100% wholegrain organic einkorn sourdough with tangzhong
My usual recipe for Einkorn is as follows...
Flour 100% (400g)
Water 70% (280g)
Salt 2% (8g)
Starter 20% @ 70% hydration (80g)
However I decided to include some oil and a tangzhong. So did a quick recalculation like so...
flour 380g
water 180g (less 1tbsp)
salt 8g
olive oil 1 tbsp
tangzhong 120g (20g flour + 100g water)
starter 80g @ 70% hydration
Did the starter build and tangzhong the night before. So far so good.
Now here is where I made this mistake. When it came to making the dough I decided to go from memory, rather then my notes, forgetting I had taken flour and water off to make the tangzhong and added them back in on top of the tangzhong. so here is the final recipe...
Flour 400g
Water 280 (less 1 tbsp.)
Salt 8g
Olive Oil 1 tbsp.
Tangzhong 120g (20g flour + 100g water)
Starter 80g @ 70% hydration
In the bowl I mixed the flour and salt together. In another bowl I added the water, olive oil plus starter and mixed. Added the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and combined. While I was doing that I added the tangzhong and then it dawned on me what I had done. Decided to roll with it instead of trying to "fix" it. Didn't wish to start faffing about with adding more flour and then calculating the salt again etc. I would just be further knocking everything else out of proportion.
So the dough came together to a no knead consistency. Mix very well and then left it to bulk ferment until it had at least (if not more) doubled, about 5-6 hours. When small holes just started to appear on top I portioned it out into a loaf pan (it was lovely and spongy on the inside). Smoothed it over with the back of a wet spoon and sprinkled some sesame seeds on top. Final Proofed for 1 hour and baked in a preheated oven with steam.
Voila! A really tasty wholegrain einkorn. Sometimes mistakes turn out for the best.
i agree the mistake was meant to be to get some good results ... looks yummy and is a very healthy grain to use!
what is tangzhong?
thank you!
a tangzhong is where you take 5% of the flour and 5x its weight from the added water and turn it into a gel by mixing them and gently heating till it comes together.
For instance, if you have the following simple recipe...
500g bread flour
300g water
8g salt
7g dried yeast
Then to make the tangzhong you take 5% from the flour = 25g
and 5x it's weight from the water = 125g
to make the tangzhong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNEYozbdP4Q
Then you add it back into the recipe like so...
475g bread flour (500g - 25g for the tangzhong)
175g water (300g - 125g for the tangzhong
150g tangzhong
8g salt
7g dried yeast
Now you can see my "mistake". I took the flour and water off to make the tangzhong but when I made up the recipe I forgot to adjust the flour and water and just added the tangzhong in. This made a far more hydrated dough then I had anticipated. To make up for this I just turned it into a completely no knead recipe (my einkorn recipes are almost no knead as it is). And it turned out just fine.
The taste is very good indeed and my best crumb yet for this type of grain.
The purpose of a tangzhong is for a nice soft crumb. It is a type of bread improver but made from flour and water instead of adding anything else into a recipe.
Hi Abe,
How interesting! I will use this method in one of my farther future breads (Not ready just yet) Sounds great to me!
thank you for sharing!
Allie
How does it taste?
I am pleased with this. Trying to think of an adjective to describe the taste and I think "complex" is close. It's a bittersweet bread but the bitterness, one can tell, comes from the high mineral content and isn't pronounced at all. Bitter might be the wrong word. It gives way to a subtle sweetness. I can imagine it would go very well with some cheeses and wine. Tastes healthy and delicious. It's a hearty bread :)
Definitely a keeper recipe for me.
the original recipe was inferior:-) Einkorn can take up water but it just doesn't like to be messed with when wet as you say. I personally am not a fan of the bitterness of einkorn and is really my least favorite grain to use. We always try to add some sweet to the mix to cover up the bitter taste. If Lucy have a choice between spelt and einkorn we will do spelt every time and it is just as temperamental when wet like einkorn.
This one turned out just perfect for this kind of bread and you were wise to get it into a tin. The crust is fine but the crumb is exceptional. I bet 5% more water would be nice too.
Well done and happy baking Abe
A mistake but definitely one to make again. I've learned my lesson to never mess with einkorn. It can give as good as it gets and you always lose. Best left alone to get on with its own thing in its own time.
I love Spelt too and these two grains are definitely different. I've come to appreciate einkorn and what began with as a challenge has become enjoyment to make. I've gotten a bittersweet taste and quite a complex flavour which I do like. I've never tried honey with einkorn but always invariably put some in Spelt breads. Perhaps because Spelt and Honey is the done thing.
Thank you for the compliments Dabrownman and I was very surprised by the crumb myself. This is a great failure which I hope to replicate again and again.
It was on the tip of my tongue, literally. It tastes almost like a malt loaf, I used to have as kid, with raisins in it. Sort of like a sticky sweet loaf. Well this has the maltiness (is this even a word?) of that but less sweet. You could imagine this being a beer bread.
to cut the bitterness in a subtle way. Using the raisin soaker water for part of the liquid would also fdarken the crust some too.
Thank you! Would never have thought of that and didn't know that a raisin soaker water would darken the crust. Although now you mention it I can see why it would due to the sugar. This recipe is evolving fast.
O've been baking exclusively with EInkorn for a few years now and every loaf is a new experience! LOL Your loaf looks great and yes Einkorn just doesn't behave like any other flour that I know of but just compensate as best you can and take notes so you can always get back to old recipes when you're in the mood for them.
Einkorn is a very interesting grain to say the least. This one did turn out very well. A very complex flavour. It's one I definitely will do again. Do you have a favourite recipe?
recipe is to make an olive loaf with it. It seems to m that its complex flavor blends well with loaves and makes a rather flavorful loaf. I make a 68% hydration loaf, 9% coarsely chopped seeded gourmet olives (with coarsely chopped Spanish pimientos mixed in for color) and 10% olive oil.
Thank you for the recipe. Arrived back yesterday, from a vacation, and didn't have any food in the house. No time to prep my starter so tried your recipe with dried yeast. I also only had 300g left of Einkorn so topped that up with Emmer. Here is what I came up with...
400g flour (300g Einkorn, 100g Emmer)
280g water
40g olives
30g olive oil
7g salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried yeast
I made do with how much, and what, I had in the house so the percentages might be slightly off. Oil was 7.5% so I made it 70% hydration. I also added in a tad more water as it was wholegrain Emmer and probably a bit more thirsty. All-in-all it balanced out nicely to make a no knead "dough".
I added the 1 tsp sugar as I wanted to proof the yeast first as I've had it a while. I know that dried yeast doesn't need it but I wished to test it first before proceeding with the recipe. It started to produce bubbles so I carried on. Bulk fermented for about 4 hours-ish. Can't remember exactly but I waited until it doubled and holes started to appear on top. Portioned it out into a lined loaf pan and smoothed it over with the back of a wet spoon. Final proofed for about an hour then baked.
All looks as if it was a success but haven't cut into it yet. When I do tonight i'll report back with photos and a taste report.
Definitely show us the outcome, I can't wait to see it and hear how it tastes!