Danni3ll3's blog

I’ve been drooling over the beautiful breads that David has been producing with extended retardation and his description of “severely yummy” was very enticing. So I stayed true to his recipe and method aside from using strong bakers unbleached flour for all the white flour and adding 30 g of yogurt to tenderize the crust. The whole grain flours were freshly milled and I used Selkirk wheat berries for the whole-wheat. I did not sift out the bran as per my usual practice. The first batch was retarded 17 hours and the second batch a bit more than 18 hours. Here is the link to David’s recipe: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/59782/todays-bake-3312019#comment-435200

The loaves are super light and had really good oven spring. I can’t wait to see the crumb and taste it. 

I had a huge bag of apricots and decided to use them in a bread. Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered. ? I remember another time using apricots and the loaves bombing. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves 

Soaker

125 g Rolled Oats

250 g Boiling Water

Dough

800 g Unbleached Flour 

200 g High extraction Spelt Flour (230 g Spelt berries)

540 g Water + 50 g

22 g Salt 

30 g Yogurt

250 g Levain

100 g Pecans (chopped)

150 g Dried Apricots (chopped and a tsp of flour addd to prevent sticking)

Mid afternoon the day before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of bran or wholewheat flour. Let rise in a warm place. 
2. Mill the Spelt berries and sift to obtain the needed amount of high extraction flour. Save the bran for the levain or another use. 
3. Place 200 g of the high extraction flour in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. Cover and set aside.

The night before:

1. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of AP flour flour including any left over high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of AP flour and let rise 5-6 hours in a warm spot. 
2. Place the rolled oats in a bowl and pour the boiling water over the oats. Cover and let cool. 
3. Two hours before the levain is ready, mix the 540 g of water with the oat soaker on the lowest speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until the mass has been loosened up. Add the flour and mix on speed 2 until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes just a minute or two. Autolyse for a couple of hours.
4. Once the levain is ready (mine was starting to recede), add the salt, the yogurt and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes. Add the last 50 g of water gradually. A minute or so before the end of the 5 minutes, add the apricots and the pecans.
5. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes. 
6. Do 4 sets of folds at 30 minute intervals, then do another 2 sets an hour apart. Let rise an additional hour if the dough seems to be developing slowly like mine was. I placed the dough in a warm spot for the last 3 hours as it didn’t seem to be getting puffy and aerated. Place the dough in a cold fridge for 3 hours. The dough rose about 25%. 
7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~835 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest one hour on the counter. 
8. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
9. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for at least an hour on the counter. I let mine go for an hour and 45 minutes or so. This dough is very firm due to the amount of add-ins so it needs a head start on proofing before refrigerating overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. I felt the loaves needed more proofing so I placed them in the counter while the oven was heating. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

Well, I sure hope they taste good to make up for the lack of oven rise! Not terribly impressed at all! They look better in photos than in real life. ? Note to self: Give up on apricots and bread. 

I considered joining in on the community bake but looking through past ideas, I came across a bake that I had adapted from Mutant Space’s recipe. At the time, one of my friends said was one of the best breads she had ever tasted. 

It has a lot of similarities to the community bake loaf as it also uses an oat porridge. The notes in that thread were very helpful. I was very careful to cook the oats on low to retain the creaminess. However, this recipe also has honey, butter, flax, sesame and sunflower seeds. I also used  Einkorn as part of the flour as I have quite a bit of it and I haven’t used it much at all. 

Hopefully it turns out as well as the first time I made it. 

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves of ~975 g

740 oat porridge 

Porridge

225 g rolled oats

360 g water

90 g honey

75 g butter

Add-ins

75 g raw Sesame seeds

75 g raw Sunflower seeds

Dough

650 g unbleached flour

200 g high extraction Red Fife flour (250 g Red Fife berries)

210 g high extraction Einkorn flour (250 g Einkorn berries)

75 g flax, freshly ground

550 g water

25 g salt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

75 g extra water

The afternoon before:

1. Mill the Red Fife and  Einkorn berries and sift to obtain the needed amount of high extraction flours. Place the required amounts in a tub. Save the bran for feeding the Levain and for another use such as bran muffins. Reserve any leftover high extraction flour for feeding the Levain in the evening and the next day. 
2. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. 
3. Grind the flax seeds in a bullet and add to the tub. Cover and set aside.
4. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g bran. Let rise in a warm place. 

