Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread With Linseed The bread recipe described here owes much to two books: Peter Reinhard's Crust and Crumb and The Bread Builders by Daniel Wing and Alan Scott. I learned all my baking technique from them even though they have little to say about baking with whole wheat flour. This recipe is the result of my quest for several years to develop a whole grain bread that people, and especially my children, actually like to eat. A few introductory remarks: Any type of whole wheat can be used for the bread. Ordinary red winter or spring wheat work well, as does white wheat, which has a slightly better flavor because it contains fewer bitter-tasting components. My own favorite is spelt, which is a less common type of wheat. Spelt has the best flavor of all types of wheat but the gluten is less robust and it is a little bit more difficult to work with. Red wheat is more forgiving when the baker is sloppy when measuring out the ingredients. In this recipe I hope to describe the process of baking a particular bread in sufficient detail to enable the reader to re-create the bread. Once the process is mastered it can be modified to develop other types of bread. Should you have any questions, let me know and I will try to answer them. Here is how to get in touch with me: Ulf Griesmann ulfgri@gmail.com Page 1 of 7
Creating a Sourdough Culture This recipe for a sourdough culture is from the book Crust and Crumb by Peter Reinhardt (Ten Speed Press 1998) with slight modifications. When starting from scratch, it takes about one week to get a usable culture. Step 1 Combine 4.5oz (125 g) whole wheat (or rye) flour and 2.5oz (75 g) of cool water in a mixing bowl and knead for a few minutes until a smooth ball of dough is formed. Press the dough into a glass or plastic bowl, cover it an leave it at a warm spot for 24 hours. Step 2 Combine 4.5 oz (125 g) whole wheat (or rye) flour, 2.5 oz (75 g) of cool water, and the dough of the previous day in small pieces in the mixing bowl and knead again for a few minute until a smooth dough is formed. Discard half of the dough and return the rest to the bowl, cover, and leave for 24 hours in a warm spot. Step 3 Repeat the process from day two. At the end of the third day bubbles may begin to appear in the dough and the dough may begin to rise. If no bubbles are visible and the dough has not risen, repeat this step. When the dough rises proceed to the next step. Step 4 (Refreshing the Sourdough Culture) Combine approximately 17 oz (200 g) of existing sourdough (for example from step 3, which yields about 14 oz) with 7 oz (200 g) of water and stir until a smooth, rather liquid dough is obtained. To this add 10.5 oz (500 g) of whole wheat flour. Stir and knead until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed but not until gluten starts to develop. Let ferment for about 12 17.5 oz (500 g) of sourdough in storage container. Page 2 of 7
hours (overnight). This sourdough is then divided; one half can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, the other is used to leaven the next batch of bread. When a new sourdough culture is started it should be refreshed daily until it is very vigorous. Then it is refreshed as needed, at least once a week. Sourdough should always have a pleasant smell. If it turns grey and acidic ( angry ) it was not refreshed often enough and it must be revived with one or more refreshment cycles. A little Science: Bacteria and Yeast In a yeasted bread, the leavening of the dough is accomplished only by yeast, a single-cell fungus. Modern baking yeast is usually a monoculture of saccharomyces cervisiae. Sourdough is a collaboration of yeast with lacto-bacteria. During fermentation, the yeast, as usual, digests sugars and starches and turns them into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas which, in turn, makes the dough rise. The bacteria have a different form of metabolism and turn sugars and starches into carbon dioxide and lactic (or acetic) acid. These acids are, of course, what gives a sourdough bread its superior flavor and its name. A home grown sourdough culture will usually contain several strains of yeasts and lacto-bacteria even though, over time, one strain my dominate. It is more difficult to achieve consistent results with a sourdough culture than with baker's yeast. The reason is that yeast and bacteria prefer different Doubling time of the yeast population in a sourdough culture. Doubling time of the bacteria population in a sourdough culture. Page 3 of 7
temperatures for optimal growth. The two curves below show the doubling time for the yeast (left) and bacteria (right) populations in a sourdough culture. Optimal growth (shortest doubling time) for yeast occurs at about 85ºF whereas the bacteria are happiest at about 90ºF. This means that the temperature during fermentation (proving) of the dough will determine which type of fermentation dominates which, in turn, determines the flavor and appearance of the bread. When a mild bread with low acidity is desired, slow proving at low temperature is required, perhaps as low as 70ºF. A very acidic bread, like a San Francisco sourdough Dough at the end of the first rise. bread, is proved above 90ºF to encourage the growth of lacto-bacteria while slowing down the yeast. When bread is prepared in a normal home kitchen, which is usually much warmer in summer than in winter, the flavor of sourdough bread will change with the seasons. Finally, when sourdough is stored in the refrigerator at about 