Isand66's blog

This bread is an adaptation of my Coffee flavored Rye bread I made a little while ago.  This time I tried to get a stronger coffee flavor so at the suggestion of my fellow "Mad Scientist" bread baker DA Brownman, I added espresso powder to the recipe.  I also increased the amount of onion since I wanted a more pronounced onion flavor in the final product.  If you are not a big onion fan, feel free to lessen the amount or leave it out.  I also added some Durum Semolina flour just to make it interesting.

The final result was a nice chewy, bread with a pretty strong onion flavor and a pronounced coffee flavor.

For a time I was worried that the bread would end up a disaster since my refrigerator is not working properly.  The dough almost blew the lid off of my dough rising bucket due to the higher temperature in the refrigerator, but instead of letting it sit out for 2 hours before forming it into loaves I skipped that step and the end results were excellent.

Ingredients

15.5 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed (I use a AP flour starter.  I refreshed the night before, left it out at 70 degrees room temperature for 8-9 hours and then put in refrigerator)

15 oz. Water  90 degrees F.

9 ounces Bread Flour (KAF)

4 ounces Pumpernickel Flour

4 ounces Durum Flour

2 ounces Whole Wheat Flour

1.5 ounces  Barley Flakes

1 ounce Wheat Germ

4 ounces Smoked Onions (I smoked a whole onion on my barbecue and cut it into 1/2" pieces when it cooled)

2 1/2 Teaspoons Espresso Powder

2 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

1 Tablespoon Pistachio Oil

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the water with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours, and oil and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  Let rest for 15 minutes

Now add the salt and onions and mix for 4 minutes more on medium speed, adding more flour if necessary to produce a slightly sticky ball of dough.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and do a stretch and fold and then  form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 15 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10- 15 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

Feel free to visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for some of my older posts.

I am always on the lookout for something new and different to try in a bread recipe.  I was visiting my home town of Massapequa, NY this weekend and stopped by a specialty supermarket to pick up some cookies and came across a bag of chickpea flour.  I have never used this in baking anything before and didn't know exactly what to expect.  I had some left over roasted sweet potatoes from the other night and decided to add some as well as a high percentage of a higher gluten flour to make up for the lack of protein in the chickpea flour.  I did some extra stretch and folds to make up for the higher hydration in this dough and the chickpea flour definitely caused me to add some extra flour to compensate.

The final bread had a nice chewy dark crust and a yellow color with a moist open crumb.  You could taste the nutty flavor of the chickpeas with a mild sourdough tanginess.

Ingredients

15 ounces 65% Hydration Starter AP Flour)  Refreshed

7.5 ounces Roasted Sweet Potatoes Mashed

16.7 ounces Bread Flour (KAF)

4 ounces Chickpea Flour

3 ounces White Rye Flour (KAF)

14 ounces Luke warm water, 90 - 95 degrees Fahrenheit

2 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the water with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  Let rest for 10 minutes.

Add the salt and mix for 4 minutes more on medium speed, adding more flour if necessary to produce a slightly sticky ball of dough.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and do a stretch and fold and form into a ball.

Leave uncovered for 20 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

Do at least 3 more additional stretch and folds letting the dough rest for 15-20 minutes each time. After the last stretch and fold, put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Put in your refrigerator immediately for at least 12 hours or up to 3 days.

On the day you are ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.

Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes.

Let the formed loaves sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

A little help from my friend Cosmo...

The other night I cranked up the charcoal grill and smoked some nice juicy pork chops with some red beans for dinner.  I didn't want to waste what was left of the nice smokey fire so I roasted a bunch of yellow potatoes and what better use for them but in a bread.  I had some left over roasted corn so I figured I might as well make use of that as well.

I decided at the last-minute to add some organic cracked wheat.  The best way to add this ingredient is to soak it for about 10 minutes in boiling water so it becomes soft.  It ends up soaking up a lot of the water so it's important to include that in the overall hydration of the dough.  I ended up adding too much liquid to this dough and it was extremely wet at 77%.  The final result was bread with an excellent crust and open moist crumb but the bread ended ups little flat.

