Five Grain Levain Bread

I adapted the Hamelman recipe below, as I really wanted to make a multi-grain bread with a soaker. I didn't have any bulghur, so I used cous cous instead. I continue to go for the bold crust, so I allow a little extra time on the bake.

It is just so much fun getting that soaker going, isn't it?

The liquid levain got so bubbly and smelled great.  I had to push this a bit, as I indicated in the recipe below.

I love my covered baker and used it for this recipe. I have started using the oblong covered baker a bit more with better results than my early bakes.  I never tried this before, but for this bake I proofed the dough in the baker (with a bit of cornmeal underneath) and pre-heated the lid. I have always found it difficult to transfer the proofed dough to the baker, even using parchment paper.  This new system worked well, with a nice bake underneath and a bold bake on top.  In fact, in the past the bread would be a little overdone underneath, and this was just about perfect, so I think this is my new method for this baker. There was good oven spring as well and decent height.

I am always concerned about the crumb, but it was fine for a dense bread like this.

I got in trouble with my husband as I snatched his sandwich for a photo just as he was getting ready to take a bite!  The bread was crusty, tangy and very nutty.  Delicious.  It's nice to know that you can vary the soaker and still have very good results.  Phyllis

Five-Grain Levain Bread

Adapted from Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes

Makes 3 medium loaves
Overall formula
Bread flour 680 g
Whole wheat flour 226 g
Cous cous 82 g (I didn’t have Bulghur as called for in the recipe, so I used the same amount of cous cous)

Flaxseeds 82 g

Sunflower seeds 71 g

Oats 71 g

Water 890 g
Salt 22 g

Total 2.13 kg

Liquid Levain build
Bread flour 226.8 g
Water 283.5 g
Mature culture (liquid)  45 g

Soaker

Cous cous 82 g

Flaxseeds 82 g

Sunflower seeds 71 g

Oats 71 g

Water, boiling 400 g

Salt 5 g (1 teaspoon)

Final Dough
Bread flour 453 g
Whole-wheat flour  226 g
Water 250 g

Salt 17 g (1 tablespoon)
Soaker all of the above
Levain all less 3 tablespoons

Baker Percentage

Bread flour 75%

Whole wheat flour 25%

Cous cous  9.2%

Flaxseeds 9.2%

Sunflower seeds 7.7%

Oats 7.7%

Water 98%

Salt 2.5%
Total 235.1%

METHOD

1. Liquid-levain build: Make the final build 12 - 16 hours before the final mix.  I ran out of time, so I accelerated this to seven hours, placing the hot soaker on top of the levain build bowl.
2.  Soaker: Make the soaker at the same time when making levain build. Pour the boiling water over the grain blend and salt, mix thoroughly. Put it in a covered container and sit at room temperature.

3.  Mixing: Add all the ingredients to the mixing bowl except the salt. Mix or stir the ingredients together until it becomes a shaggy mass. Cover the bowl with cling wrap or plastic bag and let it stand for an autolyse phase for 20 -60 minutes. At the end of the autolyse, sprinkle the salt over the surface of the dough and mix on a medium speed for 3 -5 minutes until the medium gluten development is achieved.

4.  Bulk fermentation: 1 to 1 ½ hours or 2 hours if the dough is retarded overnight. (I bulk fermented for 2 hours with a fold over with my dough scraper at the 1 hour mark).

5.  Folding: If the fermentation is 1 ½ hours, fold once after 45 minutes.

6.  Dividing and shaping: Divide the dough into three equal pieces, pre-shape the dough into round. Cover the dough with tea towel and let it rest for 15 minutes. Final-shape the dough into either oblong or round. (I froze the other two loaves, which were a touch smaller than the one I baked.  It will be interesting to see how these come out when I bake them later).

7.  Final fermentation (proofing): Retard the loaves in the refrigerator over night.

(I baked my loaf in my covered baker.  I proofed the loaf in the bottom of the covered baker with cornmeal on the bottom.  I preheated the top of the baker at 500 degrees and allowed the loaf to warm up at room temperature while the oven preheated.  I baked the loaf with the cover on for 30 minutes at 500 degrees and then took the lid off and lowered the oven to 435 degrees convection.  If you don’t have a covered baker, the original recipe instructions follow).

8.  Baking: with normal steam, 235C for 40 45 mins, turn the loaves half way through the bake.