101 Sourdough

Although it might look like this is going to be a tutorial (especially to the hardy souls who attend or attended college) the actual reason for the 101 is the weight of the flour.

Before we get into weighing flour, I'm happy to announce the winners of the My Southern Food book by Thomas Nelson Publishers. The first out of the hat was Richelle, who doesn't seem to have a blog but did send her e-mail address along. The second drawn was Kelly-Jane of Cooking the Books with Kelly-Jane. She has a great blog and it will be fun to see if she posts anything from the book. The last name drawn was Lynnette of Desserts Divine, a new blog for me to visit and a nice one. Congratulations to each of you. An e-mail has been sent to you asking for a mailing address. The publisher mails the books directly to you.

Back to baking! One of the things that can happen if you bake a lot of similar breads is that you get familiar with the ratios for a good loaf. This time I wanted to use my sourdough starter, three kinds of flour and some water and salt.

For one loaf (shown above) I also went seedy by using some recently received King Arthur Flour's Harvest Grains Blend. Whole oat berries, millet, rye flakes and wheat flakes enhance texture. Flax, poppy, sesame, and sunflower seeds add crunch and great, nutty flavor. I used 6 tablespoons of the mixture for one loaf and it adds just the right amount of textural and seedy interest. The point of mentioning this isn't to hawk King Arthur's blend, but to suggest that when you are making two loaves that you don't have to make them the same. Have some fun! Work in some chopped nuts or just one kind of seed like sesame or sunflower if you don't have a blend...or create your own blend. One of the reasons that making bread continues to appeal to me is that I see it as a creative vehicle and a way to add joy to my life...and the bread is great to eat, too.

Back to the flours: I weighed out the remainder in a bag of bread flour and it came to 101 grams. I decided to build my flour mixture from that measurement, so I did two additional 101s of bread flour, 101 grams of whole wheat flour twice and 101 grams of King Arthur Flour's Ancient Grains blend for a bit more complexity of flavor. As it turned out I ended up needing a bit more bread flour at the end, so the weights didn't work out quite so neatly, but the proportions are still good ones for flavor. The same flour can need variations depending on the weather. I would have thought that our rainy weather would mean less flour but it seems that it meant more added. Of course it could be that my starter was wetter than I thought it was. There are lots of variable in making the dough, so relax and go with what yours wants you to do. You are looking for a supple, soft dough that has body but isn't stiff.

This made a tight grained, slightly chewy bread with good wheat flavor plus that small bit of complex 'I wonder what else is in this bread' taste that was so delicious. I shaped the 'plain' loaf into a long thin loaf, slightly curved to fit in the pan, and made the seedy loaf into a torpedo shape.

For those of you who wonder how I can keep making bread so often and not be as big as a house...I am not as big as a house, but I am overweight and...ta da!...I'm now doing slow weight lifting to help burn some of the calories and to be heart happy. I also eat a lot of soups and salads which I love as much as bread.

This recipe is going over to Susan at Wild Yeast. Her weekly Yeastspotting event is a wonderland of bread ideas for those of us addicted to bread baking. Check it out HERE.

101 Sourdough

582 grams sourdough starter
300 grams water, lukewarm
353 grams bread flour
202 grams whole wheat flour
101 grams ancient grain blend
15 grams sea salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer place the sourdough starter and the water; whisk to blend.

in another large bowl whisk together the bread flour, whole wheat flour, ancient grain blend (or additional bread or whole wheat instead, if you prefer), and the salt.

Whisk 1 cup of the flour mixture into the sourdough mixture, then attach the bowl to the mixer. With the dough hook attached and the mixer on low to medium-low, add the about 1 cup of the flour at a time, letting at least half of it incorporate into the dough before adding the next 1 cup. For the last cup of flour, add the flour mixture by tablespoonfuls, one at a time, until the dough is soft and climbs the dough hook and doesn't completely slump into the bottom of the bowl when you stop adding flour. You may need to add an additional small amount of flour if the dough is very soft. Let the mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Turn the dough out into an oiled rising container or bowl. Cover with oiled plastic wrap or a clean shower cap and let rise until double in bulk, about 2 hours.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to remove gas bubbles. Cut dough in half and return one piece of dough to the rising container or bowl. Flatten the remaining piece of dough on the lightly floured surface into a rough rectangle, then shape and either put into a bread pan or let rise on a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Take the second piece of dough and repeat the process you used for the first piece of dough, or you can do as I did and knead in 1/2 cup mixed seeds and grain flakes (I used King Arthur's grain blend), then shape and let rise as with the first loaf.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. If suing a baking stone, let it preheat at the same time in the oven. Slash the loaves when the oven is hot. Paint with egg wash if desired (1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon of water). Bake in the center of the oven (on a baking stone if possible) for 45 minutes to an hour, or until loaf sounds hollow when the back is tapped. Let cool before serving.

Makes 2 loaves.

Brotform Fascination

Yesterday I finally purchased a brotform. I've been wanting one for a while but couldn't justify the expense. So why buy now?