Ingredients

15 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed

5 ounces Whole Wheat (I use King Arthur Flour)

12 ounces French Style Flour from KAF (or All Purpose Flour)

2 ounces Spelt Flour

2 ounces Organic Cracked Wheat

5 ounces Roasted Potatoes (I smashed them up and left most of the skin on for some added flavor)

3.5 ounces Cheddar Cheese (I shredded the cheese)

1 Tablespoon Freeze dried chives, but feel free to use fresh ones

2.2 ounces Roasted Corn

19 ounces Luke warm water, 90 degrees Fahrenheit

2 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

Directions

From the total 19 ounces of water, bring 8 ounces to a boil and add the cracked wheat.  Let that sit for 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the remaining water with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours and potatoes and mix on the lowest speed for 1 minute.  Now add the cracked wheat with the remainder of the water and mix for 1 minute.  Let rest for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and mix for 3 minutes on medium speed.  Now add the chives and the cheese and mix for 1 minute more.  The dough will be very wet.  If you prefer to work with a firmer dough you can add some additional flour, but I left this one very wet.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and do about 10 stretch and folds with a dough scraper or your hands but keep them oiled or wet.  Form the dough into a ball and let it rest uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.  Let it rest for another 10 - 15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  The dough should start to develop some gluten at this point.  Let it rest covered again.

After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Let the dough sit at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours and then put in your refrigerator  for at least 12 hours or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take it out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 1  1/2 to 2 hours.  Now shape the dough as desired on a floured work surface being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.

Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.  Leave the loaves in your oven with the door cracked for 5 minutes longer with the oven off.  After 5 minutes remove them from the oven and place on  your cooling rack.  Try to resist the temptation to cut into the bread until they have cooled sufficiently

.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.

I stopped off at Whole Foods over the weekend and couldn't resist picking up a bottle of Cherry Ale to try in a bread recipe.  I also picked up some coconut flour which I will have to try at some later point when I figure out the best use for it.

I have yet to include any nuts in any of my breads since my wife doesn't really like them, but I figured it was time to try a recipe with my favorite pecans.  Cherry Ale, pecans.....what goes together with these 2 ingredients, but some roasted garlic and rye.

I included some first clear flour to give the dough some structure and added some barley flour to make it even more interesting.  The final result was a bread with an excellent crunch, moist crumb and sour/cherry ale flavor.  This bread goes perfect with a nice bowl of soup or stew or some good cheese.

Ingredients

15.5 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed (I used my existing starter which is uses AP flour)

16 oz. Cherry Ale (room temperature)

9 ounces First Clear Flour (or strong bread flour)

4 ounces White Rye Flour

4 ounces Medium Rye Flour

2 ounces Barley Flour

6 ounces  Roasted Garlic (chopped)

2 ounces Chopped Pecans

2 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

1 Tablespoon Pistachio Oil

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the cherry ale with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours, and oil, and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes

Add the salt Mix for 4 minutes more on medium speed, adding more flour if necessary to produce a slightly sticky ball of dough.  Now add the garlic and nuts and mix until incorporated.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and need for 1 minute and form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl,banneton or shape into baguettes.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

I am going to my Mother's house for lunch tomorrow to visit with some of my relatives and wanted to bring some nice rolls for lunch.  I decided to start off with a basic Challah recipe and made some modifications to make it interesting.  I used durum semolina flour along with bread flour, spelt flour and barley flakes.  I also used some agave nectar instead of white sugar to add some sweetness.

I also used several different toppings including toasted onions, poppy seeds and a toasted garlic and herbs mix I had in the pantry.

The end results were a tasty soft roll with a more complex flavor profile than the standard Challah.  I do have to admit I didn't do the best job shaping the rolls and next time I would use the egg yolk for the egg wash instead of the egg white.

Ingredients

Dough

6 oz. Egg yolks

18 oz. Water, 90 degrees F.

1 1/2 Tbs Instant yeast

4 1/2 Tbs Agave nector (you can substitute sugar or honey)

4 1/2 Tbs Vegetable Oil

12 oz. Durum Flour (King Arthur Flour or similar)

15 oz. Bread Flour (King Arthur Flour or similar)

4 oz. Spelt Flour

3 oz. Barley flakes

2.5 Tsp. Salt, .63 oz. (Sea salt or table salt)

1-2 Egg whites for glaze

Toppings of your choice

Directions

Combine the water with the yeast in your mixing bowl.  Next add the egg yolks, oil, and sugar and whisk to break up the egg yolks.  Now add the flours and mix using your stand mixer on low-speed for 2 minutes.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes and then mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.  If necessary add some additional liquid or flour until the dough comes together in a nice silky and smooth ball.

