The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hamelman's Five Grain Levain

Mary Clare's picture
Mary Clare

Hamelman's Five Grain Levain

This is  a half recipe.  I baked the rolls first with a disposable roaster over them for steam (spritzing them and the bowl with water first), and when those were done (should have baked the rolls a bit longer), I put in the bread with the bowl over it.  Also, I didn't have any high gluten flour, so I added a half-teaspoon of gluten, and multi-grain cereal instead of cracked rye.  I'm always trying to raise the percentage of whole wheat, so next time I will increase the amount of whole wheat flour.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

pmccool's picture
pmccool

It looks like you had pretty good oven spring in the loaf and the rolls.  How was the taste?

Happy Thanksgiving.

Paul

Mary Clare's picture
Mary Clare

They taste very good -- my husband loves it.  It was first time I tried making rolls with sourdough and they were just what I wanted - crusty (for a few hours anyway!), chewy yet light.  A great recipe from Hamelman!  

I forgot to mention, I also added a tablespoon of honey, too.

Has anyone tried omitting the commercial yeast in the recipes in "Bread" and just letting the sourdough raise the bread? What  were your results?   I noticed the recipes that have added commercial yeast have ingredients like seeds, cheese, etc. that could weigh down a loaf.  

Thanksgiving blessings to all of you!

Mary Clare

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

This is a delicious bread! I like the idea of using the dough for rolls.

As I recall, Hamelman's recommendation is to omit the yeast, if you cold retard the loaves. I have done this, and it works well. The bread's flavor is better with the cold retardation, in fact.

David