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Been a while since I posted any bakes, finally decided to do it again. Baked this mostly rye bread (about 70% whole rye and the rest bread flour) with seeds over the weekend.

Didn't measure everything very carefully, but vaguely:

200 g liquid-ish rye starter, perhaps 150% hydration or so

Preferement with the starter, and 200 g whole rye flour, 250 g warm water. Also added a few pieces of old white bread as altus - soaked it with hot water first, but seems like not long enough, some pieces didn't fully disintegrate, it seems. A a few hours at 28C until well risen and a little sour.

Final dough with about ~500 g whole rye flour, ~300 g bread flour, 150 g toasted and soaked mixed seeds (crushed linseed, pumpkin and sunflower), 14 g salt, tablespoon of malt extract, warm water until dough resembles a soft paste. Fermented around 3 hrs at 30C until well risen and shows holes on the surface. Poured into tins, smoothed the top, sprinkled sunflower seeds. Final proof at 33C until well risen. Sprinkled surface with water, baked in a hot oven(started 240C after a few min reduced to 200C) until done. When taking out sprinkled with water again, wrapped in a towel to cool down.

Surprisingly light, and has a nutty taste from the seeds.

One of the posts that motivated me to join this group early this year was this one by troglodyte, Sourdough Bread for Bread Machines with Programmable Cycles

It wasn't so much the recipe, it was the principles/priorities by which (s)he arrived at it. Specifically, "This is a recipe of convenience... The benefit is consistent, tasty bread with a minimum of effort and time. It is sized to be suitable for a toaster or sandwiches." Very practical. What I call "daily bread". While I am experimenting and learning new techniques, I want something like this available every day.

Being "daily bread", it will most often get toasted and buttered, go well with soups and salads, and be a good receptacle for jams and the like. So this will be a pan loaf.

I have a couple more requirements. My metabolism and digestive system constantly remind me, they definitely prefer breads that are high in fiber. The more, the better. It also happens that my taste buds have always liked high-fiber grain products. I have pleasant memories of consuming massive quantities of Wheaties for breakfast as a child, with its unmistakable wheat-bran flavor. Our local coop sells bulk organic wheat bran for very reasonable $$$, so high bran content is on the priority list.

Another requirement is flexibility. I want something that can be prepared with equally-good results either in a competent bread machine, or made by hand and oven-baked.

I started with a recipe called "Double Bran" found in the Panasonic SD200 breadmaker manual. It's a pretty pedestrian recipe, with about 3/4 cup of wheat bran added to a 60/40 mix of whole-wheat and all-purpose flour for a 1.5 lb. loaf. It also had additives to make it "soft" which I'd rather not use.

This was a good starting point, with enough bran to appreciate it's contribution to taste and texture. It raised the question: How far can I take the bran content? How much of the total flour amount can be bran? The Max Bran project was underway.

Wheat bran is lightweight stuff, about 48 grams per cup by my measurement... about 1/3 the weight of wheat flours. So, despite the "Double Bran" moniker, adding 3/4 cup of it to over 3 cups of flour is quite minimal.

Over the following months, I gradually added bran while removing and rebalancing the flour and other ingredients. The dry milk and sugar were eliminated. I was experimenting with DIY "dough improver" (a small amount of gluten flour and Vit C powder) at the time, and I have continued to use it with this recipe, but it is optional. I started autolysing the flours, and then the bran as well, both of which significantly improved the flavor. This required a reduction in kneading time and an increase in mixing time to incorporate ingredients into the autolysed dough.

As of this writing I have made this bread 19 times, using 6 different bread machines, two different mixers and three different ovens. Although the oven-baked versions are slightly preferred, bread machines that mix ingredients well and bake at reasonable temperatures will produce excellent results.

Here are the recipes for roughly 1 and 1.5 pound loaves.

 Autolyse:                      1 lb           1.5 lb
                                     ------          --------
  All-Purp Flour             165g         200g
  Whole wheat Flour      83g         100g
  Wheat Bran                 83g         100g
  Bread Improver (opt)  1/4 tsp      1/3 tsp
  Water                          225mL       280mL

Additions:
  Salt                             3/4 tsp        1 tsp
  Sunflower Oil             3/4 tbsp     1 tbsp
  SAF instant yeast       3/4 tsp        1 tsp    (adjust for altitude)
  Water                           20mL        20mL    (ditto)

Manual Process:
Combine the dry autolyse ingredients. Add the water and mix for an even distribution.
Form a ball, cover, and let sit for 30 min.
Tear the dough ball into 8-10 chunks to assist mixing. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.
Knead for 5-7 minutes.
Cover and let rise at 79-85ºF 1.5 hours or until doubled.
Degass and shape into loaf pan. I used an 8.5" Calphalon pan for 1.5 lb.
Cover and proof for 50-60 min at 79-85ºF.
Bake at 375ºF for 45 min or until interior measures 200ºF.
For electric ovens with dominant top elements, cover loaf top with a foil tent after it has browned as desired.

