Rustic White, Rye & Spelt Sourdough

The term rustic can mean different things to different people.

When it is used to describe bread, it generally refers to a loaf made with different types and coarseness of flours.

Whole grain flours, such as whole wheat and rye, are typically added to give breads a rustic appeal because they provide more substance and flavor and a coarser texture than breads made completely with white flour.

Rustic can also be used in a more lenient way as I learned recently when I attended a workshop with Master Baker, Lionel Vatinet, at the Asheville Bread Festival in Asheville, NC.

Lionel is the owner of La Farm Bakery in Cary, NC, and the author of A Passion for Bread. During the workshop, he taught us how to shape different types of loaves using the same ciabatta dough. His teaching style is very funny and engaging and you can tell he really does have a passion for bread.

As he was shaping the loaves, he would give us tips and antidotes on bread baking. When one of the loaves ended up a little lopsided, he joked and said, “If you ever make a loaf that’s not quite the shape you intended, don’t get mad at yourself or discard the bread as a failure, just tell everyone it’s a rustic bread and it’s supposed to look that way.”

I like that approach. It’s very thoughtful and forgiving. I’m sure I’ll find plenty of opportunities to use “rustic” to describe my not-so-perfect breads.

 

 

 

Rustic White, Rye & Spelt Sourdough Bread

Makes: 2 large loaves

Adapted from the April Bread of the Month (BOM) for the Artisan Bread Bakers FB group.

My version is made with all-purpose flour, rye and Spelt and includes a little bit of olive oil. The original formula included a long fermentation process, but I extended it even further by retarding the shaped loaves in the refrigerator for two days instead of one. I also baked these loaves in my La Cloche rather than a Dutch oven.

I started the levain Friday evening; mixed the dough on Saturday; shaped the loaves Saturday night; and placed them in the refrigerator to retard overnight. I didn’t have time to bake the loaves on Sunday so I let them stay in the refrigerator another day. I baked the loaves on Monday afternoon, but I didn’t try them until Tuesday afternoon.

 

Day 1

• Unbleached All Purpose Flour 150 grams
• Whole Grain Spelt (or Whole Wheat) 50 grams*
• Rye 50 grams*
• 80 degrees F. water 200 grams + 1/4 cup
• Refreshed Starter 50 grams

* I used home-milled flour

In the Evening
Combine the above ingredients; allow to sit overnight at room temp.

Day 2

• 80 degrees F. water 700 grams
• Unbleached All Purpose Flour 700 grams
• Rye 200 grams
• Whole Wheat 100 grams
• Salt 20 grams
• Olive Oil 2 T, optional
• Build from the previous day
  

In the Afternoon

Add the water and olive oil (if using) to the build and mix well, Then add the flours. Combine the ingredients with a wooden spoon or dough whisk till roughly incorporated.

Let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes. Then add the salt. Allow to sit at room temp for 30 minutes. Perform the stretch and fold four times, then allow the dough to sit for 30 minutes. Perform this stretch and fold cycle every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours.

In the Evening

After the four stretch and fold cycles and when the dough has doubled, form into two Boule’s, {develop a taught skin on the boules} place these into rice/wheat floured willow brotforms. This is a fairly wet dough, but it does really well in the bannetons. I shaped my dough into one round boule and one oval loaf. Cover and allow for an hour rise. Place the baskets in the refrigerator over night. As I mentioned, I let the loaves ferment in the refrigerator for two days. The baked loaves didn’t have as much oven spring, but the flavor was wonderful.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. with a Dutch oven, combo cooker or La Cloche on the bottom rack. I hadn’t used my La Cloche in a while so I got it out for this bread. It was interesting to bake an oval loaf in the round bottom, but it worked.

The Next Day or On Bake Day

Take the loaves straight from the refrigerator, and place one into the bottom of the La Cloche sprinkled with corn meal or you can use a Dutch oven if you prefer.  Score the loaf in the pattern of your choice. Since these loaves had been retarding in the refrigerator, it was really easy to score them. I used a straight edged lame and got creative with the scoring.

 

Reduce the oven temperature to 475 degrees F. and bake for 30 minutes at 475. Remove the top of the cloche or Dutch oven and bake an additional 10 minutes at 450 degrees.  The loaf should be deeply browned and crusty, but not burned.

Repeat the process with the other loaf.  Let the cloche preheat again before carefully placing the second loaf in the bottom.

Remove the loaves to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

 

This bread has a unique character. It is chewy, slightly tangy and goes well with cheese and meats. It’s rustic inside and out.

Thanks to David Durr for sharing his formula for Rustic White, Rye & Wheat.

