Why not just use the flour of six grains? I guess for the same reason one mills flour fresh, but also I think the mediocrity of my blender is working with me here by creating variation in the size of particles. I get some noticeable bits, along with some flour soup.
Having found that cider doesn't seem to add much flavor to bread, and worrying its alcohol may have hindered fermentation, I thought I'd try milk. I was curious if the milk would curdle from the acidity of the dough, and if that would matter. When mixed into dough, is curdling even something that milk does?
The fat may be the more significant part of milk in bread. The crumb turned out tighter and more tender, less chewy. There's a definite milky aftertaste, that mucusy feeling like after eating a bowl of cereal. This loaf is basically granola as bread.
8:30pm toast 68 g oats, soak in 133 g cider and 3 g salt, refrigerate
9:00pm mix levain: 28 g starter, 33 g bread flour, 33 g water
9:00pm mix autolyze: 85 g oat flour, 340 g bread flour, 282 g cider
7:30am remove oats from fridge
8:15am knead together autolyze, levain, oats, and 9 g salt
8:50am S&F
9:30am S&F
10:15am S&F
11:15am S&F
12:25pm S&F
1:25pm S&F
3:50pm shape, coat outside with quick oats
7:20pm bake covered
7:40pm uncover
8:20pm done
5pm scald: 125 g bulgur, 210 g water, 3 g salt
6pm chill the scald
7pm autolyze: the scald, 270 g king arthur bread flour, 155 g water
9pm levain: 60 g 100% starter, 85 g bread flour, 85 g water
9pm refrigerate autolyze
7am take autolyze out of frige
8:30am knead levain and 8 g salt into autolyze
9am - 11:30am six sets of stretch and folds
3pm shape into banneton
6:30pm bake covered
6:50pm uncover
7:30pm done
If I hadn't just read about Tangzhong, what would I have thought about the bulgur that I cooked and pureed? I had to keep adding more and more water, until I had 4x the weight of the bulgur in there, and the consistency of wallpaper paste. I kept adding more because I hadn't realized what I had been making. You probably already know this, but bulgur is already cooked, a.k.a. already gelatinized. I'm not sure why anyone would want an overly complicated way of creating a tangzhong with a wheaty taste.
I bought a banneton because dough kept sticking to the floured cloth I was lining a bowl with. I've made two loaves with it and it hasn't stuck yet. The first was a 1 kg 30% whole wheat loaf, which I scored too shallowly to get the dramatic relief of my previous 1 kg loaf. It has the most even crumb of the sourdough loaves I've made. My loaves always have a dense area in the bottom middle. Probably that's where I'm pinching everything together when I'm shaping the boule, and popping all the bubbles from bulk fermentation.
