European Peasant Bread: Take 3

I haven’t done this bread since the spring so it was time to give it a shot with the slap and fold method that I have been using for the last little bit. I increased the amount of whole grain a bit to get a bigger and healthier loaf. Hoping that this isn’t too much for the 3 quart Dutch ovens I have. 

Recipe:

 Makes 3 loaves

200 g spelt berries

200 g rye berries

200 g Kamut berries

820 g unbleached flour

50 g freshly ground flax

950 g filtered water

26 g Himalayan pink salt

40 g local yogurt

280 g 100% hydration levain (procedure for this is in recipe)

 Two nights before:

1. Mill the kamut, spelt and rye berries and sift out the bran to feed the levain. Weigh the bran and set aside. Add enough fresh flour to the weight of bran to equal 140 g. Save the bran and this amount of flour for the levain. 
2. Place the remainder of the fresh flour in a tub. Add the unbleached flour and the freshly ground flax. Cover and reserve.
3. Remove 10 g of starter from your refrigerated starter and feed it 10 g of filtered water and 10 g of bran. Leave to rise overnight.

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of filtered water and 20 g of bran.

The night before:

1. Feed the levain 40 g of filtered water and 40 of bran/fresh flour. Let rise overnight. It makes a very thick mixture. 

Main dough:

1. Feed the levain 80 g of filtered water and 80 g of fresh flour. This should use up all of the flour saved for the levain. Let rise until double. Mine took about 5 1/2 hours at 73F.
2. A couple of hours before the levain is ready, mix together the water and the reserved flour/flax mix. If mixing by hand, I found it easier to first put in 850 g of water, mix as much as possible and then add the remaining 100 g of water. Sprinkle the pink salt on top for the autolyse. Let rest for 2 or so hours until your levain is ready.
3. Once your levain is ready, add it and the yogurt to the dough. Mix very well and let rest for 30 minutes.
4. Do three sets of French slaps and folds (70/40/10) at 30 minute intervals. Again on 30 minute intervals, do 2 sets of stretches and folds in the tub.
5. Let rest an hour at room temp (73F) and then retard the bulk for two and a half hours. The dough rose about 30%. Total bulk fermentation was 6 hours and 15 minutes (3.75 hours on the counter and 2.5 in the fridge). 
6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~875 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest one hour on the counter. 
7. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.
8. Sprinkle rice flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons, cover, let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, drop the temperature to 425F, and bake for another 17 minutes. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

Well, I guess I should reduce the amount of dough a bit since the loaves all have flat tops from hitting the lid! ? Otherwise, I am pleased with this version! Crumb shot when we cut into one.