Take the dough out of the bowl and place on your work surface.  Knead it by hand for 1-2  minutes and form it into a ball. Immediately place the dough in a lightly greased covered bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight up to 4 days.

When you are ready to make your rolls take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut the dough into pieces and form into balls or other shapes as desired.  Place the rolls on either parchment paper or baking sheets and brush each roll with an egg wash mix containing 1 egg white or whole egg and 2 tablespoons of water.   Let the rolls rise for around 1 hour uncovered.  After an hour brush the egg wash on the  rolls again and add your toppings.  Let the rolls rest for 30-60 minutes longer until they are 1 1/2 times the size.  In the meantime warm your oven to 350 degrees F.   When the rolls are properly risen, bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes until nice and brown on the top and bottom.

When done, let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.This post has been submitted to Yeast Spotting at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting.

A few weeks ago I found an excellent sourdough website created by Teresa Greenway and saved a few recipes to add to my future bake list.  I finally decided to give one a try and baked her recipe for an Alaskan Sourdough bread.  This bread is slightly sweet similar to a shepherder's bread.  The overall bread is 67% hydration and uses some interesting ingredients like evaporated milk.  You can find the original recipe here http://www.northwestsourdough.com/files/extra/Alaska.pdf.

I of course couldn't follow the recipe exactly the way it was written and had to make some modifications.  I decided to add some whole wheat flour and also used KAF European style flour along with KAF bread flour.  The original recipe calls for bread flour only.  I also use evaporated organic cane juice sugar instead of white sugar and used my 65% hydration starter in place of the 168% starter in the recipe.  I used this nifty hydration calculator to adjust the amount of starter and water to fit my starter and it worked out great.

The other thing I changed is the method of preparing the dough as I followed my normal version based on Peter Reinhart's procedures which fits in my schedule much better.

This bread turned out as good as I could have hope for and ended up with a more sour flavor than expected.  I did forget to put the glaze on the breads but it turned out great without it.  Next time I will have to give the sugar based glaze a try.

Ingredients

11.8 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed

18.92 oz. Water (90 degrees F.)

4 oz. Evaporated milk

2 Tbsp Evaporated cane Juice Organic Sugar, 1 oz. (or use white sugar or honey)

2 Tbsp Melted butter (unsalted), 1 oz.

8 oz. Whole Wheat Flour (I used KAF)

16 oz. European Style KAF

10 oz. Bread flour

4 Tsp Sea Salt, .8 oz.

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the evaporated milk and water with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours and butter and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.   Do not add the salt yet.  Let rest for 20 minutes and then add the salt by sprinkling it over the dough.  Mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and need for 1 minute and form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours form the dough into Boules being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl or banneton and cover it with a moist lint free towel or oiled plastic wrap.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

When ready to bake make a hole with your thumb down the middle of the dough and then slash in 4 places around the hole.  I'm not sure if this is supposed to signify something Alaskan, but it looks pretty cool when it is baked off.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

I was very happy with the look and taste of this bread.  It will make 2 pretty large loaves around 2 lbs 3 oz. each.

Please visit the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/ for lots of cool recipes.  You can also visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for some of my older posts.

13Mar

I finally got a chance to bake some bread tonight after making a bunch of pizza over the weekend for my family.

I don’t even like coffee, but I actually love the smell and if you throw in some ice and a little sugar I can be convinced to drink a glass or two.  Anyway, I was all set to make an adaptation of a bread I discovered on the internet called a Hawaiian Sour Dough when I realized I didn’t have enough starter or all of the ingredients necessary to make this bread.  Instead I decided to put our new Keurig to good use and brewed some Mudslide flavored coffee.  I added this in place of most of the water in my recipe along with my sour dough starter, rye flours, spelt flour and some wheat germ.  For good  measure I added some carmelized onions that I had left over from my barbecue pizza and also used some pistachio oil I had bought a little while ago.  I thought the nutty oil would go well with the rye flours and flavorful coffee.

I do have to admit that the dough smelled amazing before it went into the oven from the mudslide coffee and hopefully when I cut into the loaf tomorrow morning it will taste even better.

Ingredients

15.5 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed

11 oz. Coffee  cooled to 90 degrees F. (I used Mudslide flavored coffee)

4 oz. water (90 degrees F.)

