Your use of biga is inspirational to make such airy looking loaves with high whole grain flour content.
Yes, it's been a while! Many posts to catch up on. Hope you've been baking well and keeping well. Are you still going down the biga route? I find it consistently gives great results and incredible flexibility.
A hearty and wholesome welcome back, Lin!
And I second Rene: what a return! That sure looks scrumptious. Can you offer any tips for the relatively uninitiated on what it's like to work with khorasan and buckwheat?
Rob
Khorasan is a real pleasure to work with. Adds a delicious nutty flavour and a somewhat buttery texture to loaves without affecting dough strength; sometimes my loaves seem to get even more spring if there's khorasan added. I love it especially when used as a tangzhong.
Buckwheat, I find, can be tricky. Unless it's been broken down or hydrated for some time, I find that it can impact dough strength and rise even in moderate amounts. It gives such a deeply caramelised crust though - absolutely delicious. And it's really versatile. From 100% buckwheat sobas, to galettes, to poffertjes (little pancakes Dutch style)... a full array of tastes and textures. And very healthy I think.
Looking forward to your next rye bread (with buckwheat?!).
Nice combo of whole grains and with the nuts this must have tasted great.
Best,
Ian
This was indeed delicious. Quite a powerhouse!
Lovely loaf very much made in the Lin style.
It does seem like a refinement of so much of your baking. Pistachios in bread is something I must try, can only imagine it is great. I think the Dubai chocolate craze has made them more pricey world wide.
-Jon