The night before:

1. Add the water to the rolled oats and cook on low for about 16 minutes. When the porridge is creamy, add the butter and the honey. Stir well and put into the fridge for the night. This can be done in the morning if you wish.
2. Toast the sesame and sunflower seeds in a dry frying pan or in the oven at 350 F. They are done when lightly golden and fragrant. Reserve.
3. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough Making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of high extraction flour/AP flour and let rise 4-5 hours in a warm spot. 
2. Two hours or so before the levain is ready, put 550 g filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub as well as the porridge.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for at least a couple of hours at room temperature. 
3. Once the levain is ready, add the salt and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 5 minutes. If the dough is too stiff, add the additional water while mixer is running. I definitely needed the extra water. At the end of the 5 minutes, add the toasted sesame seeds and sunflower seeds and mix til incorporated.
4. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes at room temperature (73F). 
5. Do 4 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals, then let the dough rise for an hour. I normally do another 2sets of folds but life interfered and the dough went into the fridge early. When I got home about 90 minutes later, I gave it another fold and a bit more counter time until I had to go out again, and it went back into the fridge. By the time I got home, the dough was really cold, stiff and had risen about 30%. 
6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~975 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and I let it rest almost a couple of hours on the counter letting it warm up. It still felt pretty stiff when I did the final shaping. Hopefully I will be making bread and not bricks in the morning. 
7. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities or big bubbles. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
8. Sprinkle half rice/half AP flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover with plastic bowl cover or shower caps. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 8-9 hours. I debated letting it proof at room temperature but by this time, it was 2:30 am so in the fridge it went. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Then take the loaves out of the fridge. The loaves didn’t look quite proofed so I let the first batch warm up on the counter for 45 minutes first. At the same time, I took out the second batch out of the fridge to finish proofing so they spent about an hour an a half on the counter. 
2. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
3. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

Well I was right, these first loaves were definitely underproofed. The first batch ended up with craters and canyons on the surface from the explosive oven spring. 

I should have also read up about Einkorn first. It would have prepared me for a few of its quirks! ?

This is basically a Pain de Campagne but with a bit more whole grain. I figured that a fairly plain loaf, meaning no add-ins aside from the flax, would go well with an Easter Dinner meal. 

Recipe:

 Makes 3 loaves

150 g high extraction spelt flour (200 g Spelt berries)

150 g high extraction rye flour  (200 g rye berries)

150 g high extraction Kamut flour (200 g Kamut berries)

820 g unbleached flour

50 g freshly ground flax (50 g flax seeds)

950 g filtered water

24 g Himalayan pink salt

30 g local yogurt

250 g 100% hydration levain (procedure for this is in recipe)

 The afternoon before:

1. Mill the Spelt , Rye and  Kamut berries and sift to obtain the needed amount of high extraction flours. Place the required amounts in a tub. Save the bran for feeding the Levain and for another use such as bran muffins. Reserve any leftover high extraction flour for feeding the Levain in the evening and the next day. 
2. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. 
3. Ground the flax seeds in a bullet and add to the tub. Cover and set aside.
4. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g bran. Let rise in a warm place. 

The night before:

1. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of high extraction flour/AP flour and let rise 4-5 hours in a warm spot. 
2. Two hours or so before the levain is ready, put 950 g filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for at least a couple of hours at room temperature. 
3. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 5 minutes. 
4. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes at room temperature (73F). 
5. Do 4 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals, then do two more sets on hourly intervals. Immediately after the last fold, place the dough in the fridge for 4 hours. The dough almost doubled. 
6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~860 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 60 minutes on the counter. 
7. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities or big bubbles. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
8. Sprinkle half rice/half AP flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover with plastic bowl cover or shower caps. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Then take the loaves out of the fridge. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

Oops! They hit the lid so the tops are flat. That will probably affect the crumb. ?I need to remember to use less flour next time! 

Ken Forkish has a Pain au Bacon that I used to make a few years ago. My daughter mentioned that I hadn’t made any in quite a while so it was time to revisit adding bacon to bread and adding caramelized onions for good measure. 

