Danni3ll3's blog

Sardo makes this incredible Olive Bruschetta mix as well as a Sweet Pepper Bruschetta. Ever since I tasted them, I’ve been dreaming of putting them into a loaf. So here goes:

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add ins:

150 g Sardo Olive Bruschetta, undrained 

100 g Sardo Sweet Pepper Bruschetta, undrained

Main dough:

700 g Strong Bakers Flour

200 g freshly milled Selkirk flour 

100 g freshly milled Einkorn flour 

700 g filtered water

20 g pink Himalayan salt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Two afternoons before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of any kind of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for about 8 hours. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature overnight. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of unbleached flour. Let rise until doubled (about 6 or 7 hours). 
2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. Mill the Selkirk wheat and Einkorn berries and place the required amount in a tub.
2. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. Cover and reserve. 

Dough Making day:

1. In the morning, take the levain out of the fridge, give it a good stir and put it in a warm spot to get nice and bubbly. It will rise again but not necessarily double. 
2. Put 700 g of 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. Cover and autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature (73F).
3. After the autolyse, add the salt and the levain to the dough. Mix on the second speed for 9 minutes. 
4. Add the Olive and Sweet Pepper Bruschettas to the bowl and mix until well combined. 
5. Remove dough from bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot to begin bulk fermentation. My warm spot is the oven with the door cracked open and the lights on. I get an ambient temperature of around 82F. 
6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minutes intervals and then 2 more sets of coils folds at 45 minute intervals. Then let the dough rise by 40-50%. Total bulk was about 4 and a half hours. 
7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~740 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let it rest 20-30 minutes on the counter. 
8. Do a final shape by 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 a mix of rice  and all purpose or baker’s flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover with plastic bowl covers or shower caps. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight.

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475 F with the Dutch ovens inside for an hour.
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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

I think I over proofed these. They felt super soft as I was putting them into the Dutch ovens. As well, I usually try to stay under 12 hours of proofing in the fridge but these were 13+ hours in there. Oh well, they may not have sprung in the oven as much as I wanted, but they will still taste good. 

I usually make bread that is around 40% whole grain. This time, I wanted to make a simple mostly white sourdough. So this one has just a touch of wholegrain in it.

Makes 3 loaves

850 g strong baker’s unbleached flour 

100 g freshly milled Selkirk flour

50 g freshly milled rye flour 

22 g pink Himalayan salt 

700 g filtered water 

30 g yogurt

250 g sourdough starter (procedure in recipe)

Two afternoons before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of any kind of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for about 8 hours. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature overnight. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of unbleached flour. Let rise until doubled (about 6 or 7 hours). 
2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. Mill the rye and Selkirk wheat berries and place the required amount in a tub. 
2. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. Cover and reserve. 

Dough Making day:

1. In the morning, take the levain out of the fridge, give it a good stir and put it in a warm spot to get nice and bubbly. It will rise again but not necessarily double. 
2. Put 700 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. Cover and autolyse for a couple of hours at room temperature (73F).
3. After the autolyse, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the dough. Mix on the second speed for 10 minutes. 
4. Remove dough from bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot to begin bulk fermentation. My warm spot is the oven with the door cracked open and the lights on. I get an ambient temperature of around 82F. 
5. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minutes intervals and then 2 more sets of coils folds at 45 minute intervals. Then let the dough rise by 30-40%. Total bulk was about 4 and a half hours. 
6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~675 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let it rest 20-30 minutes on the counter. 
7. Do a final shape by 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 a mix of rice  and all purpose or baker’s flour in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover with plastic bowl covers or shower caps. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight.

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475 F with the Dutch ovens inside for an hour.
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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.
   
   

One of my customers requested a savory loaf with feta and olives so I made a repeat of this one but by using James (Ciabbata)’s method. I was going to try to dump all the add-ins at the beginning but I had second thoughts because of the oily  nature of the extras. Then I decided that I could add the extras while laminating the dough which is something I’ve never done (the lamination). Experimentation is good, right? So here goes…

Recipe:

Makes 3 loaves

Add-ins:

154 g of mixed olives (55 g Kalamata, 52 g Manzanilla and 47 g Black- sliced and pitted)

90 g Feta, crumbled

28 g Sun-dried Tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (reserve oil)

54 g Flame roasted red peppers, drained and chopped 

16 g of oil from the sun-dried tomatoes

Main dough:

300 g of durum berries

50 g of rye berries

700 g of strong baker’s unbleached flour

725 g of filtered water 

10 g Old Bay seasoning

15 g Pink Himalayan salt 

250 g levain (procedure is in recipe and will need additional unbleached flour)

Two afternoons before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of any kind of wholegrain flour. Let sit at room temperature until bed time. 

