Double fermented oat porridge SD

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This week’s bake was an experiment for me!  Dab suggested fermenting the porridge mix that I add to the dough. I didn’t know that was even a thing, so of course I had to try it.

Here’s the formula:

 

Weight (g)

Final Dough

%

 

 

 

 

Levain (75% hydration)

             120

 

 

Water

 210

             262

67.3%

 

 

 

 

Flour

320

             388

100.0%

Unbleached white bread flour

              275

             275

70.8%

Whole wheat flour

               45

             111

28.6%

Rye flour

 

                 2

0.6%

 

  

 

 

Salt

                   10

               10

2.6%

 

 

 

 

Porridge

                 210

             210

54.1%

Sunflower seeds

               20

               20

5.1%

Pecans

               20

               20

5.1%

Oats

              170

             170

43.8%

 

 

 

 

Total dough weight

                 870

             870

 

Method:

1. 3 stage levain builds (all w/w flour) from 6g of NMNF rye starter, into the fridge overnight.

2. Toast 50 g rolled oats separately from the pecan and sunflower seeds.

3. The night before mixing, cook the oats over a low heat in 200g of water, until it’s a thick/stiff porridge. Mix 170g of the porridge with the seeds and crushed pecans. Leave to cool.

 

Mix 6g NMMF rye starter with 12 g of water and add to the cold porridge. Leave to ferment overnight (12 hours). [In the morning, It didn’t look like the porridge had done anything but it definitely smelled like something had happened! It smelled like my starter when its hungry, a sort of sweet sharp smell.]

4. Make the autolyse and leave overnight in the fridge.

5. 2 hours before mixing, take everything out of the fridge

6. Mix everything plus salt. Rest for 45mins.

 

7. 4 S&F at 45min intervals. Bulk ferment for 2.5 hours or until it’s got some good bubble action going. Pre shape, 30min rest. Shape, 1 hour on the counter, then into the fridge (19 hours).

8. Remove from fridge, score and bake at 240dC for 25mins with steam, then at 220dC for 25mins, turn off oven and leave loaf in for another 5mins. 

 

I knew the dough was over proofed as soon as i took it out of the basket #shameface. I decided to carry on anyway. 

The loaf sprang okay, but it spread more. I cut down the amount of levain i would normally use, but I think I needed to reduce the bulk fermentation because of the extra starter in the porridge. 

 

The crust is nice and crunchy. 

 What i am most pleased about is the taste! I was expecting to get a really sour loaf, but i didn't. Its actually quite mellow, but it has an enhanced flavour compared to the other porridge loaves i've made. It also has a subtle nuttiness in the background from the crushed pecans. I've tried to get that background nutty flavour with crushed toasted sesame seeds, which was great too, so i thought i'd give crushed pecans a try too. 

Overall, i like this double fermenting business. I'll try this again with a few tweeks to the recipe and see how it goes. maybe i'll try a double fermented polenta porridge loaf? 

 Happy baking :)

 

 

 

The results are excellent! I never would have guessed it was a bit over proofed. And I too would have thought it would be more sour, so it is a nice surprise that it wasn't.

Josey Baker does some double fermenting in his book. I remember doing one of his breads that used this. I will have to look back on my notes to see if I liked it. 

Well done!!!

You're so generous

Double fermenting was a pleasant surprise for me. My starter hasn't ever really produced super sour bread, I guess it just has a mellow personality :) but that's okay, I prefer it that way. 

If you try double fermenting again , let know how it goes.

Thanks again,

Happy baking

nuts in it you can enhance the flavor by getting toasted caraway, flax, sesame and what ever nut you are using into the levain.  I think it is the oats that keep the mix on the sweet side.  Oats are fast to break down from starch to sugar and there is some residual - a good thing to remember and why I like oats and potato in breads - potato brings softness to the crumb and in combination they are just killer in SD bread.  The fun part of making bread is the experimenting just to see what happens - sometimes it turns up new and interesting things when it doesn't flop:-).

This one spread a bit more likely for the reason you mention but the shape was still nice and it did pick itself off the the baking surface nicely.  It is the taste that makes all the difference and knowing how to influence it with all the ingredients we have at our disposal takes a lot of experimenting:-)

This one sounds and looks  terrific and has to taste great.  Well done and happy baking Ru007.

I'm looking forward to seeing how yours turns out. 

It'll be interesting to see if yours is quite tangy. I think my starter might just be shy! 

Happy baking. 

Great bake Ru!

I have not tried the fermented porridge yet and now it looks like I must do it soon :).  You may have to cut down on the water a little to get a better spring but other than that it looks real nice to me.  Try using milk in the porridge when you get a chance...it makes it even creamier and adds yet another layer of flavor.

Happy Baking.

Ian

You're too kind!

I'm definitely taking a page from your book and using either yoghurt or buttermilk in my next bake. It just depends on what I have in the fridge!

You know,I've been thinking back on what the dough felt like and I think I didn't shape it tightly enough. That may also be why it spread. Oh well! 

Happy baking.

That's very sweet of you :)

Thanks Runnerfemme, i appreciate your support. 

Happy baking.