Those who know me know that adding seeds especially black sesame seeds is one of my favorite inclusions to add to my sourdough breads. For this loaf I’ve added poppy seeds, toasted sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I’ve used my country sourdough recipe except that I’m trying a new flour which as you know is always a challenge. I’m using Anita’s Organic All Purpose Flour for all of the white flour in this loaf. It has a protein of around 12% so it should be up to the challenge of a bread. As you know, Canadian flours are pretty strong so even most of the AP flours are strong enough for bread. I also did a gluten test on this flour and found it more extensible than the bread flour I usually use but less absorbent of water. I’ve reduced the hydration to 78% because of that change, but otherwise it is my usual country loaf with 15% whole red fife and 5% rye. The pre-fermented flour is 9% and the seeds totaled 10%. Because I’ve been overproofing lately I didn’t go for quite as much bench proofing before cold retard especially since I’m not that familiar with this flour, so I only allowed a 45 min bench proof. Given the size of the baked loaf I’m thinking it won’t have my coveted lacy crumb that I so elusive to me. I hope over time with this extensible flour that I’ll find the sweet spot for lacy crumb.
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Nice bake Benny! Seed combination sounds great, and it looks like you still had a great bloom and oven spring even with all the inclusions.
Thank you Troy, yes I do like my seeds and they are tasty inclusions that make most bread even better. I was anxious when I lifted the lid of the dutch oven, I’m not used to this flour. I did perform a gluten strength test on it and found it is far more extensible than my usual bread flour, but found it didn’t seem to absorb as much water. I’d usually do 80% hydration with this formula and was worried dropping by 2% would be enough. However, since I don’t usually soak my seeds I figured they’d absorb some of the water so if I went a touch high they might help compensate. I’ll slice this soon and get the crumb photos up.
Benny
Ok not so lacy, that’s still elusive, however, I’m still quite pleased with the crumb, it is even and free of excessively large alveoli from trapped air which I find mar a crumb. I’m going to need to get used to this flour and find its limits of fermentation, I could have kept the dough out longer on the counter after shaping, longer than the 45 mins I gave it. I got chicken and was worried that since the flour was a bit weaker than my usual that it might overproof more easily.
What's a gluten test though?
It is something that Kristen of FullProofBaking does that I decided I needed to try. The idea is that you can compare the strength of different flours by mixing them at a chosen hydration, giving them a few hours to autolyze and develop some gluten passively. Finally you stretch them out on your countertop and see how well they stretch. The weaker ones will tear easily while stronger ones will stretch well without tearing. In this case I wanted to see how well this new AP flour did compared to my standard bread flour at a higher protein percentage compared with a low protein AP flour of only10%. I did the test at 80% because that is often the hydration I’ll use when using the bread flour. The test result surprised me in that the new AP flour was more extensible than the bread flour. However, it did feel like it was too wet and I thought at a lower hydration it would be stronger. The 10% one did very poorly as you can imagine at 80% hydration.
I've found it on her YouTube channel now.
Wow, look at that crumb! It is so beautiful. I also love the blistery crust. Very well done Benny.
Thank you very much Peter. I do want to push bulk and proof with this dough next time I bake with it though. Always tinkering…
I love that close up shot of the glossy interior - damn you Canadians and your mighty fine flours!
Thank you Jon, that is kind of you to say. I do like a glossy crumb as well. The four seed combination really adds a lot to the flavour of this bread.
Benny
That’s a great crust and pretty close to perfect crumb for most mere mortals!
Happy baking Benny😋
Thank you Ian, I hope are well and keeping safe. Happy baking yourself.
Benny