Two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature overnight. 

The morning before:

1. In the morning, feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of unbleached flour. Let rise until doubled and then put into the fridge until the next day. 
2. Mill the Durum and rye berries. Place the required amounts of Durum and Rye flour in a tub, and add the unbleached flour to it. 
3. Add the old Bay Seasoning and the salt to the tub. Cover and reserve for the next day.

Dough Making day:

1. In the morning, take the levain out of the fridge, give it a good stir and place in a warm spot (oven with the light on) for a couple of hours. After about 5  hours, the levain should be quite bubbly. It won’t have doubled but should have risen about 75%.
2. When the levain is nice and bubbly, put the filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the levain (levain should float), and the flours from the tub.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated and everything is homogeneous. This takes about 3-4 minutes. Place dough in a lightly oiled tub. Let the dough rest for 45 minutes in a warm spot (oven with the light on and the door cracked).
3. Give the dough one set of coil folds and let rest for 30 minutes.
4. Take the dough out of the tub and place it on a damp counter. Going all around the dough repeatedly, gently stretch it out from the middle out as far as it will go without tearing. Make sure to keep your hands wet. Sprinkle a third of the add-ins over the middle third of the dough, fold up one side over the add-ins, sprinkle another third of the add-ins over the folded portion and fold the last third over the middle. Sprinkle the rest of the add-ins on top and do a triple letter fold in the other direction until you have a nice package. I folded the dough in half again to make the package smaller. Place back in the tub. Let rest 30 minutes. 
5. Do another two sets of coil folds with a 45 minutes interval. 
6. Then let the dough rise to 30%. With it being a cool day, the dough took a couple of hours to get there even though I kept it in a warm spot. I find it fascinating how the dough knows what the outside weather is like. 
7. 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 it rest 15 minutes.
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. 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 until the next day. 

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. 
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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

The oven spring isn’t what I hoped for. They aren’t completely flat but then again, there is a fair amount of add-ins to weigh the dough down in this particular recipe. 

This is a rare mid-week bake of a single batch that gives 3 loaves. What prompted this? James (aka Ciabatta) produced 12 loaves of 4 (Yes! Four!) different breads. His streamlined method piqued my interest so I decided to give it a shot since it I think it would shorten my dough making time significantly. So here goes:

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves 

Porridge

100 g rolled oats

200 g water

45 g honey

40 g butter

Add-ins

25g raw Black Sesame seeds

45g raw Sunflower seeds

35 raw hemp hearts

Dough

700 g unbleached flour

200 g freshly milled Red Fife flour (Red Fife berries)

100 g freshly milled Rye flour (Rye berries)

50 g flax, freshly ground

30 g yogurt 

600 g filtered water + 25 g + 25g + 25 g

22 g salt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

The morning before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of any kind of wholegrain flour. Let sit at room temperature about 6 hours. 

The afternoon before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for another 6 hours. 

The night before:

1. Mill the Red Fife and rye berries. Place the required amounts of Red Fife and Rye flour in a tub, and add the unbleached flour to it. 
2. Grind the flax seeds in a bullet and add to the tub. (I added the salt too at this time). Cover and set aside.
3. Add the water to the rolled oats and cook on medium low until very creamy, then add the butter and the honey. Stir well and put into the fridge for the night. 
4. Toast the sesame and sunflower seeds along with the hemp hearts in a dry frying pan or in the oven at 350 F. They are done when lightly golden and fragrant. Reserve.
5. Before bed, feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 50 g of whole grain flour and 50 g of unbleached flour. Let rise overnight until doubled. 

