7+ Grain Levain with Bulgur and Sunflower Seeds
I got a request for a “7-grain with Bulgur” that I apparently made a while ago. The only thing I could figure out was that it had to be Hamelman’s 5 grain Levain that I had made with Bulgur. So here is a 7 different flours with seeds and grains version not counting the AP flour.
Makes 3 loaves
Liquid Levain build
272 g flour
343 g Water
55 g Starter (if kept in the fridge, fed a few times prior to using in the Levain)
Soaker
100 g bulgur
100 g Flaxseeds
76 g Sunflower seeds
85 g old fashioned oats (large flake)
484 g Water, boiling
6 g Salt
Dough
533 g Unbleached flour
15 g Vital Wheat Gluten
40 g high extraction Selkirk wheat flour
40 g high extraction Red Fife flour
40 g high extraction Spelt flour
40 g high extraction Kamut flour
40 g high extraction Einkorn flour
40 g high extraction Rye flour
40 g Partially Sifted Brûlé Creek flour
303 g Water + 50 g + 21g
30 g yogurt
21 g Pink Himalayan Salt
All of the Soaker
650 g Levain
A day or so before:
- Main dough and levain prep: Measure 46 g of each type of grain for the high extraction flours, mill the berries, and sift. Use 40 g of each of the sifted flours for the main dough and reserve the bran and the remaining sifted flour to revive or feed the starter prior to making the final levain.
The night before:
- Levain: Twelve to sixteen hours before the the final mixing of the dough, put all of the ingredients together for the levain and keep covered at room temperature (70-73 F).
- Soaker: Measure out the bulgur, and oats. Reserve. Grind the flax seeds coarsely in a Bullet or spice grinder. Add to the bulgur and the oats. Toast the sunflower seeds and add to the bulgur, oats and flax. Add the 6 g of salt. Add the boiling water to the soaker ingredients and cover. Leave to cool overnight at room temperature.
- Main dough prep: To the high extraction flours, add the unbleached flour, the Partially Sifted Brûlée Creek flour and the vital wheat gluten. Mix well to distribute the VWG. Cover and reserve.
Making the dough:
- Put the water and the yogurt for the dough in a bowl and add the soaker. Mix well to loosen the mass. Measure 650 g of the levain, add to water and soaker, and mix again. Add this mixture to the reserved flour mix and make sure to mix well to a shaggy dough. Let sit for 60 to 75 minutes.
- My dough felt dry so I added another 50 of water with the salt. Mix well to integrate all ingredients. Let rest 30 minutes. Do three sets of slaps and folds on a bare counter at 30 minute intervals (50/40/10). I added 21 g of water to the dough after the first set because it still felt too dry and stiff. Continue bulk fermentation with 2 sets of stretches and folds also 30 minutes apart.
- Place in the fridge for 4-5 hours. I left mine for 4 hours in a 38F fridge. The dough rose about 30%.
- Pour the dough out onto a bare counter and divide into 3 loaves of about 920 g. Lightly flour the top of the portions and gently round into boules using a dough scraper. Let rest one hour on the counter.
- Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice right boule.
- Sprinkle a mix of rice and AP flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons, cover, let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for ~10 hours.
Baking
- The next morning, heat the oven to 475 with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully place the dough seam side up inside.
- Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 475 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 -20 minutes. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.
The daughter came home from her midnight shift at the hospital and persuaded me to cut into one of the warm loaves. Warm bread with cold butter from the local dairy, can’t get any better than that!