9 ounces First Clear Flour (or strong bread flour)

4 ounces White Rye Flour

4 ounces Pumpernickel Flour

2 ounces Spelt Flour

1 ounce  Wheat Germ

2.5 ounces Carmelized Onions

2 1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt

1 Tablespoon Pistachio Oil

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the coffee and water with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours, salt, oil, and onions and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes

Mix for 4 minutes more on medium speed, adding more flour if necessary to produce a slightly sticky ball of dough.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and need for 1 minute and form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don’t de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes.

L

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 – 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

The final dough had a nice subtle rye flavor with some sour undertones.  You don’t really taste the coffee flavor very much and the crumb was a little tighter than I would have liked.  Overall the bread was a success and is worth making again.

Please visit the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/ for lots of cool recipes

I have not made rolls in a while, so I figured it was time to give it a go.  I was going to make some straight onion rolls from the recipe in Inside the Jewish Bakery by Stanley Ginsberg and Norman Berg, but I decided to try something a little different.  I used the onion topping recipe from the book and created a nice soft dough using some smooth style ricotta, whole eggs and a combination of durum flour and bread flour.  To make it interesting I used my usual amount of white starter at 65% hydration to create a beautiful smooth and silky dough that smelled good enough to eat by itself before baking.

These rolls are great with or without the onion topping, and are nice and light and airy with a slight sourdough flavor.

Ingredients

Dough

15 oz. Refreshed Starter (65% Hydration)

4 Large Eggs lightly beaten, (8 oz. total liquid)

5 oz. Smooth Style Ricotta (you can use regular style or fresh if you can make it)

6 oz. Water (90 degrees F.)

11 oz. Durum Flour (King Arthur Flour or similar)

9 oz. Bread Flour (King Arthur Flour or similar)

2.5 Tsp. Salt, .63 oz. (Sea salt or table salt)

Onion Topping

1/2 cup, 1.5 oz. Dehydrated chopped onions

1 1/2 cups,12 oz., Boiling water

1 Tbs., .5 oz. Vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp., .3 oz., Black poppy seeds

1/4 tsp., .1 oz., Table salt or sea salt

Directions

Cut the starter into about 8 pieces and mix the eggs and water with the starter to break it up.  Next add the rest of the ingredients and mix either using your stand mixer on low-speed for 2 minutes.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes and then mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.  If necessary add some additional liquid or flour until the dough comes together in a nice silky and smooth ball.

Take the dough out of the bowl and place on your work surface.  Knead it by hand for 1 minute and form it into a ball.  Let it rest for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes do a stretch and fold from all sides and form it into a ball again.  Let it rest another 10 minutes and then do 1 additional stretch and fold and immediately put it in a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover the bowl and let it rest at room temperature around 70 degrees F. for 2 hours.  After 2 hours put it in your refrigerator for 1-3 days.

Either the day before or while the dough is resting, prepare the onion filling.  Pour the boiling water into a bowl with the dehydrated onions and let sit for around 30 minutes.  Drain through a strainer and spread out on a paper towel to absorb as much moisture as possible.  Mix the onions with the remaining ingredients and either refrigerate in a sealed container or bag or use when cool.

When you are ready to make your rolls take the dough out of the refrigerator and keep it in its bowl at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours the dough should be ready to shape.  Using a piece of parchment paper or cookie sheet place about 1/2 of the prepared onion mixture on your surface of choice.  Cut the dough into 3 oz. pieces and form round rolls making sure each roll is nice and tight.  Press the top of each roll into the onion mixture and place a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Cover the rolls with a clean lint free towel sprayed with water or a piece of plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Let the rolls rest at room temperature for 2 hours.

Around 30 minutes before baking the rolls, prepare your oven and pre-heat at 425 degrees.  I used my usual set-up for steam and added 1 cup of boiling water to a pan on the bottom shelf but for rolls you could omit this step and you will get softer rolls if that is what you desire.

It should take around 20-25 minutes to bake the rolls and they should be nice and brown on the bottom and top.  When done, let them cool on a wire rack and enjoy.This post has been submitted to Yeast Spotting at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting.

As you can see the crumb is nice and open and airy.

I really did intend to make one of the 100 recipes I have saved from assorted websites and blogs or one of the 1000 recipes from one of my bread books.....really...I did.  Well this recipe is kind of adapted from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Bakers Apprentice.  I started with the recipe for Italian Bread and changed the biga to using  my sourdough starter or levain and used European style flour, rye, barley and whole wheat flour instead of bread flour.  I also added some organic cracked wheat bran to make it interesting and used molasses instead of sugar.  Oh...and I used buttermilk instead of water...but other than that it's like I copied the recipe from the book!