The bacon was baked in the oven to make it easier since I was cooking 3 lbs of it! (4 batches of this recipe). ? 

As to the caramelized onions, I make a huge quantity in a crockpot and freeze them in ice cube trays. This comes in super handy since caramelizing onions is normally such a long process. 

 Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add-ins

120 g crumbed bacon (~350 g raw)

85 g caramelized onions (or the equivalent of one large onion)

Dough

750 g strong bakers unbleached flour

200 g high extraction Red Fife flour (~250 g Red Fife berries)

100 g high extraction durum flour (~150 g durum berries)

50 g buckwheat flour (50 g buckwheat groats)

825 g filtered water

22 g pink Himalayan salt

30 g plain yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra bran and AP flour to feed the Levain. 

Early afternoon the day before:

1. Cook the bacon until fairly crisp and crumble it. I cooked mine in the oven to make the process a bit easier. Crumble, cover and reserve.
2. Thaw the caramelized onions if you have some frozen in advance. (Otherwise, slice one large onion and caramelize slowly on the stove with 1 tbsp of olive oil and a bit of butter as well as a pinch of salt.) Cover and reserve.
3. Mill the buckwheat groats for the main dough and place in a tub.
4. Mill the Red Fife and durum berries and sift to obtain the needed amount of high extraction flours. Place the required amounts in the tub with the buckwheat flour. Save the bran for feeding the levain. Reserve the leftover high extraction flour for feeding the Levain in the evening and the next day. 
5. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. Cover and set aside.
6. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g bran. Let rise in a warm place. 

The night before:

1. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of durum/AP flour and let rise 4-5 hours in a warm spot. 
2. Two hours or so before the levain is ready, put 825 g filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature. 
3. Remove the caramelized onions and bacon from the fridge and leave on the counter to come to room temperature.
4. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 5 minutes. 
5. About half way through the final five minutes, add the caramelized onions and the crumbled bacon.
6. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes at room temperature (73F). 
7. Do 4 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals, then do two more sets on hourly intervals. Immediately after the last fold, place the dough in the fridge for 4-5 hours. I was gone for 5 hours. The dough rose ~75%.
8. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~810 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 60 minutes on the counter. 
9. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities or big bubbles. The dough was very poofy! Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
10. Sprinkle half rice/half AP flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover with plastic bowl cover or shower caps. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 8-9 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Then take the loaves out of the fridge. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

I just had an idea for when I do this again. Perogy Sourdough! I just need to add some mashed potato and some old cheddar cheese, and there you go! Hum... This might happen sooner than later!

I was checking out my bookmarks to see what to make next and Antony Power’s Irish Stout, oats and cheddar cheese sourdough really appealed to me. I scaled it for 3 loaves, used a bit more whole grain, added a bit of yogurt and changed the method to follow my usual procedure. I hope it turns out as well as his.

Soaker

180 g oats

300 g stout beer (Sawdust City Skinny Dippin' Stout)

Dough

720 g Unbleached flour 

200 g high extraction (sifted) Selkirk wheat flour (270 g Selkirk berries)

100 g high extraction (sifted) Rye flour (120 g Rye berries)

600 g water 

26 g Pink Himalayan salt 

30 g yogurt

250 g Levain (procedure in recipe)

125 g 2 Year Old White Cheddar, finely cubed 

Extra unbleached flour to feed the levain

Mid afternoon the day before:

1. Mill the Selkirk and Rye berries and sift to separate the high extraction flour from the bran.
2. Place 200 g of sifted Selkirk wheat flour and 100 g of sifted rye flour in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. Cover and set aside. 
3. Save the bran and the left over high extraction flours for feeding the levain. 
4. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of the reserved bran. Let rise in a warm place. 

The night before:

1. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.
2. Cut the cheese into very small cubes, sprinkle with a bit of flour, toss and place covered into the fridge.