Bread machines:
Bread machines that have programs easily adaptable to incorporating an autolyse cycle are in the minority. The ones that do will typically refer to a so-called "Rest" period near the start of the cycle. Units like the old Panasonic SD-BT65P (1.5 lb.) and SD-BT56P (1 lb.) have near-perfect programs for autolysing. They also bake at 340ºF in heavy cast breadpans, and they are my favorite choice for this bread.

For programmable machines, you can create a custom program with 5 min mix, 30 min rest, 7-10 min knead, 90 min rise, short stir/degass, 55 min rise, and 45-60 min bake. The bake length depends on the baking temperature of the machine, and the loaf size; longer time for larger loaf and/or lower temps. The Zojirushi dual paddle models and the old Breadman TR2200C are both versatile programmable machines, but their baking temps are on the low side (292ºF and 312ºF, respectively).

For most machines, you'll have to improvise autolyse using their Dough and Bake programs. Use the times given above a guide.
Mix the autolyse in Dough mode, and stop the machine when combining is done.
Let it sit for 30 minutes.
Add the other ingredients and start the Dough program again for the 2nd mix and kneading.
If the knead cycle is too long (most machines knead way too long for autolysed dough), shorten it by lifting the pan enough to disengage the paddle, let it sit that way for the remainder of the knead, then replace in on the spindle for the rest of the dough cycle.
Remove the dough and mixing paddle, degass as you prefer to, shape the dough back into the pan, proof until ready, and bake.
My favorite machines for this method are the T-fal PF311E51 aka 'ActiBread' and Cuisinart CBK200. They both bake at 388ºF, a very nice temp for this and other breads, and appreciably hotter than most machines. The attached pics are from a T-fal PF311 bake. Note the consistent browning over the entire loaf. Not many BM's can do that. (The Panasonics and T-fals do it best.)

Altitude Adjustments:
I live and bake high and dry at 7,000 feet, so if you're at or near sea level, chances are this recipe will create bran bricks. You will definitely need to increase yeast amount by 50% or more. Even more if using active dry yeast. You may not need to add any water in the second mix. And you might lower oven baking temps just a little. Water boils at 198ºF up here so I typically raise the baking temp to compensate.

If desired, bits of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, or a little honey can be added during the knead. I added diced dried apricot bits a couple weeks ago and liked it a lot. But I mostly make it plain.

This has become one of my favorite breads... my "daily bread" with strong wheaty taste. I hope you enjoy it too.

I used the same formula as for my 50-50 Emmer bread -

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72946/50-emmer-sourdough

and made rolls instead of a loaf.  The process was the same.  I portioned the dough into 4-oz (114g) pieces.  This might be a little large for a roll, and I would probably go for either 3 or 3.5 oz next time (85 - 100 g).  The dough, though a bit sticky,  was easy to shape as long as I used a little flour on my hands and the bench.  The rolls overnighted in the refrigerator on a parchment-covered cutting board, covered with a sheet of plastic wrap. There was no sign of drying out or slumping.

To get the glaze, I mixed a little water with an egg yolk and brushed on a double layer after slashing.  I have found that using an egg yolk instead of a whole egg makes for a deeper glaze, sometimes even looking like it was lacquered.

These were baked with steam on a baking steel at 450° F for 15 minutes.

The crust is softish, which is good for a roll.  The crumb and flavor are just about the same as for the linked 50% emmer loaf. 

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I’ve been wanting to try baking this style of bread for some time, but just couldn’t get my nerve up to trying it.  Despite its name, it seems that it is really an Asian style of bread.  I’m guessing that the Danish part of it is that it is somewhat like a danish as in the pastry.  Also, this isn’t something I could try during the heat of the summer and this week we are finally having some normal autumn weather.

