Black Sesame Spelt Sourdough Bread.

I loved my last loaf but when I made it, my starter hadn’t been refreshed enough times to rev it up after my time away.  I loved the bread but thought it would be better with a more vigorous fermentation.  Things went much more as expected with this bake.  This took a total of 3 hours less time despite the same temperatures for fermentation. As well, the rise was much greater despite the shorter time, no surprise.  The final rise at the time of baking was 115%.

This bread is enriched only with honey and the toasted sesame oil.  Having said that, the addition of the ground black sesame seed should be considered an enrichment since there is a good amount of fat from the seeds that are released when the seeds are ground.  There is no dairy in the dough at all.  Instead of black sesame seeds in the dough, I used ground black sesame seeds.  I expect the crumb to have that lovely grey tone from the ground seeds and every bite will have the nutty notes from the ground black sesame seeds.  I haven’t sliced it yet, I’ll be back to post the crumb when I do.

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I didn’t update the spreadsheet, if you’re interested in baking this, substitute the same weight of ground black sesame seeds for the weight of the black and golden toasted sesame seeds in the spreadsheet.

For 1 loaf in a 9x4x4” Pullman pan.

Build stiff levain, ferment at 74°F for 10-12 hours overnight.

In the morning add the salt and honey to the water and dissolve.  Then add the levain and break down the levain as well as you can.  Add both the flours and mix well until no dry bits are left. After 10 mins of rest start gluten development with slap and folds or use your mixer.  Once the dough is well developed, while the mixer is running, drizzle in the toasted sesame oil until well incorporated.  Next gradually add the toasted ground sesame seeds until well incorporated.   Bench letterfold, remove aliquot, then at 30 mins intervals do coil folds until good structure is achieved.

Once the dough has risen 40% then shape the dough into a batard and place in prepared pan.

Final proof the dough until it has reached 1 cm of the rim of the pan.  pre-heat oven at 425°F and prepare for steam bake.

Once oven reaches 425ºF score top of dough and then brush with water.  Transfer to oven and bake with steam for 25 mins.  Vent the oven (remove steaming gear) rotate the pan and drop temperature to 350ºF.  Bake for another 25-30 mins rotating as needed until browned.  Remove from the pan and place directly on the rack baking for another 5-10 mins to firm up the crust.

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I didn’t like the prominent hump in my last loaf and wanted the slices of bread to be a bit more even in size.  I slightly modified my batard shaping in that there is less overlap in the initial “letter” fold of the dough prior to rolling it up.  I prefer this more even shape now and I’ll have to remember to do the same in the future.

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