50 Percent Whole Grain 10 Grain Sourdough – One with Cranberries and Seeds

This was festive around here this week.  Our daughter turned 23 yesterday so a more festive bread was in order.  We decided to go back to baking two smaller loaves instead of one larger one.  That way we could get two different breads, one plain and one festive, out of the same dough and one bake.  The festive one would be packed with fruit and seeds which Lucy says is way more festive than a plain loaf…. even if neither was a pumpernickel

No sprouts or scalds this week either.  We also dropped our usual hidden inclusion of ground flax and sesame seeds too.  But we did up the number of whole grains used to 10 and got the janetcook inspired whole corn back in there for the extra flavor it provides.  Lucy was going to go with a 9 grain bread but at the last minute decided to toss in some semolina she found somewhere lurking in her pantry.

We kept the hydration in the 85-86% range that we like for a 50% whole grain bread but this one turned out more slack than usual slack dough due to more lower or no gluten whole flours being used in higher percentages in the mix.  The sloppy mess finally stopped sticking to the counter for the most part at the end of first slap and fold session.

Another change we made was to cut the levain amount down to around 10% to make sure that the dough would not fully proof in the fridge after 10 hours so that we could let the dough warm up on the counter and not have to bake it right out of the fridge to see if the crumb and sour not would change for the better.

We did our usual 3 stage levain build from out multigrain stiff starter that has been refrigerated for 3 weeks now.  The entire counter time for the levain build was 12 hours but it was refrigerated for 24 hours one hour after the 3rd build to help bring out the sour and fit our baking schedule.

Once the levain came out of the fridge for its warm up and doubling to ensure it is at it peak before use, this gave us about 3 hours to autolyse the everything else except the levain, salt, cranberries and seeds.  We had soaked the cranberries earlier to plump them up and made sure there was some extra soaker water available to use as part of the dough liquid in the autolyse.  We did sprinkle the salt on top of the autolyse ball of dough  s we wouldn’t forget it later.

Once the salt was finally mixed in we added the levain mixing it in with a spoon before turning it out on the counter fir 3 sessions if slap and folds of 8, 1 and 1 minute on 12 minute intervals followed by 3 sets of  stretch and folds on 30  minute intervals.  The dough was divided before the 2nd set if S & F’s to separate out the 762 g plain loaf from the festive one.

We incorporated the cranberries, pumpkin and sunflower seeds into the festive loaf on the 2nd set of S&F’s and they were thoroughly distributed by the end if the 3rd set.  The 11% shown on the formula for these add ins is really twice as high since the formula is for the combined loaves and these festive add ins only went into one of the them.  That loaf was packed with fruit and seeds otherwise, as  Lucy said, it wouldn’t be festive enough.

We pre-shaped and then shaped this still pretty slack but no longer horribly sticky dough into a small boule and oval, plopping them into right sized rice floured baskets.  We bagged them and let them sit in the counter for an hour before refrigerating them for 10 1/2 hours.

After the dough came out of the fridge we let it warm upon the counter and finish proofing for 1 1/2 hours before removing them from the baskets onto parchment and peel at the same time.  After a quick slashing and sliding them into the hot oven preheated to 550 F regular bake on the lower of 2 stones as the temperature was lowered to 500 F.

The Birthday Girl's Breakfast Fritatta has two sausages, 3 cheeses, 4 peppers with red and green onion.

Mega steam was supplied for 14 minutes with 2 of Sylvia’s steaming pans and one of David Snyder’s lava rock pans – all half full of water.  2 minutes into the steam the temperature was lowered to 475 F for the final 10 minutes of steam.  Once the steam came out we lowered the temperature to 425 F – convection setting this time.  In a total of  25 minutes the plain bread read 2058 F on the inside and the festive one came in at 203.  So we baked them both a couple of minutes more until the seeded bread read 205 F.

They both browned up pretty well, with the plain one having small blisters and the festive on a little darker.  The plain one spread more than it sprang which was the opposite of the festive bread but both bloomed OK.  I think the hydration should have been a couple, or even 3, points lower for the plain version.  We will have to wait on the crumb shot til after lunch.

The crumb of the pain bread was much more open than the festive one as expected.  Th festive one was nuttier, seedier,sweeter and moister because of the fruit - also expected.   Both are Delicious in their own way.  Toasted and buttered  the fruity, seedy one is perfect for breakfast or brunch with no jam required at all.  The plain 50% whole grain version made for one of the best melted cheese and corned beef sandwiches of al time -  for lunch.  It is seriously hearty, healthy and flavorful bread. The festive one is just like it and possibly even more healthy with the nutrition of the seeds and cranberries.  We like both of these breads very much.  Lucy is taking a victory lap chasimng after the birds in the back yard intent on eating the tomatoes and unharvested grain. 

We love grilled yet nearly raw Ahi Tuna.

Formula

This apple, pear, blackberry and srawberry crisp has a blueberry and almond granola top.

These two loaves together cost $4.70 to make including energy costs.

Lucy is doing what she does best, resting while trying to think up next Friday's bake and she never forgets the salad