Hamelman Harvest Bread with cranberries, raisins, and walnuts

I searched but could not find a posting on Hamelman’s Harvest Bread so I thought I’d post my experience. I baked a test loaf to see if I wanted this for Thanksgiving. I have gotten so much help and inspiration from this site over the years and I would like to extend my deepest thanks to all you bakers.

This bread requires a levain build that uses a stiff starter. I converted my 125% refrigerated starter to a stiff starter in the evening and fed again 12 hours later so that the starter was ready for the levain the following evening. (I converted my 125% starter to a 60% stiff starter using this spreadsheet convert sourdough starters.The spreadsheet was created using wayne on FLUKE’s text from his .csv file.)

The recipe also calls for a bit of yeast – I used slightly more than ½ teaspoon, ~ 1.65 grams of active dry yeast for ~ 750 grams of dough.

I opted to toast the walnuts in a 300 F degree oven for 14 minutes, turning them over a couple of times to make sure they didn’t burn. The other mix-ins were golden raisins and dried cranberries. I did not soak these.

I lowered the percentage of whole wheat (Bob’s Red Mill) from 40 to 30% to account for my husband’s tastes.

The recipe calls for 78% hydration, but the dough seemed a little too wet, maybe because I lowered the percentage of whole wheat or maybe because it was a bit humid here in San Diego. I added 8 grams of AP (King Arthur’s), which lowered the hydration to 76% and that did the trick, although it remained a very sticky dough. My final dough temp wasn’t quite at the 76 degrees, but it was close.

I bulk fermented for 2 hours (Hamelman: 1.5 – 2 hours) with a fold halfway through the bulk fermentation. I took the dough out of the bowl for the fold because I thought it needed more strength than I would have gotten with a bucket fold.

I pre-shaped, rested for 15 minutes, and shaped a boule. I did the final fermentation as best as I could at 75 degrees F using my microwave with the light on for 1 ¼ hours. (Hamelman: 1 – 1.5 hours).

I baked with normal steam on a stone at 460 F for 15 minutes, lowered temp to 420 F for remaining bake. Total bake was 38 minutes. 

My takeaways:

1. I think the bread should have risen more. I probably did not let the levain get to its full ripeness, which Hamelman indicates is key, especially for a stiff starter.  

2. I used scissors to score the bread – it was ok, but my scoring always leaves something to be desired. 

3. Fruit and nuts were not evenly distributed, but that did not detract from the taste.

4. This is a delicious bread with what I think is the right amount of chew. Hamelman says the complete flavor spectrum runs from the bitterness of the whole wheat to the sweetness of the raisins and sweet/tart cranberries and then to the crunch of the walnuts. He’s right – the taste is terrific. Next time I will use pecans because my hubby is not crazy about walnuts.

A piece is missing from the boule photo below because I forgot to take a photo before I ate some.