Rosemary Arkatena Twist
This is the Arkatena bread from Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley, except with rosemary instead of fennel, more salt, more heat, steam, an autolyse, some stretching and folding, and a shortcut using my own starter to create a chickpea starter. The chickpea, aka garbanzo, aka gram flour is the unique feature of this bread.
I feel like I stuck to the spirit of this bread even if I didn’t stick to the letter of the formula. The only really substantive change was the switch from fennel to rosemary. I meant to use fennel up until the last minute. I have nothing against fennel, it’s just not something I get really excited about. When I remembered the bit in the book that says fennel probably isn’t used in the original bread on which this one is based, well, out went the fennel. I really do like rosemary and it seemed like a good fit for this loaf so, in went the rosemary.
The dough was strong and not particularly wet so I couldn’t resist shaping it with a twist. I might add more water in future tinkering.
The rest of the changes were made for the sake of habit and convenience. Reworking the formula took some wrangling because the book has you make a chickpea starter from scratch and then make loads of extra leaven during the builds. I’ve included the numbers I came up with. I left out the nitty-gritty details of the process – best to check the book for that and then modify as you will.
If you don’t have this book it is worth taking a look at. Mr. Whitley is refreshingly blunt, even if you don’t agree with every last thing he has to say. “Constructive neglect” – brilliant! Steaming “a fruitless exercise” – you underestimate me, sir! One nice takeaway from this book is to worry less and go with what works. It is good to be reminded of that once in a while. It is, after all, your bread.
This is one tangy bread. Maybe it was the long, cool leaven builds. Quick, warm fermentation might yield a different result. Right out of the oven it reminded me of hummus with lots of lemon juice. Good stuff. The chickpea flavor faded over time but still lends its unique tang to the bread. The rosemary flavor comes through nicely. I think I'll be baking this one again!
Marcus
Comments
Lovely. Would you mind if I featured it a bit?
I wouldn't mind at all, Floyd, thanks!
Marcus
What a great crumb with Chi Chi flour that has no gluten! That twisted crust is very appealing too! I know we would like this bread since we love Garbanzo crust pizza around here. Completely forgot about the GB flour in the freezer - have o get it out now!. Congrats on the front page too - well deserved and
Happy Baking
Pizza crust, of course! I actually just made a pot of tomato sauce thinking how good this bread would be to dunk in it - no pasta needed! I can just imagine the effect pizza. And thank you for the kind words, dabrownman!
Marcus
I really like your loaves. The crumb looks delicious. I do like how the crust has carmelized. If I could get my hands on some gb flour I might attempt it.
Warm Regards,
Casey
Thanks, Casey! Garbanzo/chickpea flour is worth tinkering with if you like the flavor. You don't need much as a little goes a long way, flavor-wise. If anyone in your area sells Bob's Red Mill products take a look, that's the brand I have.
Marcus
Nice.
So does "total" fermentation time mean something like 3 hours bulk + 3 hours after shaping?
Thanks.
Thanks, mrfrost, I think the bulk ferment was actually a little shorter than the final on this occasion. Not what I would have preferred but I had errands to run. Normally I would aim for the split to be skewed the other way.
Marcus
Excellent job with this bake Marcus. I made a bread with chickpea four a while ago but have not attempted another one since and yours looks like a winner. Congrats on the front page as well.
Regards,
Ian
Thank you so much, Ian. I've had my eye on this one for a while but never got around to it. I'm glad I finally did because it turned out much better than any of my previous chickpea tinkering. I'd pretty much given up on it until I got this book. Well worth it!
Marcus
Incidetally, i've come across this recipe a couple of days ago and was thinking of creating a chickpea starter, but declined. You've created an exemplary one, Marcus! it looks very attractive, with a lovely shape and crust.
What accompaniments do you think goes best with it?
-Khalid
Thank you, Khalid. I would love to see what you come up with if you ever do get a chance to work with chickpea flour.
As for accompaniments... the rosemary flavor stands out more than anything but there is also the extra savory element of the chickpeas and the tang from the sourdough. So I think Italian / Mediterranean is a good way to go - tomatoes in particular, maybe some olive oil and flavorful greens... I was also reaching for the dried fruit to munch along with this bread. Dried figs sounded great (I didn't happen to have any in the house, though) for a sweet/savory contrast. This is starting to make me hungry so I had better stop :)
Marcus
I still have the dried chickpea starter from my last Arkatena Bread. I found the original recipe had way too much fennel (though I like fennel). Why Whitley thinks steaming a futile exercise? Beats me - I did steam the bread.
I was always planning to bake another loaf with rosemary instead. Now that I was reminded by your beautiful loaf I will do it, when I'm back from Germany.
Karin
The rosemary works really well, I think you'll be happy with it. I have to admit, now that I've made it this way I'm really curious about the fennel version. The flavors are so different it would be like a whole new bread. I'll definitely follow your lead and cut way back on the amount of fennel to start with. Thanks Karin!
Marcus
excellent crumb.. looks soft as well
thanks for sharing the formula too!!
evon
Thanks, evon. The crumb is soft and springy. It keeps pretty well, too.
Marcus
I am late to the party once again. Those loaves look great, well done!
Thanks, Darwin!
Marcus
If you don't mind me asking :) I've tried lots of techniques but am never quite happy with it.
Good effort, however I suspect that your shortcuts may have diverted way further from the original than you might think. Without trying your bread I can tell you that it takes far more to produce αρκατένα than just adding chickpea flour to a sponge - levain or dough. In fact I don't believe it's a good idea to add chickpea flour at all. You also need the enzymes that exist on the skin of the chickpeas, which are mostly absent in the flour. There is a reason the process for making αρκατένα sponge is so long. The chickpeas are not used for texture or their no gluten properties. The reason they are used is the special taste produced by the long process of making it. It is a taste that doesn't exist in any other bread I have personally tried. It does not remotely resemble hummus and the bread is not sour either. On the contrary it can be slightly sweet. It is also true that no herb is used in the original because we are averse to cover the bread's unique taste. What we do is we brush the top of the bread with a honey mixture for the last few minutes of baking. Greetings from Cyprus.