To make this bread one starts by making a somewhat stiff enriched dough.  Then you make a flat square of butter that then gets sandwiched inside the dough.  This gets a series of folds resulting in 12 layers.  One has to keep the butter cold enough so that it doesn’t melt into the dough, yet when rolling it out, warm enough to roll out.

For my first attempt at this type of lamination, I’m quite pleased with the outcome.

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I’ve altered the formula just a bit to fit my 4x4x9” Pullman pan from the original recipe by Chiew See of Autumn Kitchen on IG/Youtube.

To the bowl of a standmixer add milk, IDY, sugar and salt, mix to dissolve.  Add flour and mix until the dough starts to come together.  Add butter in pats until well incorporated.  Mix until moderate gluten development, it doesn’t need to reach good windowpane.  In fact, I found this dough too low hydration so added some extra milk and ended up fully hand kneading it.

Flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a rectangular shape.  Wrap with clingfilm, leaving space for dough to expand.  Ferment at 28°C for 30 mins.  Freeze the dough for 1 hour then transfer to the fridge 3°C overnight.

Fold parchment paper into 18 x 18 cm square.  Weight out 154 g butter, place it on the parchment square, joining the pieces so that it starts to fill the square.  Fold the parchment to enclose the butter.  Use your rolling pin to strike or press the butter to soften it without warming it excessively.  Roll the butter out to fill the 18x18 square using the rolling pin ensuring that the butter is uniform thickness throughout and that the butter fills right to the corners.  Refrigerate the butter overnight.

In the morning remove both the butter and the dough from the fridge.  Both the butter and the dough needs to have the same firmness before laminating them together, if the butter is harder, let it soften first. You should be able to leave an indent in the butter if you press into it.  The butter should be pliable and be lightly bent without breaking, its temperature should be between 13-15°C.  

Roll the dough into an 18x36 cm rectangle, the dough should be twice the size of the butter.  Brush off excess flour.  Place butter in the center of the dough, fold the dough to enclose the butter pinching the dough where the ends meet to seal.  Turn the dough 90* so that the open end is towards you and the closed sides are perpendicular to you.  Gently press down on the dough with the rolling pin before rolling.  Lightly dust with flour, then roll from center to the ends with firm and even strokes.  Flip the dough and continue to roll to 21x53 cm.  Trim off the uneven ends.  Brush off excess flour.

Do a double or book fold, this brings the cut ends of the dough together folding one edge to two thirds of the length then fold the other end to meet.  Next fold the dough in half.  You now have four layers.  Wrap with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Remove dough from the fridge, give it a few minutes if it is too hard before rolling.  Gently press down with the rolling pin.  If there are any bubbles pop with a toothpick.  With either of the open ends towards you roll the dough to about 21x53cm.  Do a lenter fold (letterfold in thirds) giving you three layers for a total of 12.  Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Prepare your pan by greasing it with butter.

Remove the dough from the fridge allowing it to soften until it is soft enough to roll.  Again using the same methods roll the dough out to slightly larger than 30x21 cm.  Trim all four sides to achieve 30x21 cm, keep the scraps for final shaping.

We will require 9 strips that are 30 cm long so mark 2.33 cm intervals on the 21 cm sides of the dough.  Cut the dough into 9 strips 2.33x30 cm.  We will be braiding three sets of 3 strips, so starting with 3 strips, stack the ends together with the center strand at the bottom and press down so that end sticks.  Braid the 3 strands so that the cut sides of the strips face up if possible.  Pinch to seal the end.  Flip it over, place ⅓ of the trimmings you kept into this underside of the braid now facing up.  Fold the two ends together and then place this into the greased pan folded side down.  Repeat with the other two sets of three strands so that there are three sets of braided dough in the pan.  The sets are placed side by side in the pan.

Ferment between 27-28°C 80-82°F until the pan is about 80% filled (3-4 hours).  30 mins prior to baking preheat the oven at 200°C or 390°F.   Egg wash the dough when preheating starts and then again immediately prior to baking.  Optional, after second egg wash sprinkle almond flakes on the top.  Place on a lined pan to bake as the dough will leak melted butter from the tin.

Bake at 200°C 390°F for 8 mins, then drop temperature to 170°C or 340°F and bake for another 25-30 mins or until golden brown.  Allow the loaf to cool prior to slicing.

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After the first set of folds.

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Plaiting completed and arranged in the Pullman Pan.

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About 30 mins prior to baking just before the first egg/milk wash.

 My index of bakes.