In cleaning out my office I discovered a Sur la Table gift certificate, partly used. I thought that there was only $5 left on it but discovered otherwise. Then on Monday I received a card in the mail from Sur la Table with a $10 off coupon. It looked like I might have enough for the brotform and perhaps a few other things. Once I got to the checkout I found out that I even had enough to purchase a French type rolling pin, another kitchen tool that will come in handy fairly often. I ended up paying less than $1 from my own funds...what a treat! Here's what it looks like:

Naturally now that I own a brotform I had to bake some bread in it today. Such is the fascination of brotform ownership.

It's a fairly simple bread...flours, water, sourdough starter, a little yeast and a little salt. Of course I used some King Arthur Flour Ancient grains flour and some whole wheat flour and both bread and all-purpose unbleached flour so that added a little complexity. Sourdough almost by its nature adds more complexity. For the loaf that didn't rise in the brotform, I also kneaded in sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, and flax seeds right before the shaping and last rise. Baked that up in a loaf pan.

Unfortunately I forgot to slash the brotform loaf with the natural result that one side lifted up due to oven spring. Sort of looks like it's smiling.

Even though I slashed the pan loaf fairly deeply in three places, it, too, blew out on one side.

Next time I'll slash all the way over to the side of the pan!

In case you are wondering what a brotform is, it's a reed basket used to form bread dough in its final rise. The reed is a continuous spiral and you apply flour generously to keep the dough from sticking to the form, but the flour also makes a nice pattern on the risen loaf. Now you are going to want one too!

This bread is delicious (well, the seedy one is...haven't tried the brotform one yet) and has a nice, tight crumb. Since I want to use it for sandwiches I added just a bit more flour than I would if I wanted a bread with more holes. It has a nice sourdough tang and crustiness and I'll bet it tastes great toasted.

Sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting event. If you've been reading my most recent posts you know that I'm a big fan of Yeastspotting. If you love bread and the fragrance of yeast you will too.

By the way, there is almost a full week to go for becoming a Bread Baking Babe Buddy. Guys can be Buddies, too, if you are a guy reading this. Then you will be in the company of real Babes. Sound like fun? This really was a delightful bread...be a Buddy, OK?

Sourdough with Ancient Grains and Whole Wheat
makes 2 loaves

3 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose or bread flour or a combination
1 1/2 cups ancient grains flour (or use more bread flour)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup sourdough starter (fed with a mixture of 1 cup flour and 1 cup water and let sit on counter 2 hours)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

In a large bowl mix together the flours, yeast and salt. Have about 1/2 cup more all-purpose flour handy in case the dough needs a little more.

In the bowl of an electric mixer if using, or in a large bowl, mix together the sourdough starter and water. With the dough hook attached and mixer on low speed , add flour about a cup at a time at first, then about 1/4 cup at a time until the dough comes together, climbs the hook and, eventually, cleans the side of the bowl. At the end you may need to add flour a tablespoon at a time, and may need to use a little of the extra flour.

If you are not using an electric mixer, put all but 1 cup of the flour, yeast, and salt, mixed, in a large bowl or on a work surface, make a well in the center. To the well add the sourdough starter and the water then use your hand or a wooden spoon to work the wet ingredients into the dry until a shaggy dough forms. Start to knead, working in additional flour mixture as needed until dough is satiny, smooth and just tacky.

If using electric mixer and dough hook, knead 8 - 10 minutes until dough is smooth, satiny and just tacky.

Place dough into an oiled rising bowl or container, turning dough to coat all sides with oil. Cover and let rise in a draft free warm place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Punch down, turn dough over, cover and let rise again until doubled, about another 2 hours.

Turn dough out on lightly floured work surface. Cut dough in half and return half to the rising container.

Take the half of the dough on the work surface and flatten it to release excess gas. Form into a boule (ball) by pulling the edges under until a nice ball forms. If using a brotform, liberally flour it, then set the ball, smooth side down in the form, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

If not using a form, set on a piece of parchment, cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. If you prefer a loaf, once you have flattened the dough (Making sure it is about 2 inches wider than your pan lengthwise), roll dough up jelly-roll fashion along the long part of the rectangle. Tuck the ends under (that's why you made it longer than the pan) and place, seam side down, in an oiled bread pan. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. If you have a bread stone heat it too. When oven is hot and bread has risen, turn bread out of brotform if using, slash bread and put into oven. You can turn the loaf out of the brotform onto parchment paper and slide the parchment paper onto the baking stone if you have one. Otherwise, turn loaf out of brotform onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then put sheet into oven. DON"T bake the loaf in the brotform...it's only for shaping, not baking.

Bake until loaf is browned and sounds hollow when tapped, about 50-55 minutes. Check at about 35-40 minutes and turn loaves if oven has hot spots. This allows you to estimate when the bread is going to be done, too.

Let bread cool almost completely before cutting.

To make Seedy Sourdough Loaf: Follow recipe above until time for final shaping. Flatten a dough half as described above, then sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon flax seeds, 1-2 teaspoons poppy seeds, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (or whatever seed mixture you like), then roll up like a jelly roll and turn ends up and over seam. Flatten again and sprinkle again with the seeds. Roll up again, fold in ends again, then knead a few turns to make sure seeds are distributed well. Flatten one more time, roll up, turn ends under this time and place in loaf pan as in recipe above. Continue on as recipe is written.