Multigrain SD Sprouted 2 Ways

After 3 weeks of baking fruit, nut and seed bread, Lucy had enough of these experiments and decided to go back to another experiment that she wasn’t quite happy with  the last outcomes. This bake goes back to the multigrain SD breads using home sprouted, dried and milled flour but also using the same sprouted multi-grains as whole berries.

We have been sprouting grains to make our own red and white malts for some time and have been using sprouted whole berries in bread for about as long with no problems.  But, when we tried using large amounts of sprouted flour in SD breads using our normal methods, things started to go wrong with gummy crumb, gluten structure breakdown and bread that wouldn’t spring and bloom like it should.

We finally said that if we were going to use our normal long; autolyse, retards of starter, levain and dough that we would have to keep the sprouted whole grains to 15% or less of the total flour if we wanted bread that looked like it should aesthetically.

The thing we liked most about sprouted grain breads is their unique and deep flavor – a taste that we couldn’t get any other way.  So we are going to have to work on a new method to get more sprouted whole grain in the mix without losing the sour, spring and bloom and getting a nice moist and open crumb that wasn’t gummy.

So we cut out the levain build retard and the bulk ferment entirely and cut down the autolyse to 45 minutes (no levain and no salt)  and dough retard down to 12 hours while upping the whole sprouted grain to 20% from 15%.  The overall whole grains remained at 50%.  This batch of 6 multi-grains, sprouted and un-sprouted, consisted of: spelt, einkorn, rye, wheat, Kamut and barley.

We upped the hydration to over 84% (which might have been a point or 2 too high) but it came together well by the end of the 3rd set of slap of folds of 8, 2 and 1 minute.  It quit sticking to the counter at the 8 minute mark and end of the first set.  We incorporated the whole berry sprouts during the first set of the compass point stretch and folds and they were incorporated by the end of the 3rd set.

4 meat chili with Mexican cornbread is perfect when the temperatures finally fall into the 80's during fall.

Once it was shaped and placed in a basket seam side up without any bulk ferment, it was bagged and placed into the fridge for a 12 hour retard.  The next day we took the dough out of the fridge as it looked like it was 80% proofed and would need a little counter time to be just right for baking.

A cool salad goes perfect with hot chili.

After an hour we fired up Big Old Betsy to 500 F and put the Mega Steam in once She beeped saying she was hot.  15 minutes later we up ended the dough onto parchment on a peel slashed it in a square and put the bread on the bottom stone for 15 minutes of steam.  After 2 minutes we turned the oven down to 450 F .

Once the steam was complete it was removed and the oven was turned down to 425 F convection and we continued to bake for another 20 minutes until the boule reached 205 F on the inside.   We left the bread on the stone with the door ajar after the oven was tuned off for 8 minutes to really crisp the crust before removing it to the cooling rack.

This bread turned that deep mahogany color we love so much, sported those little blisters on the skin.  It sprang and bloomed well too showing it hit the oven at about 87.5 % proof.   It is nice when everything comes together with a new recipe on the first go.   .

 Will have to wait on the crumb until later today.  The crumb came out very soft, open and moist,  Even though the bread was baked to 205F and hit 208 F sitting on the stone after the oven was turned off, it could have been baked to 210 F with no worries.  The taste was grand as the crust held its crispy character and the crumb was delightful;.  This is one of those really good breads you just can't get enough of.  Bake some sprouted grain bread to see how good it really is.

This bread made for a fine P&J sandwich with the usual salad, apple fruits and veggies .