The bread is rising in 2 bannetons as I write this, so I will let you know how it comes out at the end of this post....or if it doesn't turn out very well you may never read this  :).

Ingredients

15.5 ounces 65% Hydration Starter Refreshed

6 ounces European Style Flour from KAF (you can use bread flour in place of this)

3 ounces Medium Rye Flour

2 ounces Barley Flour

2 ounces Whole Wheat Flour

2 ounces Organic Cracked Wheat Bran

11 ounces Luke warm buttermilk, 90 - 95 degrees Fahrenheit

1  2/3 Teaspoons Sea Salt

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Molasses

Directions

Using your stand mixer or by hand, mix the buttermilk with the starter to break up the starter.

Add the flours, salt, olive oil, and molasses and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes

Mix for 4 minutes more on medium speed, adding more flour if necessary to produce a slightly sticky ball of dough.

Remove dough to your lightly floured work surface and need for 1 minute and form a ball.

Leave uncovered for 10 minutes.

Do a stretch and fold and form into a ball again and cover with a clean moist cloth or oiled plastic wrap.

After another 10 minutes do another stretch and fold and put into a lightly oiled bowl that has enough room so the dough can double overnight.

Leave the covered dough in your bowl at room temperature for 1.5 to 2 hours and then put it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days.

When ready to bake the bread, take the bowl out of your refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours shape the dough as desired being careful not to handle the dough too roughly so you don't de-gas it.  Place it in your bowl, banneton or shape into baguettes.

Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours covered with oiled plastic wrap or a wet cloth.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

I do have to say the crust came out excellent on this bake and the bread had a nice flavor with a slight sour and nutty overtone.  The crumb could have been a bit more open but overall I would consider this one a success.

Please visit the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/ for lots of cool recipes

This recipe is an adaptation from Veronika at http://eattheroses.wordpress.com.  It uses the no-knead method and allows the gluten which is very weak in rye breads to develop slowly.  I decided to add some dark beer to give it an extra kick and also used First Clear flour instead of Bread or AP flour.  I ended up keeping the dough in the refrigerator for an extended period since I ran out of time to let it rise completely at room temperature.  I think this ended up creating an extremely sour sourdough rye which is not for the faint of heart.  If you want a more mellow tasting bread, I suggest you follow the directions below.

All in all, the bread turned out fairly well with a nice crispy crust and chewy, moist crumb.  The beer definitely added another flavor profile which makes this bread ideal for a nice sharp cheese and beer.

Ingredients

Starter

5 oz. water (90 degrees F.)

3 oz. Rye Flour (I used medium grade from KAF)

2 oz. First Clear Flour (you can substitute Bread flour or High Gluten flour)

2 oz. Refreshed Starter (100 % Hydration White Starter or Rye or Whole Wheat)

Final Dough

7 oz. Dark Rye Flour

10.5 oz. First Clear Flour (or Bread flour or High Gluten)

2 Tsp. Salt

1 - 2 TBS Caraway Seeds (more or less depending on your preference.  I used 1.5 TBS)

12 oz. Dark Beer

Directions

Prepare the starter and let it sit out at room temperature for 5-8 hours until it is nice and bubbly and ripe.  You can use it immediately or put it in the refrigerator overnight until ready to use.

Mix the starter with the room temperature beer and break it up.  Next mix in the flours and salt until the dough comes together and is still sticky. You don't need to over-mix the dough as it will now sit covered with some plastic wrap for 18-20 hours at room temperature.  (This is the point where after around 8 hours I put it in my refrigerator).  After 18-20 hours the dough should be nice and puffy and ready to turn out on an either a lightly floured work surface or lightly oiled one.  Do several stretch and folds and then put the dough in your floured banneton or bakers couche for its final journey which should take around 1.5 - 3 hours.

When the final dough is nice and puffy and passes the finger poke test, prepare your oven for hearth baking.

Pre-heat oven with baking stone (I use one on bottom and one on top shelf of my oven), to 500 degrees F.

Slash loaves as desired and place empty pan in bottom shelf of oven.

Pour 1 cup of very hot water into pan and place loaves into oven.

Lower oven to 450 Degrees and bake for 25 - 35 minutes until bread is golden brown and internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Shut the oven off and leave the bread inside with the door slightly open for 10 minutes.  This will help dry the loaves out and keep the crust crunchy.

Let cool on cooling rack and enjoy!

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting