Steel Cut Oats Plus
So, my shiny new brotforms (Thanks, Ian, for the lead to Lucky Clover Trading) were calling out, "Use us!" And I had been thinking to use some steel cut oats for something soft and hearty... and maybe adding a bonus of cranberries and walnuts. I started with Wooden Spoon's Steel Cut Oat Sourdough formula and made a few modifications that included increasing the WW to 25%, using AP at 25% (running low on BF) and, of course, adding fruit and toasted nuts.
I managed to take the hydration higher than intended (forensically analyzed afterward to conclusions, my 'note to self' register is getting long!), resulting in a loose, wet mix, to which I partially corrected with some AP during slap and folds, bulk fermented at room temp, then overnight in the refrigerator, out for a couple hours before shaping. That's when I knew it was still overhydrated, was a lovely texture, but also a bit of a blob. And a heavy one, at that! Thank goodness it was going into a brotform, lined with a thin cotton towel and dusted with brown rice flour. Maybe it would hold its form... maybe. A couple hours to proof and it was as ready as it was going to get. Turned out onto parchment and it began to slowly sag... sigh. But into the oven it went, without steam, except to spray it liberally with water - I had no cover that would, well, cover it and my gas oven fairly effectively vents off other attempts at making steam.
Oh, well, it may not be pretty, but as long as it bakes well and tastes good, I'll be happy. And it did and it does. A monster of a loaf, more than enough to feed the family when the kids come for a late holiday this week.
Happy New Year to TFL and it's members!
Cathy
Comments
Hi Cathy,
The crumb on your loaf is lovely. Looks like the perfect amount of hydration to me, but I like my loaves at 80%+ hydration, so I might be a bit biased. :) I'm sure the oats combined with the fruit and nuts taste great. Happy New Year!
Mary
Cathy: It is almost lunch time, and I am starving. Looking at your lovely bread makes me want to make it and eat it now! Thanks for sharing this yummy loaf. Happy New Year to you as well. Best, Phyllis
made that look just like this one. Every one of them tasted great, especially the ones that spread the most. :-) It is hard to back away form the water but my resolution for next year is to try to get Lucy to love the wet less! I'm hoping for good luck with that.....but today I did get the hydration for the pizza dough down to 70% so we have a shot. Nothing like the wet to open up and soften the crumb though.
This kind of bread with whole grains and lots of add ins really hits the mark for us.
Happy Baking in 2015 Cathy.
Your inspirations so often end up as successes that they, in turn, spark my own. My learning curve continues (and will, forever). My goals are to work more on technique, without giving up creativity (never, never). I'm seeing and feeling a difference just with practice and reading the guidance at TFL. Maybe as I review each bake, I'll take my marks and notes and do-over to see if/how much improvement I can get. And I'll definitely work with my new baskets more, rather than free-form, as many of my previous loaves have been.
Happy New Year!
Mary and Phyllis, I envy your skills. I strive to make breads that can even compare to the beautiful product you each generate, with perfectly combined ingredients and flavors and amazing high oven-spring,
And who knows if I'll ever get there? Must admit my distraction from technique is design - I see the product in my head and set out to create it. Am picking up experience and skill as I go, but it's far from practiced and I do stumble and look back over my shoulder - a lot.
I favor the use of whole grains and high hydration and can hardly resist adding ingredients that will enhance the eye (and taste) appeal. I'm amazed at how oats can simply disappear into the crumb, but their soft, comfort is there to be sensed and enjoyed. This one was no beauty, but does taste great, I'll be happy to share it with my family.
Happy baking and Happy New Year!
Well, like DAB likes to say, "Taste" is what matters most. Your crumb looks excellent and with some more experimentation you will get the dough to behave like you want. If the dough ends up this slack sometimes it is better to let is under ferment and bake it a little earlier. It may help it get more rise in the oven.
I've had the same issue sometimes when I don't take the extra moisture from some of the add-ins into consideration.
What did the hydration of the overall bake?
Hope you have a healthy and happy 2015 and look forward to your posts.
Ian
...calling on my math skills! Here's what went in and my attempt to calculate - let's see how close I can get.
350 g BF, 150 g AP, 150 g WW, autolysed with 480 g water
60 g oats soaked with boiling water (as much as the oats would take, approx. 3/4 c - my conversion tool says this is about 180 g) - the total volume didn't exceed a 1 c. liquid measure. When added to the hydrated flours, there was some free water, maybe 2-3 tablespoons)
160 SD starter @ 100% hyd.
12 g salt
Dried cranberries and toasted walnuts - a handful of each.
So,
650 flour + 80 flour (in starter) = 730
480 water + 80 water (in starter) + 40(?) soaker liquid = 600
Oats - neutral? Not sure what to do with them!
82% Hydration? Yikes, no wonder! Thanks for asking - this was a good lesson.
Here's what I was thinking... the original formula called for 5% WW and the remainder BF; I traded some of the BF to increase WW (Red Fife) to 25%, so knew it would be thirstier (but how much so?), then also had to sub some AP for BF (poor pantry mgmt.). The AP was increased by 50 g during S&F's (throwing the %'s off a bit), which helped bring it together, and the cranberries and walnuts took up a bit.
I think doing it again, I would consider the oats more carefully, maybe wringing them in a towel and including any captured liquid into the autolyse water so at least I can verify how much there is. Maybe do the math ahead as I'm writing up a formula. And I might divide the dough into 2 loaves - this one was pretty heavy.
All the best!
Cathy