Notes from David:

• As far as scoring, it has been my experience that with the higher hydration dough’s I get a greater oven spring when I don’t score. Try one with and one with out, then compare.
• You can substitute Einkorn or Spelt for the whole wheat. For part or all of the unbleached all purpose, you can substitute extra fancy Durham. Feel free to use what you have on hand.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Sourdough Rye and Weekend Baking

I enjoyed my bread-baking weekend last weekend. Although I’ve been baking all month, I hadn’t made any new breads. I was starting to go through bread-baking withdrawals so I made up for lost time. I made four loaves and a batch of dinner rolls. I also messed up almost every mixing bowl in the house, but it was worth it.

The first loaf I made was is French Bread with Apples and Walnuts.

The second bread, and the one featured in this post, is a Sourdough Rye made with toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I’m a little behind on my posting, but this bread is worth the wait.

 

This rye bread is the featured BOM (Bread of the Month) for November for the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook group. David of Hearth Baked Tunes, one of the administrators of the group, adapted it from one of the breads in Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hammelman.

I decided to work on my photography skills while I was making this bread.  I’m a bread baker not a photographer so I need all the practice I can get. I took about 250 photos of this bread while I was making it. I was really pleased with several of the photos so they’ve been floating around the web in anticipation of this post.

Here’s one of my favorite photos of this bread. The lighting is horrendous in my kitchen so I took this photo on top of my new cooktop. It looks kind of surreal but it is a real photo of real bread.

 

Sourdough Rye with Toasted Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds

You can access the formula on the Artisan Bread Bakers FB group page.

Makes: 2 large round or oval loaves or 3 batard-shaped loaves

Instructions:

I started the process for making this bread on Friday. The first thing you do is to mix the sourdough using a rye culture, whole rye flour and water.  My rye sourdough starter needed to be fed so that was the first thing I did.  I let it sit for several hours, then I continued with the rest of the process.

Day 1: Prepare the Sourdough:

Prepare the sourdough and let it sit for 14-16 hours at 70 degrees F. I used an all rye sourdough made with a rye levain (also referred to as a rye culture or starter) and whole grain rye flour milled from organic rye grains.

If you don’t have a rye sourdough starter, you have a few options:

• Use a regular sourdough starter
• Convert a regular sourdough starter to a rye sourdough
• Create a rye levain/sourdough starter from scratch

 

Day 1: Prepare the Soaker:

I made a few substitutions to David’s adapted formula because I didn’t have the suggested ingredients. For the soaker, I substituted rye flakes for the rye chops. I created the soaker at the same time as the sourdough and let it sit overnight.

 

Day 2: Making the Bread

The next day, when you are ready to make the bread:

Toast the seeds:

I didn’t have the amount of pumpkin seeds that the formula called for so I used what I had and added more sunflower seeds. I just made sure the combined weight was equal to the amount called for.

This was fun!  As the seeds are toasting, they crack in the pan. I know, it’s the little things…

 

Mix the Dough:

For the final dough, I used powdered malt extract for the malt syrup, and all-purpose flour for the bread flour because I ran out of bread flour. If you don’t have malt extract or syrup, you can use honey.

Just mix all of the ingredients together, including the sourdough and soaker. I used less water in the final dough because I had used a little more water in my rye soaker.  You can adjust the amount of hydration while you’re mixing the dough.  If it needs more hydration, add a little more water, if it’s too wet, add some more flour.

 

Bulk Fermentation:

Let the dough ferment for 1 hour, no folding necessary per the original formula.  Well, here is where I deviated again.  I ran out of time and energy Saturday night, so at this point, I placed the bowl (covered with plastic) in the refrigerator overnight.

 

Diving and Shaping the Dough:

The next day, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature (about 2 hours).  Then I proceeded with the next step.

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into three pieces using a sharp knife or a bench tool.

 

Shape the dough pieces into batards. This is really an easy process and doesn’t have to take very long. Begin by spreading the dough out into a rough triangle. Don’t worry about shaping a perfect rectangle, just make it an even thickness if you can.

 

Fold the bottom third up and press gently on the seam to seal it, then bring the top to the middle like you are folding a letter.

 

Using the heel of your hand, press gently on the seam to seal it.

 

Place the loaves, seamside down on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover with plastic, and allow to proof for 50 to 60 minutes.

 

Score the Loaves:

Using a serrated knife or lame, score the loaves. 

 

Baking the Loaves:

Bake the loaves in a preheated 450 degrees F. oven on a baking stone with a steam pan underneath. Bake the loaves for 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 425 and continue baking for 30 minutes or until the loaves are completely baked.

