Sprouted Vollkornbrot with Seeds and Fresh Milled Flour
As much as I love making and eating light, open crumbed french breads I have always had a soft spot for a nice dense rye. There is something about holding a brick of pure whole grain goodness in your hands that is, in many ways, more satisfying than a delicately scored baguette. For one thing a baguette starts to stale in a matter of hours while vollkornbrot can stay good for weeks. Then there is the level of nourishment. There is really no comparison between the two. Vollkornbrot is packed with all sorts of nutritious grains and seeds while a baguette contains nothing but highly refined white flour. This week I decided to push vollkornbrot's nutrition and flavor even further by adding sprouted rye to the mix. The results were more than I could have hoped for.
I started with a formula I have used in the past that I have gotten great results from. This formula really has it all, soured coarsely ground rye, a coarse rye soaker, soaked stale bread crumbs and toasted and soaked sunflower seeds. I decided to modify the formula in a few ways: 1) I replaced the coarse rye soaker with ground up sprouted rye berries. I was a little nervous about making this switch but it ended up working beautifully. 2) Instead of using only sunflower seeds I used a combination of sunflower, flax and sesame seeds. 3) I darkly toasted the bread crumbs before soaking them. 4) I used agave nectar instead of honey. On top of all this I ground all the flour and grain for this bread myself using the methods I describe here. I have never ground my own flour at home as I could never justify the expense of a flour mill but using a coffee grinder worked great! I'll probably be grinding much more flour at home from now on.
The process for this bread requires a lot of prep as there are so many components but the reward is very much worth it. I highly recommend you dedicate a weekend to making this bread if you have any interest in rye at all. This is the best vollkornbrot I have tasted and even though it was a lot of work it I will definitely be making it again.
For the formula, process and more photos visit aBreaducation.
Comments
It's what I generally call "my precious" :)
your pocketses? Rye berries :-)
Very nice loaf. I agree about the nutritional aspect of a whole grain loaf which is the reason I bake with whole grains only.....I bake for several different people and among them are those who love these hearty rye loaves. It is always nice to find another formula to add to my collection. Yours actually looks very straight forward compared to some I have done :-)
A good grain mill is worth the investment if whole grains are available in your area. I pay less than $40.00 for a 50# bag of organic white wheat which comes out to be less than a dollar for a loaf of bread. A loaf of organic bread around here costs at least 4.00! If you don't have access to inexpensive whole grains than it isn't worth it due to shipping costs which cost as much as the grain itself.....
Thanks for the post and the formula.
Take Care,
Janet
Janet,
I do have access to fairly inexpensive berries. A grain mill is in the cards for me eventually.
You have something in common with Craig Ponsford(president of BBGA)! He only bakes with whole grain these days and hardly any refined sugar. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVgyNXwN_k
Thanks for the link. Great to hear him saying good things about whole grains. Didn't know about using pumpkin as a sugar substitute. I will have to experiment with that. I use honey, agave, rice syrup, fruit juice or fruit as sweeteners - a lot of raisins because my kids love cinnamon raisin bread. Pureed dates and figs work great too and give doughs a really nice texture.
When I started baking it was only natural for me to use whole grains because that is all I have ever fed my kids. What surprised me was that other people who were used to white bread really love the whole grain loaves I make too. What really helped in that department was learning about soaking the grains - HUGE thanks to Peter Reinhart and his book Whole Grain Breads. Thanks to him and his epoxy method I rarely get bricks anymore..... :-) BUT I do have people on my bread list who like 'bricks'. What I have discovered is that just about anything homemade is better than store bought....
Again, thanks for the link.
Janet
nice loaf of 100% Rye. Just beautiful. Love the sprouts (usually don't grind them though) and seeds. Traditionally coriander seeds would be used in this kind of bread but tradition and may limit ones ability to test the waters for something new and possibly better. We too can't justify a mill for a loaf or two of bread a week and use a 15 year old well used Krups coffee grinder. Works great. After about 45 seconds it starts to heat up so we do (2) 45 second grinds with a cooling off period between them. The flour it produces in very similar to whole grain Rye you can buy if you stick to 100 g at a time max.
Now we will get you making your own red and white rye malt at home, since you are already sprouting rye berries, to put in this very fine bread :-) One of things we have been toying with is to put some wild rice made with chicken stock in rye breads. We love hanseata's wild rice SD bread and this bread cries out for some in it maybe some prunes too. But then it wouldn't be 100% rye would it :-)
Very nice baking as usual.
I was looking for some traditional seed combos to try besides just sunflower seeds. Thanks for the tip, I'll be using coriander in there too next time.
I also got quite a bit of heating up when milling my flour and had to pause a few times. I think part of what made this loaf feel like such a long process was that I had to process the flour in such small amounts. A proper grain mill would make things much much easier.
The wild rice with chicken stock sounds like a great combo! Let me know how that turns out.
Excellent 100% volkornbrot rye, breaducation!!
I agree with you on the qualities of whole Rye, compared to a baguette! Flavor, too, is superior to an all white baguette. I noticed you've scored the top prior to the final proof! Great, great method.
This is one fine sample of how a proper volkornbrot should be. Lovely work!!
Pre-scoring rye is how I was taught at SFBI. It really does work great for these kinds of breads. I cannot imagine try to score after it has already proofed. It feels so delicate.
Glad you liked the vollkornbrot!