Buttermilk and Greek Yogurt Multigrain SD with Seeds and Sprouts

After seeing Ian’s post using buttermilk and Greek yogurt I just couldn’t resist taking one of our normal multigrain breads and having a go at it to see what the taste difference would result.  Plus Lucy is always one to try new and interesting things in bread so that she can DaPumperize them later.

We had made a huge batch of Greek yogurt earlier in the week and was just going to go with that as an add it but noticed the buttermilk was still unopened even if 3 months out of date.  My reasoning was that since buttermilk is sour already, how much more sour would it be and if baking it to 205 F on the inside what could live through that?  The buttermilk smelled fine but was much thicker than usual. 

We used 10 g each of our WW and rye starters to build the levain.  One hour after the 3rd feeding we refrigerated it for 48 hours to bring out the sour.  When we removed the levain from the fridge so it could finish its doubling in volume we started the autolyse of everything else, including the ground flax and sesame seeds, except the sprouts, pumpkin seeds and aromatic bread spices consisting of caraway, fennel, anise and coriander.

This week we ran out of everything so had to make a batch of Toadies and some barley and rye sprouts to make red and white malts out of later today after their 5 days of sprouting.  We pinched off 50 g of these wet sprouts for this bread yesterday.  

All the whole grains were in the levain and we added some potato flakes, semolina and corn flour to the AP in the dough flours.  The whole grains came in at slightly less than 25 % but when including the Toadies and sprouts this shoots up to over 40%.  Toadies are sifted middlings, wheat bran, oat bran and wheat germ that is toasted until golden brown and then reground.

My Greek yogurt is much thicker than the ones in the stores and the buttermilk was very thick so I had to guess at what the hydration was for those items and constructed the formula to have it come out like it felt while doing the slap and folds   It felt like around   75% hydration dough after 12 minutes of slap and folds.

We also did 3 sets of S& F’s on 15 minute intervals and incorporated the sprouts and aromatic seeds on the first set and the pumpkin seeds on the 2nd set.  By the 3rd set the add ins were evenly distributed.  We gave the dough a 15 minute rest and then shaped it into an oval and dropped it into an oval basket and immediately refrigerated it for 21 hours.

It rose about 70% in the fridge during retard and we let it come to room temperature and final proof fro 2 hours before being scored and baked in the mini oven with 2 of Sylvia’s steaming Pyrex cups which were heated to boiling in the microwave. 

The mini was heated to 500 F and the bread was un-molded onto parchment on a peel.  The bread was transferred to the mini oven’s broiler pan vented top, the 2 steaming cups added and the whole assembly was loaded into the mini oven.

After 3 minutes we turned the temperature down to 475 F since we know the oven reads 25 F higher than actual temperature.   After 12 more minutes of steamed baking we removed the cups and continued to bake lowering the temperature to 425 F - convection this time.  In 20 more minutes of rotating the bread 90 degrees every 5 minutes, the bread was deemed done when it reached 205 F on the inside.

It sprang fairly well in the oven and smelled wonderful with those aromatic seeds.  It browned nicely too - but no big blisters that the mini oven is so famous for –just small ones.  he crumb was soft and moist and the crust stayed crunchy shattering when cut.  You can definitely taste the tang of the Greek Yogurt and the buttermilk.  Our bread is usually tangy but this is a whole new and different kind if tang,  You can also taste the aromatic seeds in the background.  It was great toasted with butter and as a lunch sandwich.  I think I like the version using yogurt whey as the liquid better though.  Never really made a bread with Greek yogurt nad buttermilk before,nor have tasted one till now.  Glad I did and thanks Ian for the inspiration.

Formula