Pain au Levain with Farro

Thanks you, Lumos, I also checked at Wikipedia, because I wanted to know whether Farro goes by other names, too. The information was interesting, but also confusing with the different possibilities. On my bag of Farro kernels, made by Roland, it said nothing but "Semi-pearled Farro from Italy". So I looked at the official Roland website, and it said this Farro was Emmer.

For the formula I did a mix of Peter Reinhart (the soaker and the autolyse), and Jan Hedh (the levain). Since I bake a lot with spelt and found that it's basically interchangeable with whole wheat (though it seems to ferment faster), I thought I could use a 50/50 ratio and still have a fairly open crumb. (Only afterwards I saw that Jan Hedh even had a formula for a 100% Emmer bread).

I like the idea of soaking whole grains with a little bit of salt, instead of adding all the whole grain to the final dough, it really makes a difference in taste, especially for whole wheat, so I usually work with soakers. I don't know whether it helped here, but it definitely didn't hurt.

Karin

I have never before used Emmer, or Einkorn, but smaller percentages of Kamut in one of Jan Hedh's formulas.

We have two bargain stores here in Maine, Reny's and Ocean State Job Lot, that always carry strongly reduced Bob's Red Mill products - rarer grains and seeds, also gluten free ones, that are usually quite expensive. So I'm always on the lookout for a bargain on these goods that I can't get from my organic whole grocer.

The Farro/Emmer kernels look exactly like spelt, the taste is slightly different from spelt, also a bit nutty, and distinctly different from whole wheat. The Kamut amount I used so far was in a mix with other grains, so I can't really tell the difference.

Karin

We definitely liked it a lot, probably I would add a hint of coriander next time.

It's really interesting that all these ancient grains are being rediscovered. I always preferred the taste of spelt to that of whole wheat, anyway.

For my rye sourdoughs I always use a variation of the 3-stage Detmolder procedure (from Martin Stöt Poldt), it makes really a difference.

Liebe Grüsse

Karin

Pöt Stoldt wanted to achieve a starter fermentation method that is simpler than the Detmold one, but nevertheless able to produce sufficient acid and yeasts:

1. Stage (Anfrischsauer): 50 - 100 g mother starter + 100 g rye flour + 100 g lukewarm water, 6 - 8 hours at 26-28 C (79-82 F).

2. Stage (Grundsauer): all 1. stage starter + 100 g rye flour + 100 g lukewarm water, 6 - 8 hours at 22-26 C (72-79 F).

3. Stage (Vollsauer): all 2. stage starter + 100 g rye flour + 100 g lukewarm water, 3 - 4 hours at 18-22 C  (64-72 F).

Pöt says his method functions even with lower temperatures, as long as you have falling temperatures for each stage, for every 2 degrees C less it will take an hour longer to ferment.

I do the first stage in my oven with the light on (or, if I'm baking, near the oven), the second stage in the kitchen, the third just overnight, when the house is colder.

There is really a difference in taste and performance of this 3-stage rye starter, and one that's made in one step. I tested two rye breads, one with Pöt's starter, the other with a one step rye starter, everything absolutely the same, except for the making of the starter. The 3-step starter was livelier, smelled very pleasant fruity-sour, and the bread rose and tasted better:

Hamelman's Walnut Rye, the upper slice from a 1-step starter, the lower with Pöt's 3-stage starter.

With a whole wheat or white starter the difference is not that noticeable, they are milder, anyway.

Thanks for the link, I will look into it, I never heard about it.

Liebe Grüsse,

Karin