Country Blonde with Feta Cheese and Crushed Cumin Seed
I came across this video while surfing YouTube. I love the way she degasses and pre-shapes. Seems effortless. Besides that, the black cumin and feta cheese combination intrigued me. Had to give it a whirl and decided to try it with my Country Blonde sourdough recipe.
Final Dough
231g All Purpose Flour
157.5g Bread Flour
10.5g Whole Wheat Flour
10.5g Semolina Rimacinata Flour (Janie's Mill Sifted Durum)
5.3g Whole Rye Flour
5.3g Barley Flour
260.4g Water
8.4g Salt
63g Sourdough Starter (120% hydration white flour)
84g Feta Cheese (finely chopped)
1.5 tsp Cumin Seed (crushed)
1) Mix all ingredients except feta and cumin; assure no dry flour during mix; combine feta and cumin in a separate bowl and set aside
2) Let dough rest for 60 minutes
3) Bowl knead until the dough resists (12-20 folds); bassinage in water to desired hydration by wetting hand after each fold; bench rest 10 minutes
4) Fold in feta/cumin mixture during 2nd set of bowl kneading (bassinage if needed); bench rest 10 minutes
5) Continue folding in feta/cumin with 3rd set of bowl kneading (bassinage if needed); bench rest 10 minutes
6) Bulk at room temp (73-74 deg F) until dough is just starting to turn puffy (approx. 10-15% rise) (about 4-5 hours for me)
7) Cold retard overnight
8) Remove from refrigerator and bench rest 30 minutes
9) Degas and pre-shape with gentle bowl kneading
10) Bench rest 20-30 minutes
11) Final proof at 76 deg F for 1-2 hours. I look for dough to be jiggly.
12) Pre-heat oven at 460 deg F for 45-60 minutes; pre-steam oven with 1/4 cup boiling water
13) Bake at 460 deg F for 1 minutes with steam; drop oven to 400 deg F for 19 minutes; vent oven; bake at 425 deg F for 15-20 minutes (makes a hollow thump)
I like cumin as a spice in chili and other dishes, but I've never had it in bread. I must say... I'm a fan! Made the first slice and then remembered to take pictures. 😁
Comments
That looks delicious Troy, what did you use to leaven this beauty? Perhaps I missed it but I don’t see a reference to yeast, yeast water or levain.
Benny
Thanks Benny. 15% inoculation via a starter refresh.
For my white starter, my refresh cycle is 44g starter : 36g water : 30 g bread flour. 12 hour feeding - 6 hour feeding- 6 hour feeding - 12 hour feeding - refrigerate.
For this loaf, I put my discard from the first 6 hour refresh in a separate bowl, gave it a good stir, and let it ferment for another 4 hours. Used that as the inoculation for this loaf. Not my normal method (usually do a levain), but the timing worked and was able to use some discard. 😉
Beautiful loaf and glorious crumb! The combo of flavors sounds delicious. I think you nailed the fermentation and shaping on this one, even with the challenge of add-ins. Nicely done, and I'm sure it was delicious!
I also like your mix of flours too (and I'm a big fan of Janie's Mill products).
Thank you Leigh. Got lucky and everything came together well on this one. It’s similar to the low inoculation loaf I make that takes about 12-14 hours to get through bulk and initial proof before going into the refrigerator for an overnight final proof. This was the first time I tried retarding during bulk though. Think I’ll try it again and if it works out, I’ll add it to the tool box. It’s nice to have a little flexibility on which method I use with my schedule.
Troy:
Benny and I need to entice you further into whole grain territory.
You have your own mill now, right?
Your batards already look a lot like Benny's. And I don't think VWG is even needed for open crumb until you get beyond 75% WW.
I have had some good boules with 90% home-milled whole grain (no sifting) and 10% bread flour.
Just remember that WW ferments quickly, and fresh-milled WW even more so. So pre-fermented flour, PFF, can be reduced about 60% while ferment/proof times kept the same.
If you have access to white wheat berries, such as Prairie Gold, you can easily fool your taste-testers into thinking that the bread is still mostly white/refined flour.
Just for you Dave…. 😉😉😉. And thank you a lot for the praise, but I have a long way to go before my loaves hit Benny’s level.
I have something in final proof right now that follows the above method (started it yesterday afternoon) but has slightly more whole grain (although not home milled this time).
Will post photos later tonight…
Wow Troy, that looks amazing. Great oven spring, nice ear, really wonderful loaf.
Benny
Thanks! Sliced it this morning. Will get a blog post up in just a bit.
You can do two at a time. (This guy posts here as Brotkraft, btw.)
Perfect! Not sure I'm ready for two at a time, but I think I will have to watch both of those videos more closely and try that method of pre-shaping.