A wedding, Hawaii, and back to REAL bread!

On Monday, I arrived back from a road trip of ten days. We went to our lovely daughter’s wedding which was in Phoenix, Az.

Natalie and Stephen

Natalie and Stephen

It was 107F  in the shade the day we went to the Phoenix Zoo. The animals were trying to keep cool:

Hot Lion

Hot Lion

Hot Rino

Hot Rino

We visited relatives on the way down and on the way back. I did not have a bite of real bread for all of that time! I have to admit my taste buds are spoiled.

I tried some commercial yeasted bakery Olive Rosemary bread and had to ….well… it didn’t stay in my mouth for long! It was good to arrive back home and feed my starters. I baked up a batch of Saltzburg Sourdough, which was very yummy, full of holes and crispy, crusty. It was so nice to eat real bread again!

Today I am mixing up a batch of Cracked Grain Mill Loaf. It is so good! The crumb is full of cracked grains, seeds and nuts. Here is the dough full of seeds, nuts and cracked grains:

Millgrain dough

Millgrain dough

Some of the grains I used were, flaxseed, almonds, sesame seeds, millet seeds, sunflower seeds with cracked rye and wheat berries.

Some of the seeds used

Some of the seeds used

I  used my cookbook which I have printed out for my own use:

Discovering Sourdough

Discovering Sourdough

Here is my Millgrain boule:

Millgrain boule

Millgrain boule

This bread is so full of grains and seeds that it tends to be a bit heavy. However it is hearty, healthy, and very delicious!

Millgrain Loaf

Millgrain Loaf

Here is a picture of the crumb:

Cracked Millgrain Crumb

Cracked Millgrain Crumb

This bread is really good for a grilled cheese sandwich. I don’t know if you noticed the bread saw and cutting board that I used in the pictures, it is a terrific and very handy gift that my sister in law from Tehachapi, Ca gave me while I was visiting before the wedding. Thankyou Barbara! I love it! It works great! I don’t know where you can obtain this nice set, since it was a gift, it wasn’t really proper to ask. Maybe some of you out there know where to get this bread saw and cutting board set. I highly recommend it.

Bread Cutting Set

Bread Cutting Set

Here is the recipe for Cracked Millgrain Loaf:

Sourdough Loaf with cracked Rye, Wheat and seeds

This recipe is started in the afternoon around 2:00 pm :

v                    1 cup boiling water – 8 oz

v                    1 cup of mixed cracked wheat and rye – 6 oz

v                    1 Tablespoon Malt syrup – .8 oz

v                    1 Tablespoon Dill seeds -.4 oz

v                    1 Tablespoon Mustard seeds – .4 oz

v                    ¼ cup flax seeds – 1.5 oz

v                    ¼ cup sunflower seeds or mixed seeds/trail mix – 1.5 oz

(you can substitute any seeds, nuts, grains etc for any of the above)

Add the 6 oz of mixed cracked Rye and Wheat grains to a cup of boiling water. Let the grains boil for one minute and take the pan off the burner. Stir in all of the different seeds and malt syrup and let cool for 20 minutes. Set aside (Alternately you can use about 4 oz of any mixture of seeds you prefer).

To a dough mixer add:

v                    2 cups vigorous sourdough starter @ 166% hydration – 18 oz

v                    1 cup water -8 oz

v                    1 Tablespoons Oil – .5 oz

v                    Add all of the cracked grain/seed mixure

v                    5 ½ cups of bread flour – 24.8 oz

v                    ½ cup whole wheat flour – 2.1 oz

v                    4 teaspoons salt – .8 oz – add after autolyse

Process this in the mixer for two to three minutes then let the dough autolyse for 20 minutes. Add salt and then allow the dough to bulk ferment for about 6 hours. During bulk ferment, fold the dough every  1-1/2 – two hours.

When bulk ferment is done, press down dough and transfer it to a lightly floured surface using rye flour. Knead the dough just enough to gather it into a ball. Divide the dough into two pieces and shape the loaves of bread. Place dough into floured or lined baskets, cover with a plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning, take loaves out of the refrigerator (stagger the loaves about 30 minutes apart) and let dough warm up and proof. Since this bread is filled with seeds and is heavy, it can take the dough longer to proof (expect it to take 2- 3 hours).

When the dough is ready and feels bubbly and  springy but not saggy, then, taking the first loaf sprinkle the top (actually the bottom) with semolina or rye flour and turn the dough out onto a peel or flat baking sheet. Then slash the dough while still on the peel, slide into the hot preheated 450 degree oven onto a hot baking stone, spray the dough once with water quickly, and then cover with a roasting lid which has also been preheated in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take off the roasting lid and turn down the oven to 400 degrees. Continue baking for about 15 more minutes, turning the loaf once for even browning. For the next loaf, turn the oven back up to 450 degrees and put the roasting lid back in to preheat for five minutes or  until the loaf is ready to go in. Bake the same as the first loaf.  This bread will not expand as much as a white loaf would, it will be a bit denser because of the weight of the seeds. Cool completely. Enjoy! This bread is excellent for deli type sandwiches.

We have only until the end of June before we move to Hawaii. I am excited. I don’t know how long it will be until we can hook up to the internet once we get there, so be patient. I will be having fun figuring out ways to bake sourdough using Hawaiian ingredients. I am sure Macadamia Nut Sourdough will be on the top of my list! I thought a green avacado sourdough might be fun too. I will have to relearn how to bake using sourdough in warmer weather. Have fun baking with sourdough!

This recipe will be submitted to everyone’s favorite… Yeastspotting If you haven’t seen Susan’s bread blog , Wild Yeast, you had better visit soon.

Edited to add breadboard pictures:

closeup

closeup

Bread board and bread saw

Bread board and bread saw

northwestsourdough

Teresa L Greenway - Sourdough bread baker, author, teacher, entrepreneur. Join my baking classes at: https://tinyurl.com/nbe3ejd

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