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of high extraction/AP flour and let rise 4-5 hours in a warm spot. 
2. The plan was to mix the soaker together and cover. Then two hours or so before the levain is ready, to put the soaker in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the water. And using a dough hook, to mix to loosen the mass and add the flours from the tub.  
3. Well, I forgot to soak the oats in the stout and I went out. I didn’t realize this until I got home. So the stout, the water, the oats and the flours all went in together for the autolyse. 
4. Mix on the lowest speed until you have a shaggy dough with no dry spots. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature. 
5. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed up for 5 minutes. About half way through the 5 minutes, add the cheese cubes.
6. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with the door cracked open and the lights on). 
7. Do 4 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals, then do two more sets on hourly intervals. After the last fold, place the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours. The dough rose about 40%.
8. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of 850 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 60 minutes on the counter. 
9. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities or big bubbles. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can. I must say that the dough felt super nice! 
10. Sprinkle half rice/half AP flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. ?

When I put in my order of grains from Daybreak Mills, I included a bag of Buckwheat. Tartine 3 has a recipe for Toasted Buckwheat Groats with Crème fraîche so I took my inspiration from there. Having a litre of local yogurt in the fridge, I subbed it out for the crème fraîche, used durum wheat and some Buckwheat flour instead of what he called for, and also cut back on hydration.  The formula was also adjusted for 3 loaves.  

 Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add-ins

150 g Buckwheat Groats, toasted

Warm water to soak

50 g Yogurt

Dough

600 g strong bakers unbleached flour

400 g high extraction durum flour (500 g durum berries, milled and sifted)

100 g buckwheat flour (100 g buckwheat groats, milled)

50 g freshly ground flax

800 g water

25 g pink Himalayan salt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra bran and AP flour to feed the Levain. 

Mid afternoon the day before:

1. Toast the groats for the add-ins in a dry frying pan or the oven, and reserve for the next day.
2. Mill the buckwheat groats for the main dough and place in a tub.
3. Mill the durum berries and sift to obtain the needed amount of high extraction flour. Save the bran for feeding the levain. 
4. Place 400 g of high extraction durum flour in the tub and add the unbleached flour to it as well as the freshly ground flax. Cover and set aside. Reserve the leftover high extraction flour for feeding the Levain in the evening and the next day. 
5. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g bran. Let rise in a warm place. 

The night before:

1. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g high extraction durum flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Early in the morning, feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of durum/AP flour and let rise 4-5 hours in a warm spot. Mine doubled in 4 hours but I waited 5 hours because I wanted the autolyse to last a couple of hours. 
2. Two hours or so before the levain is ready, put 800 g water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature. 
3. At the same time, soak the toasted groats in hot water for a half hour. They soaked up a lot of water. And I mean a lot! After the time is up, drain well and mix in the yogurt. Once the yogurt was mixed in, I started worrying about hydration thinking maybe I’ll be making soup instead of dough. Cover and set aside until the levain is ready.
4. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the Buckwheat Groats mixture, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed up for 5 minutes. Amazingly, the dough pulled together nicely and didn’t turn into soup!
5. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes at room temperature (73F). 
6. Do 4 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals, then do two more sets on hourly intervals. Note that the dough was very loose initially , but I just kept folding during the first set until the dough pulled together and I couldn’t do another fold. The dough felt great for the remaking sets. After the last fold, which I did 20 minutes early because the dough seemed to be rising fairly quickly, place the dough in the fridge for 4 hours. The dough rose 50-60%.
7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~885 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 45-60 minutes on the counter. 
8. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities or big bubbles. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
9. Sprinkle half rice/half AP flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

The oven spring could have been a tad better especially when I increased the amount of flour compared to my usual base amount. I guess all that water that the groats absorbed had a bit of a negative effect. Next time, I need to add just enough water to cover the Groats and not add extra when it gets absorbed. 

One thing I am noticing since we have been getting warmer weather (barely above 0C (32F) but better than -20C!), is that my dough seems to be moving a lot faster than in the depths of winter even though it is the same temperature in the house. I even bulked this one in the counter to try to slow it down. Anyone else notice that the seasons affect bulk and proofing even though it’s the same room temperature?