Dough Making day:

1. In the morning, when the levain is nice and bubbly, put the filtered water in a stand mixer’s bowl and add the levain, the flours from the tub, and the salt if it’s not in the flour mix already, as well as the porridge.  Mix on the lowest speed until all the flour has been hydrated and everything is homogeneous. This takes about 4 - 5 minutes. Place dough in a lightly oiled tub. Once I got the dough into the tub, I felt it was a bit tight so I added 25 g water to be absorbed during the folds. Let the dough rest for 45 minutes in a warm spot (oven with the light on and the door cracked).
2. Give the dough a coil fold, add the next 25 g of water (dough still felt tight), and let rest another 45 minutes. 
3. Dimple the seeds into the dough and give it another set of coil folds. Add another 25 g of water. Let rest 45 minutes. 
4. Do another two sets of coil folds 45 minutes apart until the dough has developed enough to give a windowpane.
5. Let the dough rise to 30%. This only took another 30 minutes. The dough already was at 30% at the last fold but I decided it needed one more to strengthen it. 
6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~830 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let it rest 15 minutes.
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. I also sprinkled some rolled oats in there. 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 until the next day. (I actually baked these at midnight since I had started so early in the morning and they had proofed in the fridge for 10 hours by then.)

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. 
2. Turn out the dough seam side up onto a cornmeal sprinkled counter. (For fun, since I only had 3 loaves, I scored them.) 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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

I wonder if I should have skipped the scoring as my loaves were quite a bit flatter than what I usually get. They also baked up quite dark and crunchy. I’m quite impatient to see the crumb. 

I really like that James’ method cut quite a bit of dough making time but I think I need to do a few more bakes to get loaves as nice as his. 

This is another one of Cedar Mountain’s recipes. I definitely need more practice handling dough that has this much rye in it. The dough was super extensible but not very elastic. I managed to keep the stickiness down to a minimum by keeping my hands wet during the coil folds, and being liberal and quick during shaping. It felt quite heavy even after bulk even though the bulk was fast compared to my usual bulk times. I gave it at least an hour proof at room temperature before retardation in the hopes of lightening the crumb a bit.

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add-ins

215 g rye berries (to be sprouted and then split into two equal portions)

15 g of black sesame seeds

Dough

300 g freshly milled rye flour (sifted and reserve bran for dusting loaves)

100 g freshly milled red fife flour

50 g freshly milled Kamut flour

550 g strong baker’s unbleached flour

700 g water

30 g yogurt

22 g salt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

A few days before:

1. Soak the rye berries for the add-ins in filtered water for 8 hours. Drain and rinse every 8 hours until the berries have just started sprouting. I was shocked that they were ready in 24 hours. Then place into fridge until needed.

Two days before:

1. Feed 8 g of your starter 16 g of water and 16 g of unbleached flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the day. 

Two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 40 g of water and 40 of unbleached flour. Let that rise overnight.

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of unbleached flour. Let rise until doubled (about 5 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. Mill all the grains necessary for the dough. Sift the bran out of the rye flour and reserve.  Place all the flours along with the unbleached flour in a tub and cover. Reserve the barn for dusting the bannetons. 
2. Divide the sprouted rye berries into two equal amounts. Using a food processor, chop the sprouts until finely ground. Be careful not to turn this into a paste. Add back to the other portion. Refrigerate. 
3. Toast the black sesame seeds and reserve.

Dough making day:

1. Take the levain and both ground and sprouted rye out of the fridge and place in a warm spot.

2. Mix the water with the flour on the lowest speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until all the flour has been hydrated. Autolyse for at least a couple of hours.

3. After the autolyse, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 7 minutes. 

6. Add the add-ins to the bowl and continue mixing another 2 minutes or longer until well distributed.

7. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub in a warm spot (oven with light on). Let rest 30 minutes. 

8. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals, then switch to hourly folds for another 2 sets.

9. Let the dough rise about 50%.

10. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~825 ???g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

11. 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.

12. Sprinkle rye bran in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons, sprinkle more bran on the dough and cover. Let rest for an hour on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge until the next morning. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

These came out flatter than my usual oven spring but I’m happy they aren’t completely flat considering the amount of rye and add-ins in these loaves. Unfortunately these are all claimed for so I won’t know what the crumb is like. 

This was a request from a friend as this is her favourite bread. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add-ins:

75 g dry Wild Rice 

150 g dried cranberries 

Dough:

700 g strong bakers unbleached flour

200 g fresh milled Kamut 

100 g fresh milled Einkorn

700 g water

30 g yogurt 

35 g honey

22 g salt

250 g of 3 stage 100% hydration levain (procedure below)

 Extra flour to feed levain. 

Two mornings before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of unbleached flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and unbleached 20 g of flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of unbleached flour and let rise until doubled (about 6 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

1. Soak the wild rice in hot water for the day.

The night before:

1. I use homemilled flour so if you are doing the same, measure out the stated amount for each type of flour in berries or grain, and mill it on the finest setting of your home mill. If buying flour, get the freshest that you can and try to ensure that it is wholegrain. 