La Parigina. Neapolitan stuffed pizza.

What is special about Parmigina? Pizza dough on the bottom puff pastry on top. 

Everything is on point. I just need to fill the canolii. I even got the kitchen back in order. Thank the Lord, for dishwashers!

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I’ve been ordering berries from Barton Springs Mill for several years and have enjoyed every single product I’ve ordered from them. The flavor profiles they provide have been pretty accurate from my perspective, which is very helpful. Some nine or ten months ago, their Quanah wheat caught my eye. It is described as a hard red winter wheat and its flavor profile – buttery, creamy, malty – is right up my alley. A bag was duly ordered and, regrettably, it has been in storage ever since, waiting for me to bake my way through all the berries ahead of it in queue. Now that I've used it a few times, I thought I'd share my impressions. For reference, I followed the basic formula and process detailed in my Easy Peasy Pan Bread post, using a mix of 2/3 Quanah and 1/3 AP (KAF).

The spoiler is that we really, really like this wheat for sandwich breads. BSM reports the protein content for the berries at 11.5%, but the flour at 9.5%. Not sure why that is, maybe just a typo, but in my experience thus far, it makes a soft, slack dough hinting that 9.5% might be correct. After some time and a fold or two, it developed some extensibility, but elasticity required some more folds. It ended up being a nice dough. The first time I used this flour, the hydration was probably in the 90% range but that seemed to be too much so it was dialed back to 85% for the next bake. That worked fine. The rise is good, very acceptable. The bread is lighter in color than some other red wheats and the flavor is outstanding. It is mild tasting with no bitterness, but it is not bland by any stretch. To the contrary, it has a nice richness. I don’t think any sweeteners would be required with this flour, even at 100%. I baked it to about 205℉ and it keeps for about a week. I've ordered a few more bags because we like it so much.

I don’t usually leaven high percentage WW with sourdough because we don’t care for the flavor; however, I am curious how the mild flavor of Quanah will partner with my mild new(ish) low hydration white starter, so that bake will be next.

Recently I've posted about bakes using 50% spelt and 50% einkorn:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72911/50-einkorn-take-2
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72889/50-spelt

Today's loaf used the third "ancient" grain - emmer.  I've never used it before.

As for the other two flours, this emmer was stoneground by a local restored water mill (Locke's Mill in northwestern Virginia).  The bits of bran were much smaller than with the einkorn flour, and I had to use a finer sieve to remove them.  I ended up with about a 94% extraction, made a soaker with the bran, and added the soaker to the flour during mixing.

The formula was the same as I used for the einkorn loaf, except that I expected that the water might come out a little differently since einkorn is known for being slow to absorb water.

Formula
========
220g sifted emmer (Locke's mill)
all the soaker
200g KA bread flour
150g white sourdough starter, refreshed earlier in the day
285g water (includes water in soaker and water added during mixing)
10g salt

During mixing I added 15g more water than originally planned to hydrate some dry flour in the bottom of the mixing bowl.  This water was absorbed well and I did not feel a need to add any more later.  By contrast, the einkorn dough didn't want to absorb added water and I actually left some liquid water in the bowl to be worked in during later S&Fs.

Other than the water and improved handling, the process was the same as I had used for the einkorn loaf. The dough rested after mixing for 35 minutes, and had two more S&F sessions over the next 1 3/4 hours.  Bulk ferment lasted 6 hours.  Shaped the loaf with no perform - the dough had become very extensible so I stretched it very far in the first stages of shaping.

The shaped loaf proofed for 55 minutes in a proofing basked, and then was refrigerated overnight for 13 hours.  After it warmed up for 15 minutes the loaf was turned out onto a parchment-covered cutting board, slashed, and slid into the preheated oven onto a baking steel.  I generated steam by pouring water onto rocks in a cast iron pan in the bottom of the oven.

I baked the loaf at 400° F for 40 minutes.  The top had turned black, which was a surprise, and the internal temperature was 208° F. From the pictures below you can see that there was good expansion in the oven and the crumb came out nicely open for this kind of bread.  The flavor is outstanding, the best (to my taste) of the three kinds: spelt, einkorn, emmer.  I would say that this loaf has the ideal flavor I always look for an a whole-wheat type of loaf.