While searching for ideas on what to include in my next batch of 12 loaves, I came across this: http://www.25bestbakers.com/recipes.html?ID=12. I had all the ingredients on hand so with a few minor tweaks in ingredients from the recipe and using my usual procedure, here it is:

Recipe 

Makes 3 loaves of ~870 g raw weight each

Sprouts

75 g quinoa (I used half red, half white quinoa)

75 g kamut berries

Water, enough to soak

Dough

900 g strong bakers unbleached flour

115 g high extraction Spelt flour (135 g Spelt berries)

125 g high extraction kamut flour (145 g Kamut berries)

860 g water

50 g freshly ground flax seeds

30 g yogurt

26 g Pink Himalayan salt, 26g

145 g sprouted quinoa, coarsely ground

115 g sprouted kamut, coarsely ground

250 g 100% hydration levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra bran and flour for feeding the levain

3 days before:

1. Place 75g organic quinoa and 75g organic kamut in a clear container, cover completely with room temperature water and soak for 3-4 hours. Drain well and rinse. Keep on counter and rinse every 8 hours or so. When you see the grains beginning to sprout, place them in the fridge until needed. This took about a day and a half for me. I never did see any sprouts on the red quinoa and the white sprouted very erratically. I forged on anyhow. The Kamut on the other hand sprouted very nicely!

Mid afternoon the day before:

1. Mill the berries and sift to obtain the needed amounts of high extraction flours. Save the bran for dusting the baskets, feeding the levain as well as for another use such as Cranberry Banana Bran Muffins: http://cutterlight.com/2015/07/05/cranberry-banana-bran-muffins/amp/
2. Place the high extraction flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it as well as the freshly ground flax. Cover and set aside.
3. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g bran. Let rise in a warm place. 

The night before:

1. Rinse the sprouts, grind them in a food processor and place back into the fridge. (This step also can be done in the morning).
2. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of AP flour flour including any left over high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of AP flour and let rise 4-5 hours in a warm spot. I found that the inclusion of high extraction flour the night before really sped up the levain. It was already on the way down when I used it. 
2. Two hours before the levain is ready, mix 860 g water with the flours on the lowest speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until all the flour has been hydrated. This takes a couple of minutes. Autolyse for a couple of hours.
3. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, the yogurt, the sprouts and the levain to the bowl. Mix on one for a minute to integrate everything, mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes. 
4. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes. 
5. Do 4 sets of folds at 30 minute intervals, then do another set an hour later. About 40 minutes later, the dough was rising quite quickly so I gave it another fold and placed the dough in the fridge. It stayed there for 4 hours. The dough almost doubled. I prefer a 25-50% rise but oh well... 
6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~870 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 
7. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities or big bubbles. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
8. Sprinkle half rice/half AP flour, and then bran (I forgot the bran!) in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

These used a bit more flour than my usual base of ~1100 grams so I got slightly bigger boules. I was a bit worried that they wouldn’t fit in my pots, but the loaves had plenty of room to spring nicely. I am very pleased with these. Hopefully the crumb is as nice as the outside. 

No story! Just needed to use up some of my stash! ?

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Seed Soaker

50 g Sesame seeds (I used half black and half white)

30 g Amaranth seeds

30 g Millet seeds

70 Sunflower seeds

30 g Buckwheat groats

175 g room temperature water

30 g plain yogurt

Main dough

600 g strong baker’s unbleached flour

150 g high extraction Selkirk flour (175 g berries)

150 g high extraction Red Fife flour (175 g berries)

100 g high extraction Rye flour (115 g berries)

50 g freshly ground flax seeds

600 g water + 50 g

22 g Pink Himalayan salt

250 g levain (Procedure in recipe)

Extra bran or wholewheat flour for levain builds

Mid afternoon the day before:

1. Take 18 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 18 g of filtered water and 18 g of bran or wholewheat flour. Let rise in a warm place. 
2. Mill the berries and sift to obtain the needed amount of high extraction flour. Save the bran for the levain or another use. 
3. Place the required amounts of the high extraction flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 
4. Add the freshly round flax seeds to the flours. Cover and set aside.

The night before:

1. Toast all the seeds either in the oven or in a dry frying pan until fragrant. Be careful not to burn them. Cool.
2. Add the room temperature water and the yogurt to the cooled seeds. Cover and leave on the counter overnight to ferment.
3. Before going to bed, feed the levain 36 g of water and 36 g of AP flour flour including any left over high extraction flour. Let that rest in a warm spot overnight.

