Whole Multigrain Sourdough Loaf

This bread is similar to the one we made two weeks ago that was whole wheat, spelt and farro.  We milled the grains and fed the 25% sifted portion to the starter to make the levain - last time we had a 78% extraction.  My starter doesn’t seem to mind these slim pickings.

We upped the hydration from 90% to 100% this time since the dough was working so well the last time.  We love the 75% extraction flour so much we will have to make plain bread out of this beautifully tanned flour mix to see what it tastes like as tan bread.  No unbleached store bought flour can compare to this beautiful flour.

Instead of making a boil out of the berries for this bread, my apprentice found, in the freezer, a gruel made up of various grains, beans and lintels that we had liked in the Ezekiel bread so, we used that instead for the chew in the crumb.

Since the boil was smaller than we wanted, we upped the toasted flax and sesame seed add in mix trying to compensate.   We lowered the salt, Toadies, red and white malts and the VWG a little bit too.   We panned this one up and put some sesame and poppy seeds on the outside to make it stand out.

We did our usual 3 stage levain build from out WW and Rye 66% hydration starter that had been refrigerated at least a week.  We continued our recent practice of a 24 hour levain retard after the 3rd feeding. 

We did a 3 hour autolyse of the dry ingredients and sprinkled the salt on top so we didn’t forget it.  12 minutes of slap and folds were the rule after the autolyse and the levain came together.   3 sets of stretch and folds were used  on 15 minute intervals where the gruel and the seeds were incorporated on the first one.

After starting out as a pretty wet glob, it did come together nicely but was still pretty wet.  Since it is summer, we didn’t let the dough ferment on the counter but put it directly into the fridge after placing it in an oiled bowl where it withstood the cold for 16 hours well and nearly doubled..

After letting it warm up on the counter for 45 minutes the next morning we shaped it while still cold into a loaf and pressing the white and brown poppy and sesame seeds into the top of the loaf before  panning it.   Anywhere around 1,000 g seems to be the right size for my large loaf pan that was sprayed with canola oil before the dough was loaded in.

After 2 3/4 hours of final proof on the counter in a used trash can liner, it had doubled and was ready for the mini oven that was preheated to 500 F.  We prepared 2 of Sylvia’s steaming cups, with dish rag inside and half full of water, in the microwave.

We like this set up with a streaming cup in back and one in front because it centers the tin right in the middle of the mini oven where the bread is not over the bottom coils nor under the top coils so  burning from being too close to the coils is reduced.

After 2 minutes under the heat we reduced the temperature to 450F and continued to steam for another 10 minutes.  We removed the steam and turned the oven down to 425 F - convection this time.  5 minutes into the dry bake the tin was rotated 180 degrees on the rack.

At the 10 minute dry baking mark we removed the bread form the tin, rotated it 180 degrees again and continued to bake right on the oven rack rotating every 5 minutes until the loaf hit 205 F on the inside when it was removed to the cooling rack -  a total of 23 minutes dry baking and 12 minutes of steam for 35 minutes total.

 It didn’t burn on the top but browned up nicely instead - something you have to watch closely in the mini oven.  The baked seeds on the surface made the kitchen smell terrific. The crumb turned out very open of a 100% whole grain bead.  It was very moist and soft .  The crust hasn't gone totally soft as it cooled either.  This might be the best tasting bread we have ever managed to bake.  This fine bread has a very deep wheat flavor and aroma.  The seeds really made the crumb and crust tasty.  This bread has a great tang that should get better tomorrow.  We cant stop eating this bread and have tasted this bread bread toasted with butter, plain and on a sandwich.  All were just terrific.   

Formula