The dough was easy to handle and work with, now that I've gained experience with the spelt and einkorn variations.  I'd say the dough properties were between the spelt and einkorn loaves.  And now for the photos:

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  I made a new version of my pretzel rolls to bring to my Cousin’s for Rosh Hashanah dinner along with some of my standard ones.  Everyone seemed to really like the new ones so I guess I must have done something right :). 

This version had some fresh ground rye along with some dark cocoa powder along with the Guinness which really gave the final dough a nice malty flavor.  

I used pretzel salt, black sesame seeds and everything bagel topping for the toppings.  As usual these were made with a lye bath

Give these a try and I think you will be very satisfied.

If you haven’t tried pretzel rolls yet, give these a try.

One note, if you use pretzel salt like I do on a portion of the rolls, you cannot cover the rolls with anything or the humidity in the air will react with the salt and you will get mushy salted rolls.  It’s best to freeze any you don’t use right away.

Lye really does make a big difference.  I know a lot of people are afraid to use it, but honestly you are using such a small amount in the water bath that unless you pour it in your eyes, it will do very little to your hands, etc.  The lye really gives you the authentic pretzel flavor and look.

Caution:  When using the Lye make sure you wear gloves, long sleeves and protective eye gear. Also, never add Lye to hot water or it will bubble over and probably burn you.

Formula

For Lye Bath (3.5% Solution

2 Liters (1836 grams) of Cold water

70 grams Sodium Hydroxide Crystals

Make the Levain

Add your seed starter (20 grams) to the indicated amount of flour and water and mix until incorporated.  Cover and let sit out at room temperature of in your proofer until nice and bubbly around 6-10 hours depending on your temperature.  Use immediately or refrigerate for a few days until ready to mix the main dough.

Procedure

Add the diastatic malt powder to the Guinness and stir.  Add the flours in your mixing bowl and slowly add the Guinness mixture.  Mix for about 1 minute until combined.  Cut your starter in pieces and lay on top of the flour mixture and cover and let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour so the flour can absorb the water.  Note: if you are using the Ankarsrum mixer like I do, you add the liquid first, add the starter to the liquids and then the flour.  I mix just until everything is combined, reserving some of the liquid for after the autolyze.

Next add the salt and butter (Softened) and mix for 6 minutes on low.    Place the dough in a slightly oiled bowl and do a couple of stretch and folds.  Cover the bowl and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.  Do another stretch and fold in the bowl and let it rest another 10-15 minutes.  Do another stretch and fold and let the dough sit out in the covered bowl for another 1.5 hours.  Place the dough in the refrigerator until ready to bake the next day.

When ready to bake take the dough out and leave it covered in your bowl for 1 hour at around 75-80 F.  Next divide the dough into pieces that are 110 grams each or 135 grams for larger rolls .  Shape as rolls and place on a baking sheet and cover with either a moist towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  Let it rest for around 60 minutes to about 1/2 proof.

While the rolls are proofing, fill a large stock pot with 2 liters of cold water.  Measure out the Lye and slowly add it to the cold water.  (DO NOT EVER ADD LYE TO HOT WATER).  Cover the pot and bring it to a rolling boil and then shut off the heat.

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees.  When the rolls are proofed sufficiently, prepare to dip them for about 15 seconds in the lye bath upside down.  Let them drain on a bakers rack over a cookie tray covered with a towel or parchment paper.  After draining for a minute you can transfer them to a cookie/baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  You want to use a stainless steel cooking sheet as aluminum may react with the lye and peel.   I know this from experience and I had to cut off the bottoms of half the rolls I made.  I actually use my Silpat non-stick sheets which work like a charm.

When ready to bake, score each roll as desired and sprinkle with pretzel salt or topping of your choice.  

Bake for about 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown and register about 200 F in the middle.  Let them cool on a bakers rack until you can’t wait any longer!

Note: you cannot store these in a plastic bag or covered really otherwise the salt will react with the moisture in the air and you will end up with soggy tops.  I place them in a paper bag and leave it open so the air circulates.

Enjoy!

Phase 1 - the bulk fermentation

Phase 2 - the pre-shape

Phase 3 - the final shaping

This seems to a problem with almost every recipe that I try (see picture).

For these loaves I tried:

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/best-sourdough-recipe/

I followed precisely as written.

There was very little change to the dough appearance/behavior after an overnight cold ferment. It was pretty solid. When I went to move it from banneton to dutch oven I could feel it deflate more (not that there was a lot to begin with).

Flours:

Bob's Red Mill Whole Weat

Dove Farms strong white.

Advice?