I decided to bake Hamelman's 5 Grain Levain in a tin and mix in some AYW. This was in an attempt to get more oven spring, and prevent sagging sides. I used 20% AYW of total water, and shaped (somewhat unsuccessfully) for a tin. The result was quite pleasing, but I suspect the tin resulted in a slightly gummy crumb, so next time I will remove the loaf and bake free-form for the final 10 minutes. I also used baking spray on the loaf top to prevent the plastic bag from sticking during retard. This resulted in a very dark top crust, which I will "pass" with my next bake.
Joe
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Love the seed-studded crust and the yummy-looking crumb. That's gonna.toast up royally. Enjoy it and keep on baking!
Carole
That was my reaction when I saw your loaf. I absolutely love all the seeds on the outside. Yum!
... dear friends, for your kind remarks :-). I substituted cracked rye (rarer than hens' teeth here) with freekeh that I bashed up in my small Bosch coffee bean grinder, which added a delicious nuttiness to an already tasty bread.
Beautiful bake. I see no evidence of gumminess. But this is a moist recipe with gooey additives in flax and rolled grains. That's what gives it the mother of all keeping quality--and flavor.
the oil spray issue you talked about has happened to me in the past. Oil is a much better conductor of heat than just the air in your oven