Real Bread Week - Spreading 40% Sprouted Whole 4 Grain Bread with Sprouts

We had all kinds of milestones this week.  First off it was Lucy’s birthday.  She was 11 on Tuesday but as she says.... she really was Numero Uno twice that day.  She celebrated by rushing up the introduction of her newest bread product called ‘Lucy’s Bread Balm.’

She has been working on this one for a while and it is based on all the problems she sees that Fresh Lofians have with their breads and….. almost by magic cures them all.  Hard to believe I know but she swears by the stuff.

Oddly, the upper left is LaFama AP then clockwise is the whole sprouted 4 grain and the bottom right is the KA Bread Flour which is the whites of these flours.

Over or under proofed – no problem.  Forget to add something like the salt, starter or the yeast – no worries.  Bread won’t brown or browns too much – forget about it.  Too much water and spreads like a Frisbee or dry as a bone - piece of cake

Gummy crumb, no holes or flying roof -not to worry.  Bread won’t rise, tastes like cardboard, hard as a rock or worse, smells like a wet German Baking Apprentice 2nd Class - really not a problem at all.

It is very easy to use too.  It comes ready to use in a tooth paste tube.  What I used today was a prototype and it really was in a used tooth past tube.  All you do is rub or spread it on the finished bread while it is still warm and poof….. all the problems go away in an instant - even if there is more than one.  Pretty cutting edge goo for sure even though this goo doesn't really have an edge and I can’t think of any that do.

Better than genetically marked nanobots that attack and kill cancer cells in the human body without harming the non cancer cells while improving your IQ by 50 points if you ask me.  But it has to work.   Sadly, Lucy’s latest crap in the used toothpaste tube just didn't work for me at all today.  At least not the way I wanted it to.

It did goop up the outside of the loaf like Dippity Doo would if they still made the stuff.  Now the loaf catches flies like nobodies business.   So, all was not lost and luckily this is the fly season around here.  It is like magnet for the little buggers.

After a short while, the outside of the loaf took on a whole new look most of us haven’t seen before.  It was almost art in the most abstract way and getting better with every fly it caught!

Back to this week’s bake.  For Real Bread Week, we decided to bake real bread if there ever was such a thing and luckily there is.  Their website is full of what real bread is and is not so there isn't much left to chance.   But of course, Lucy’s recipe fell right into what is a real bread crack if there ever was one.

We had made yogurt earlier in the week and had planned on using the whey for the liquid in this sprouted SD bread.   But their definition of sourdough bread can only have sourdough in to make the sour, - no yogurt, no acids like vinegar allowed or anything else that makes a sour taste in the bread.  It sounds very strict.

Well Lucy doesn't think that yogurt whey is technically yogurt and yogurt whey wasn't listed explicitly as an absolute no no. But we decided to leave it out to be safe rather than being branded a cheater, traitor or worse a terrorist too stupid to understand the real bread rules by the Real Bread Baking World during Real Bread Week.  We have enough problems with flies around here as it is.

The levain used for this bread was the last of the 3 day old whole rye starter we made two weeks ago for the pumpernickel bake that was retarded for 2 weeks in the fridge at 36 F. It came in a 13% pre-fermented whole flour.   Even though it was very young and retarded early, it didn't seem to mind at all and was a vigorous as it was on day 3.  None of Lucy’s Bread Balm needed there.

The sprouted whole grains came up to 40% and with the 20 g of baked scald of whole rye, red and white malt at 100% hydration and with the 100% hydration whole rye starter the overall hydration came in at 78%.

We did our usual 2 hour autolyse with no levain or salt as the levain warmed on the counter.  Once everything cam together we did out usual 3 sets each of slap and folds and stretch and folds on 20 minute intervals.   The extra 65 grams (dry weight)  of 4 grain sprouts were incorporated on the first set of stretch and folds. 

Another version of the apple, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry and raspberry galette.

The sprouted dough flour and the sprouts were equal amounts of wheat, spelt, Kamut and rye.   The dough was pre-shaped into a squat oval and then shaped and placed into a rice floured oval basket and then immediately bagged in a used trash can liner and placed in the fridge for a 12 hour retard with no bulk ferment on the counter.

This is where things went terribly wrong.  Instead of a 12 hour retard it ended up being a bit under 18 hours.  At first glance I knew it was horribly over proofed.  Normally I would just have done a couple of stretch and folds, reshaped it and done the real final, final, proof on the counter but I had my secret weapon - Lucy’s Bread Balm - so no worries.

With CA apricots just hitting the produce store, how long can it be before we are making that Southern favorite - Apricot Hand Pies?.

Sure enough as soon as the dough was slashed it starting to spread faster then butter on a hot car hood in the AZ summer.  I covered it with the bottom of the WagnerWare MagnaLite turkey roaster and hoped for the best.  I also forgot to turn the oven down to 450 F from the 500 F preheat though.... so the first 18 minutes under the cloche, it was hotter than normal – no worries though..... I had Lucy’s Bread Balm at the ready.

In keeping with this week's thene of flat bread that taste great - the Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese Bread made a great anchor for this fine lunch sandwich plate,

When the lid came off it was true to form.  The dough had spread out to a typical oval Frisbee shape if they made oval Frisbees,  The higher temperature just made the spreading worse than a normal, massively over proofed loaf  12 minutes after the lid came off the bread seemed done with a total baking time of 30 minutes for this 1,000 g puddle of a loaf .

We love grilled salmon and it is extra special with grilled onions peppers and mushrooms with the first white corn of the season.

Will have to wait to lunch time to see how bad the crumb turned out.   At least the flies like it and we like that.  Looks flat, tastes great!  Looks flat, tastes great!  The crumb is a bit open if squished thinner than we like.  It is very moist and soft.  The taste is absolutely superb!  Thank goodness for small favors!  I ate 3 plain pieces of this bread before you could say Lucy's Bread Balm 3 times.  We love sprouted grains, baked scalds and the great bread they make ....even if shaped like an oval Frisbee.  Now Lucy has to back work on her bread balm improvements. 

The 10 g of whole rye and 5 g each of the red and white malt and the 20 g of water are not included in the above weight – total weight is 1,009 g.

And Lucy reminds us to not forget the salad!