2. Place the required amounts of the wholegrain flours in a tub and add the unbleached flour to it. 

3. Cover and set aside.

4. Cook the wild rice in plenty of boiling water until very tender.  Drain, add the dried cranberries, and refrigerate overnight.

Dough making day:

1. When ready to make the dough, take the wild rice and the levain out of the fridge to warm up before being used in the dough.

2. Using a stand mixer, mix the water with the flour, and mix on speed 1 until all the flour has been hydrated. Let this autolyse for a couple of hours. 

3. Once the autolyse is done, add the salt, the yogurt, the honey, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on speed one for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 9 minutes.  

4. Add the cooked wild rice and cranberries to the mixing bowl, and mix on speed 2 until they are evenly distributed. This should only take a minute or two.

5. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot (oven with light on). 

6. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals and then 2 more sets of coil folds at 60 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 50%. It should have irregular bubbles visible through the sides of the container and  bubbles on top as well. 

7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~780 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

8. Do a final shape by flouring the top of 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.

9. Sprinkle a  mix of rice and all purpose 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 overnight. 

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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

This is an adapted recipe from The Perfect Loaf where I put in  my usual amount of 250 g of levain rather than the 180 g that the recipe scales up to when I increase everything to make 3 loaves. I did this to speed up fermentation since this was a very sluggish dough based on the last time I made this. Adding the extra levain cut the bulk by an hour (total bulk was 4 hours and 15 minutes rather than 5 and a quarter hours). 

I also reduced the hydration a bit and soaked the raisins in Bourbon. 

This is the link to Maurizio’s original recipe: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/cinnamon-raisin-sourdough/

Recipe 

Makes 3 small loaves 

Add-ins

220 g sultana raisins

22 g Bourbon

12 g cinnamon

Dough:

740 g strong bakers unbleached flour

300 g freshly milled red fife flour

755 g filtered water (divided into 730 g and 25 g)

22 g salt

250 g levain (done over 3 builds)

The day before:

Raisins

1. Soak the raisins in the bourbon and cover. Let sit overnight.

2. Be sure that your starter has been refreshed/built up a couple of times already, and give it one more feeding to equal 250 g. I used wholegrain flour for tbe first two feeds and about 1/3 wholegrain and 2/3 unbleached flour for the last feed.  Once it has doubled, refrigerate until the next day. 

3. Mill the required amounts of Red Fife berries on the finest setting possible. Add the unbleached flour to it and cover. 

Dough making day:

1. Mix the dough flours and 730 g of the water together in a stand mixer on the lowest speed for a minute or two, and then let autolyse for a couple of hours. 

2. After the autolyse, add the salt and the levain and mix for a minute on the lowest speed. Then mix on the next speed for 9 minutes. 

3. Add the remaining water, soaked raisins, and the cinnamon. Mix until the raisins are fairly well distributed. Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place.

4. After 45 minutes, give it a set of coil folds. Then, 2 more sets 45 minutes apart. 

5. Let rise until the volume has expanded by 50%. So the total bulk was 4 hours and 15 minutes. It was ine hour shorter than last time. 

6. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~775 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest covered with a tea towel for an hour on the counter. This is a heavy dough so I tried to give it as much fermenting time as I could. 

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. 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. Place the dough seam side down in rice floured bannetons. Cover, let rest 30-45 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.

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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Watch that they don’t burn. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

When I took the lids off, I felt like the first batch was underproofed somewhat due to the explosive oven spring so I took the second batch to warm up while the first was finishing up in the oven. I’ll post what they look like once they are done baking. 

This is Cedar Mountain’s Grass bread with a few minor tweaks. The last time I made this, my notes has several comments about how wet this dough was so I cut the water back by 25 g and the yogurt by 10. Initially the dough seemed pretty stiff but it loosened up when I added the add-ins and as it fermented. I was also careful to cook the porridge until it was very thick. This time I ended up with a beautiful elastic dough. It resulted in nice well sprung loaves. 

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves. 

