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Sunflower seeded Tartine polenta bread
I was pretty happy with my first attempt at a polenta sourdough (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/38701/polenta-sourdough). The hydration in that first loaf was 70% without taking into account the water in the polenta porridge. But I wanted a loaf with higher hydration, a more open crumb and more polenta. I decided to go with the tried and true Tartine basic country bread.
"Tartine Bread" has a recipe for a polenta bread from which I took inspiration. But I left out the corn oil and herbs and used lightly toasted sunflower seeds instead of pepitas (pumpkin seeds). I cooked my polenta into porridge instead of doing a soaker.
So here's my polenta sourdough version 2.0 which is just the Tartine basic country with 25% cooked polenta and 12% sunflower seeds added into the dough.
Baker's Pct
90% AP flour
10% Whole wheat flour
75% Water
2% Salt
20% Levain
25% Cooked polenta*
12% Sunflower seeds
[*I added 60 g Bob's Red Mill polenta (corn grits) to 240 g boiling water and cooked it over low heat until the water was just absorbed. I let the porridge cool overnight in the refrigerator. Then I scaled out what I needed (25% = 250 grams for 1000 grams flour). ]
Overall hydration is 77% including the levain. I didn't include the cooked polenta in the hydration level calculation since I'm treating it like an add-in. The oven spring I normally get with the Tartine basic country bread is pretty good. My 1 kg boule ends up about 4.5-inches tall. This polenta boule was about 3.75 inches tall.
Mary
Comments
I love the flakes of polenta in the crumb shot.
Thanks BobS! The original formula actually calls for twice as much polenta porridge. I didn't think I would be able to handle such a wet dough so I cut back on the amount of porridge. But it would have been nice to have even more flecks throughout.
and out - it has to be tasty or there are no bread gods worth their salt! Well done and happy baking.
I didn't quite do it the way Chad would've done since I like my levain a bit more mature. I built the levain in 3 stages (like you taught me) and then I put it in the fridge for half a day before mixing. And I was careful not to let the shaped dough overproof in the fridge.
Picture perfect, Mary. What an awsome loaf! the crust color is devilishly attractive. your scoring pattern is so functional, by the way. Crumb is so nice, too.
well done ,
Khalid
Thanks Khalid! The scored part kinda looks like the boule is being pulled apart by invisible hands. LOL.
I agree with Khalid....what a great bake. It must taste awesome.
Regarfs
Ian
It did taste great. I only had one slice (albeit a large one) before giving away the rest of the loaf. Now I think I'm ready to tackle the oat porridge bread again. Thanks Ian!
Was it a soft bread? How'd it taste?
The crumb was moist and custardy. A bit more substantial than the Tartine basic country due to the polenta porridge and seeds, but not at all heavy or dense. It was mildly sour, but the sweetness of the corn polenta balanced it out nicely.