Cooling the Loaves:

Remove the loaves to a cooling rack and cool completely before serving

 

Here are the finished loaves. I really liked the flavor and the texture of this bread.

I’m submitting this bread to YeastSpotting, the weekly bread roundup hosted by Susan of Wild Yeast.

Thanks to David of Hearth Baked Tunes for sharing this formula with us.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Fig and Almond Bread

Phyl of the Artisan Bread Bakers Facebook Group chose this Fig and Almond Bread as the BOM (bread of the month) for September.  This bread is a sneak preview from the upcoming book of breads by Nick Malgieri.  The book is scheduled to be released in Fall of 2012.  If this bread is any indication of the types of breads that will be included in the book, then I’ll have to add it to my list.

Nick got the inspiration for his bread from the Royal Crown Bakery in Brooklyn, New York’s fig and walnut batard-shaped loaf. Although I’ve never been particularly fond of figs, my taste tester likes figs so I thought it would be good to try something new.  I’m trying to step out of my baking box. :)

 

Fig and Almond Bread

Makes: Two small round loaves, each about 8 inches in diameter

Recipe from: http://www.nickmalgieri.com/blog/2011/07/sneak-preview-fig-and-almond-bread.html

Ingredients:

• 1 cup/about 6-7 ounces/230 grams dried Calimyrna figs
• 1 cup/5.5 ounces/150 grams whole unblanched almonds, coarsely chopped and lightly toasted
• 1 3/4 cup/375 grams room temperature tap water, about 75°F
• 2 1/4 teaspoons/7 grams fine granulated active dry or instant yeast
• 3 cups/400 grams bread flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
• 1 cup/135 grams whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon/15 grams sugar
• 2 teaspoons/14 grams salt
• Olive or vegetable oil for the bowl
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, for brushing the loaves after baking

A heavy 12 x 18-inch jellyroll pan (or baking pan) dusted with cornmeal, plus a spray bottle filled with warm water

 

Directions:

1. Snip the stems from the figs; if they’re at all hard or dried out put them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water.  Let them steep for 15 minutes, the drain and pat dry with paper towels before cutting into 1/2-inch dice.

   

2. Pour the water into the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk in the yeast.  Wait 30 seconds and whisk again.

   

3. Mix the flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, and salt together and use a large rubber spatula to stir them into the liquid a little at a time until you’ve used all the flour.  Make sure all the flour is mixed into the liquid and there isn’t any clinging to the side of the bowl.

   

4. Place the bowl on the mixer and attach the dough hook.  Mix on lowest speed until the dough comes together around the dough hook, a minute or two.    Stop the mixer and pull the dough away from the hook; let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

   

5. Increase the mixer speed to low/medium and mix until the dough is smoother and more elastic, about 2 to 3 minutes longer.  Add the figs and almonds and mix another minute to distribute them as well as possible throughout the dough.  They’ll be more evenly mixed after the turns are given to the dough.
6. Scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and turn it over so that the top is oiled.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough ferment until it starts to puff, about 30 minutes.

    

7. Scrape the dough to a floured work surface, flour your hands, and give the dough 2 turns as described below:

   Nick Malgieri’s Method for Turning the Dough: Generously flour the work surface; scrape the dough onto it. Flour your hands and gently flatten the dough to a disk. Fold the two sides in to meet at the middle, then roll the top toward you all the way to the end. Invert (seam side up), flatten and repeat.

   Tartine Method for Turning the Dough: I didn’t use Nick’s method for turning the dough. It was a little confusing to me. I used the Tartine method instead. You don’t even need to take the dough out of the bowl in the Tartine process.  View the Tartine process for turning the dough – includes photos.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7. Using either one of the methods for turning the dough.
9. Let the dough ferment until it has fully doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes longer.

   

10. To shape the dough into loaves, use a flexible plastic scraper to slide it from the bowl, right side up, to a floured work surface; try to keep from deflating the dough. 

    

11. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces.  Round each loaf by pushing against the bottom of the dough all around with the sides of your hands held palms upward.  The dough will quickly form an even sphere.

    

12. Place the loaves well apart on the prepared pan (or greased parchment paper) and cover them with a flat-weave towel or piece of sprayed or oiled plastic wrap. Let the loaves rest until they start to puff again, about 30 minutes.

    

13. As soon as you cover the loaves, set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
14. Once the loaves are proofed to about 50% larger than their original size, flour the palms of your hands and gently press to flatten them to about 1-inch/2.5-cm thick.

    

15. Use a serrated knife or lame to cut a deep slash across the diameter of the loaf, and another at a 90-degree angle to it, or cut 4 overlapping slashes to form a square.  Generously spray the loaves with water.  Place the pan in the oven.