Dough making day:

1. Feed the levain 72 g of filtered water and 72 g of AP flour and let rise 6 hours in a warm spot. 
2. An hour or two before the levain is ready, mix the water with the flour and seed soaker, and mix on speed 2 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let sit until the Levain has doubled. 
3. Once the levain is ready, add the salt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a couple of minutes to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes.  I added the extra 50 g of water here because I felt the dough was too stiff. 
4. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes. 
5. Do 4 sets of folds at 30 minute intervals, then do another set an hour later. Let rise for another hour then place the dough in a cold fridge for 3 hours. The dough rose just over 50%. 
6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~800g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest one hour on the counter. 
7. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Shape the dough by “cinching“. Then cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make as tight boule as you can.
8. Sprinkle rice flour, then extra sunflower seeds and sesame seeds in the bannetons (Oops! I forgot to do this!). Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully but quickly place the dough seam side up inside. 
2. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 17 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

Everyone loves cinnamon raisin bread but I was leery of making some because of the negative effects of cinnamon on yeast. This is a shot at it adapting the recipe from Bourke’s Bakery Spiced Fruit  loaf. 

Makes 3 loaves of about 845 g raw weight 

 INGREDIENTS

700 g unbleached flour

200 g high extraction Durum flour (Mill 230 g Durum berries and sift. Save the bran for the levain.)

650 g filtered water

180 g golden raisins (or sultanas)

180 g Thompson raisins

40 g plain yogurt

50 g honey

16 g ground cinnamon

20 g salt 

465 g of 3 stage levain (100% hydration)(Procedure in recipe)

Extra bran and AP flour to feed the levain.

The afternoon before:

1. To 32 g of your starter, feed 32 g of bran/wholewheat flour and 32 g of filtered water. 

The night before:

1. Mill the durum berries and sift out the bran. Save the bran for another use. I usually save it for the following week’s levain.
2. Place the unbleached flour and the high extraction flour in a tub, cover and reserve.
3. Before going to bed, feed the levain 64 g of water and 64 g of unbleached flour/leftover sifted durum flour. 

Dough day:

1. Feed the levain 128 g each of flour and water. Let rise in a warm spot till very bubbly. This should take about 6 hours.
2. Two hours before the levain is ready, mix the flours and the water in a stand mixer to a shaggy dough with no dry spots. Autolyse for 2 hours.
3. Rinse and drain the raisins. Reserve. 
4. Once the Levain is ready, add the salt, yogurt, honey, cinnamon and the levain  to the mixing bowl. Mix on speed 1 for 2 minutes. Then mix on speed 2 for another 5 minutes. 
5. Add the raisins and mix another minute or two until integrated and well distributed. Let rest for a half hour in a warm spot. 
6. On 30 minute intervals, do 4 sets of stretches and folds in the tub. An hour later, do two more sets of folds, each an hour apart.
7. Place the dough into the refrigerator for about 2 and a half hours to complete the bulk rise. The dough rose about 20-25%. 
8. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~845 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest one hour on the counter. 
9. Do a final shape by flouring the rounds and flipping the rounds over on a lightly floured counter. Gently stretch the dough out into a circle. Pull and fold the third of the dough closest to you over the middle. Pull the right side and fold over the middle and do the same to the left. Fold the top end to the center patting out any cavities. Finally stretch the two top corners and fold over each other in the middle. Roll the bottom of the dough away from you until the seam is underneath the dough. Cup your hands around the dough and pull towards you, doing this on all sides of the dough to round it off. Finally spin the dough to make a nice tight boule.
10. Sprinkle rice flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons, cover, let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge for 9-10 hours. 

Baking Day

1. Take the loaves out to warm for 60 to 90 minutes before going into the oven. I normally bake right out of the fridge but these really didn’t look ready so I gave them a bit more proofing time on the counter. 
2. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 45 minutes to an hour. 
3. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. Place rounds of parchment paper in the bottom of the pots, and carefully place the dough seam side up inside. 
4. Cover the pots and bake the loaves at 450 F for 30 minutes, remove the lids, drop the temperature to 425F, and bake for another 17 minutes. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

This first batch was done with the shaping method described above. I have a second batch about to go into the oven where I shaped doing the “cinching” method to see if there are any differences in the result.