Add-ins

25 g hulless oats

40 g wild rice

boiling water

25 g barley flakes 

50 g large flake oats

175 g water

Dough

75 g rye berries

75 g spelt berries

75 g kamut berries

75 g Red Fife berries

750 g unbleached all purpose flour

700 g filtered water

22 g pink Himalayan salt

30 g local yogurt

250 g 3 stage 100 hydration levain (procedure in recipe)

All purpose flour and a mixture of wholegrain flour for feeding the levain

Add-ins

25 g hulless oats

40 g wild rice

boiling water

25 g barley flakes 

50 g large flake oats

175 g water

Dough

75 g rye berries

75 g spelt berries

75 g kamut berries

75 g Red Fife berries

750 g unbleached all purpose flour

700 g filtered water

22 g pink Himalayan salt

30 g local yogurt

250 g 3 stage 100 hydration levain (procedure in recipe)

All purpose flour and a mixture of wholegrain flour for feeding the levain

before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of all purpose flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

2. Place the hulless oats and the wild rice in a heatproof bowl and add boiling water to cover by a couple of inches. Cover and let soak overnight. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of whole grain flour (a mix of rye, spelt, kamut and red fife). Let rise until doubled (about 5 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

3. Drain the wild rice and hulless oats. Add fresh water to cover by an inch and cook gently until the wild rice has bloomed and both grains are tender. Drain well. Cover and set aside to cool. Then refrigerate. 

The night before:

1. Mill all the berries for the dough on the finest setting of your flour mill and place in a tub with the unbleached flour.

Dough making day:

1. Take the levain out of the fridge and place in a warm spot.

2. Mix the water with the flour on the lowest speed in the bowl of a stand mixer until all the flour has been hydrated. Autolyse for at least a couple of hours.

3. Take the wild rice oat mixture out of the fridge to bring to room temperature. 

4. Cook the barley flakes and the rolled oats in the 175 g of water until the water has been well absorbed and the porridge is very thick. Add to the hulless oats and wild rice.

5. After the autolyse, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the bowl. Mix on lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on speed 2 for 7 minutes. 

6. Add the add-ins to the bowl and continue mixing another 2 minutes or longer until well distributed.

7. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub in a warm spot (oven with light on). Let rest 30 minutes. 

8. Do 2 sets of coil folds at 30 minute intervals, then switch to hourly folds for another 2 sets.

9. Let the dough rise about 50%. The dough was there by the fourth coil fold so I just gave it another half hour after that.

10. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~825 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 30 minutes on the counter. 

11. 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 considering how wet this dough is.

12. Sprinkle barley and oats flakes in the bannetons. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons and cover. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge until the next morning. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475F with the Dutch ovens inside for 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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205F or more.

This is one of my very favourite breads. It is so creamy and delicious.

This recipe is very close to my take-2 on it. This time, I didn’t have to add extra water to the dough and I decided to do all coil folds instead of half regular folds and half coil folds. I’m curious to see how that will affect the crumb.

Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Porridges: 

50 g large flake oats plus 100 g water

50 g coarse ground Khorasan  

Dough: 

300 g fresh milled Khorasan (Kamut) flour (300 g Kamut berries)

700 g strong bakers unbleached flour

700 g water 

23 g pink Himalayan salt

30 g yogurt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Whole grain and AP flour to feed levain 

Flaked khorasan and oats for topping

Two mornings before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of any kind of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of wholegrain flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 50 g of whole grain flour and 50 g of unbleached flour. Let rise until doubled (about 6 or 7 hours). 

2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 

The night before:

1. Mill the Khorasan berries and place the required amount in a tub. 
2. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. Cover and reserve. 
3. Mill the khorasan berries for the porridge and set aside for the morning. 

Dough Making day:

1. In the morning, put 700 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. Cover and autolyse for 3 hours at room temperature (73F).
2. Add the water to the rolled oats and cook on low, uncovered, until very thick and creamy. All the water should have been absorbed. Set aside to cool. 
3. Do the same with the coarse ground Khorasan and the water. This took about 45 minutes. Add to the oat porridge and let cool. 
4. After the autolyse, add the salt, the yogurt, and the levain to the dough. Mix on the lowest speed for a minute to integrate everything, then mix on the next speed for 9 minutes. Add both porridges and mix for another 2 and a half minutes until well distributed.
5. Remove dough from bowl and place in a lightly oiled covered tub. Let rest in a warm spot to begin bulk fermentation. My warm spot is the oven with the door cracked open and the lights on. I get an ambient temperature of around 82F. 
6. Do 1 set of coil folds after 30 minutes and then 3 sets of coils folds at 45 minute intervals. Then let the dough rise by 30%. Total bulk was about 4  hours. 
7. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~770 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let it rest 30 minutes on the counter. 
8. Do a final shape by 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 some large flake oats in the bannetons. If your bannetons are not well seasoned, sprinkle rice flour first, then the bran and the oats. Place the dough seam side down in the bannetons. Cover with plastic bowl covers or shower caps. Let rest for a few minutes on the counter and then put to bed in a cold (38F) fridge overnight.