    

16. Wait 2 minutes, then open the oven and spray the loaf again.
17. Repeat step 15. Wait 2 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees.
18. Bake the loaves until they’re well risen, deep golden, and the internal temperature reads 200°F. on an instant read thermometer, about 30 minutes.

    

19. Place the baked loaves on a rack and brush them all over with the melted butter; cool completely. 

    

    Serve the same day or wrap loosely and keep at room temperature for a day or so. Wrap and freeze for longer storage.

    Every bread provides a unique experience and this one is no different. I’m glad I tried it. I like the combination of figs and almonds. I guess I like figs after all!

     

    This bread has been YeastSpotted. Please visit Wild Yeast to view all of the lovely breads in the roundup.

     

    Happy Baking!
    

    Cathy

King Cake: BOM

The March Bread of the Month for the Artisan Bread Bakers is King Cake.  King Cake is usually served on Fat Tuesday during Mardi Gras, but I decided to wait and make it when my youngest son was home for Spring Break. 

The version the Artisan Bread Bakers made sounded really good, but I didn’t have all of the ingredients so I made a Traditional King Cake instead.  I couldn’t find the different colored sugar sprinkles so I made my own.  The purple turned out a little bit dark but it tasted really good.

 

 

Traditional King Cake

Recipe found here: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001152929

This traditional Mardi Gras dessert makes two king cakes each topped with a creamy glaze and festive gold, purple, and yellow sugar sprinkles.  I only made one coffee cake so I halved all of the ingredients listed below:

Yield: Makes 2 cakes (about 18 servings each)

Ingredients

• 1  (16-ounce) container sour cream
• 1/3  cup  sugar
• 1/4  cup  butter
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 2  (1/4-ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
• 1/2  cup  warm water (100° to 110°)
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 2  large eggs, lightly beaten
• 6  to 6 1/2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour (I used an all-purpose mix of white and whole wheat flour)
• 1/3  cup  butter, softened
• 1/2  cup  sugar
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon
• Creamy Glaze (recipe follows)
• Purple-, green-, and gold-tinted sparkling sugar sprinkles

 

I colored the sugar with yellow and green food coloring and a mixture of red/blue food coloring for the purple:

 

 

Directions:

Cook first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until butter melts. Set aside, and cool mixture to 100° to 110°.

 

 

 

 

Stir together yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a 1-cup glass measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.

Beat sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until smooth. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add enough remaining flour (4 to 4 1/2 cups) until a soft dough forms.

 

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place in a well-greased bowl, turning to grease top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until dough is doubled in bulk.

 

 

 

Punch down dough, and divide in half. Roll each portion into a 22- x 12-inch rectangle.

 

 

Spread 1/3 cup softened butter evenly on each rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border. Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle evenly over butter on each rectangle.

 

 

Roll up each dough rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, starting at 1 long side.

 

 

Place one dough roll, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet.

 

Bring ends of roll together to form an oval ring, moistening and pinching edges together to seal. Repeat with second dough roll.

 

 

 

Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

 

 

 

Bake at 375° for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden. Slightly cool cakes on pans on wire racks (about 10 minutes).

 

 

Drizzle Creamy Glaze evenly over warm cakes; sprinkle with colored sugars, alternating colors and forming bands. Let cool completely.

 

 

For our Mardi Gras celebration, I made this King Cake and some Jambalaya from the March edition of Bon Appetite.  I didn’t take a photo of the Jambalaya, but it was really good.

Then came time for dessert. All I can say is that I’m glad I didn’t make two of these coffee cakes  It tastes so good!  I sent some home with my BF and some back to school with my son.

 

 

Notes: Prep: 30 min.; Cook: 10 min.; Stand: 5 min.; Rise: 1 hr., 30 min.; Bake: 16 min. This recipe uses bread flour, which makes for a light, airy cake. You still get tasty results with all-purpose flour--the cake will just be more dense.

For a Cream Cheese-Filled King Cake: Prepare each 22- x 12-inch dough rectangle as directed. Omit 1/3 cup softened butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Increase 1/2 cup sugar to 3/4 cup sugar. Beat 3/4 cup sugar; 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened; 1 large egg; and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly on each dough rectangle, leaving 1-inch borders. Proceed with recipe as directed.

 

Creamy Glaze Recipe:

Yield: Makes 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

• 3  cups  powdered sugar
• 3  tablespoons  butter, melted
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1/4  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 2  to 4 tablespoons milk

Preparation

Stir together first 4 ingredients. Stir in 2 tablespoons milk, adding additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until spreading consistency.