Baking Day

1. The next morning, heat the oven to 475 F with the Dutch ovens inside for an hour.
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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.
   
   
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 I’m revisiting a lot of my recipes so it was time to remake this one and tweak the method as well. I did not sift out the bran and I used mostly unbleached flour in the levain. To be honest, I was being lazy since I had very little wholegrain flour handy, I just used unbleached flour. I also decided not to add the usual yogurt since the dough seemed quite hydrated and there would be plenty of fat to tenderize the crust from the onions and the bacon.

To make things easier, the bacon is done in the oven and the caramelized onions are done in the crockpot a few days prior. It needs a bit of planning but it sure helps having all that prepared ahead on dough making day.  

 Recipe

Makes 3 loaves

Add-ins

120 g crumbed bacon (~350 g raw)

100 g caramelized onions 

Dough

750 g strong bakers unbleached flour

200 g freshly milled Red Fife flour 

100 g freshly milled durum flour

50 g freshly milled buckwheat flour 

825 g filtered water

20 g pink Himalayan salt

250 g levain (procedure in recipe)

Extra AP flour to feed the Levain. 

 A few days before:

1. Make the caramelized onions and save in the fridge. Recipe for doing these in the crockpot is below.

Two mornings before:

1. Take 2 g of refrigerated starter and feed it 4 g of filtered water and 4 g of wholegrain flour. Let sit at cool room temperature for the day. 

The two nights before:

1. Feed the levain 20 g of water and 20 g of unbleached flour. Let that rise at cool room temperature for the night. 

The morning before:

1. Feed the levain 100 g of filtered water and 100 g of unbleached flour. Let rise until doubled (about 6 hours). 
2. Place into fridge until the next morning. 
3. 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 refrigerate.
4. Mill the buckwheat groats for the main dough and place in a tub.
5. Mill the Red Fife and durum berries. Place the required amounts in the tub with the buckwheat flour. 
6. Add the unbleached flour to the tub. Cover and set aside.

Dough making day:

1. In the morning, 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. 
2. Take the levain out of the fridge and place in a warm place to warm up. I use my oven with the light on.
3. Remove the caramelized onions and bacon from the fridge and leave on the counter to come to room temperature.
4. After 2 hours, 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 9 minutes. 
5. At the end of the 9 minutes, add the caramelized onions and the crumbled bacon. Mix until well combined.
6. Remove dough from bowl and place in a covered tub. Let rest 30 minutes in a warm spot. 
7. Do 2 sets of stretches and folds at 30 minute intervals and then 2 sets of sleepy ferret folds (coil folds) at 45 minute intervals, and then let the dough rise to about 50%. It should have irregular bubbles visible through the sides of the container and  bubbles on top as well. (Well we almost got there. Hubby decided he needed the kitchen to make dinner so my dough took a side trip to the fridge for an hour. When I took the dough out, it had risen 75% and was full of bubbles. I popped the larger ones during preshape and shaping.)
8. Tip the dough out on a bare counter, sprinkle the top with flour and divide into portions of ~800 g. Round out the portions into rounds with a dough scraper and let rest 15-30 minutes on the counter. 
9. Do a final shape by 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 cross 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 a  mix of rice flour and all purpose 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 overnight. 

Baking Day

1. The next morning, about 11 hours later, 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 25 minutes, remove the lids, and bake for another 22 minutes at 425 F. Internal temperature should be 205 F or more.

Yum!

Caramelized Onions in the Crockpot

3 to 5 pounds yellow onions (4 to 5 large onions. I used Vidalia onions.)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or melted butter (I do a bit of both)

Pinch of salt

1. Cut onions in half, peel and thinly slice. Put into slow cooker. 
2. Toss onions with the olive oil and add a few chunks of butter.
3. Cook for 10 hours on low. Give them a stir occasionally. 
4. Cook an additional 3 to 5 hours with the lid ajar until most of the liquid is gone.
5. Refrigerate or freeze the onions. Onions will keep in the refrigerator for one week or in the freezer for at least 3 months.
   
   
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