40ºF, yeast will cease to grow while lacto-bacteria continue to grow slowly. The result is a sourdough culture which gradually turns more and more acidic without rising much. Step 1: Preparing the Leaven Baking bread with sourdough is a three-step process that takes 2-3 days. The first step is simply a refreshment of the sourdough culture to create the necessary amount of leaven. At about noon of the first day combine 17.5 oz (500 g) of existing sourdough culture with 14 oz (400 g) of cold water and stir until a smooth, liquid dough is obtained. To this add 21.5 oz (600 g) of whole wheat flour and, using a wood spoon, work it into the sourdough and water mixture. Don't knead. Cover and set aside for the rest of the day. By the evening the dough should have at least doubled in size. Step 2: The Intermediate Dough Remove 17.5 oz (500 g) of the leaven and store for the next batch of bread. To the remainder add 21.5 oz (600 g) of cold water and stir until a smooth, liquid dough is obtained. Two heaping tablespoons of granulated kelp can be added at this stage if a mineral-rich bread is desired. Add 24.5oz (700 g) of whole wheat flour and combine with Page 4 of 7
the sourdough and water mixture without kneading. Cover and let ferment overnight. Step 3: Final Dough On the morning of the second day prepare the following: Dissolve 1.6 oz (45 g) of salt in 8.1 oz (230 g) of warm water Soak 2.8 oz (80 g) of linseed in 3.5 oz (100 g) of boiling water and wait until salt water and linseed mixture Dough divided into equal parts. are no longer hot. To the intermediate dough add 28 oz (800 g) of whole wheat flour, the salt water and the linseed mixture. Mix all ingredients and turn them out onto a counter. Knead the dough for about 15 minutes by hand until the gluten is fully developed. At the beginning the dough will be unpleasantly sticky. It helps to let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes after the first few minutes of kneading to give the flour time to absorb the water. It should then be much less sticky. The kneading time should be reduced when a machine is used for kneading but the result will likely be inferior to hand kneaded dough. Best results are obtained when the dough is kneaded for about 7 minutes, it is then rested for 5 Dough shaped into balls. minutes, and then the kneading is continued for the remainder of the time. When the dough is kneaded it should be slightly tacky but neither sticky nor dry. Move the kneaded dough to a container, cover, and let rise for about 2 hours. the dough should rise vigorously and should double in volume at the end of two hours. If it hasn't doubled give it some extra time. At the end of the first rise A shaped loaf. Page 5 of 7
the dough should look like the picture above. When the first rise is complete, turn out the dough onto a flour-covered counter and divide it into three lumps or patties of equal weight. Form dough into balls by folding the edges of the dough patties towards the center and turning them over so that the joint or navel is at the bottom of the dough ball. Let rest for about 15 minutes. Shaped loaf in a colander. Finally, loaves must be shaped. Clear the flour from an area of the counter and moisten the counter surface with some water so that the dough sticks to it. Take one of the preformed loaves and push it with the hands from side to side while rotating the dough ball (see movie Shape_Loaf.mpg). Continue until a taught sheet of gluten stretches over the dough ball and the ball is nice and round. Cover shaped loaf with flour all over. Set the shaped and flour covered loaf into a colander, navel side up, and put the colander into a plastic bag (shopping bag) to keep the loaf moist. The loaves are now left to rise for a second time for 2-3 hours, depending on temperature. They should at least double in volume but they should not be left to rise until they run out of steam. Loaf on peel, ready to go into the oven. Loaves in the oven on a pizza stone. Note the pan for hot water at the bottom of the oven. Page 6 of 7
Turn on the oven about an hour before the loaves have finished rising. The oven is where the home baker must make the most compromises. A real bread oven can be heated to much higher temperatures than a normal kitchen oven. To simulate the real bread oven as best as possible, the bread must be baked on a pizza stone. Those who are lucky to have a separate oven for their bread baking can simulate a real bread oven by putting a layer of fire bricks on a rack near the bottom of the oven. The temperature of the oven is set to 550ºF, the Finished loaf. highest most ovens will go, and left to heat for about an hour. Set a wide, low pan on the bottom of the oven and have it heat up as well. It will be filled with boiling water when the loaves are put into the oven. When the oven is hot, and the loaves have finished rising, remove them from the bags, dust their bottoms with some coarse flour (or grits), turn them out onto a peel and move them quickly into the oven (this can be a piece of thin plywood with a handle). It is best not to slash whole grain breads because they don't rise as much in the oven as white breads. Pour boiling water into the pan at the bottom to create plenty of steam during the first few minutes of baking. The high humidity is needed for the formation of a good crust. Close the oven door and lower the temperature to about 480ºF. Bake for 45 min or until the temperature at the centers of the breads reaches 200ºF. When the breads are ready, remove them from the oven and let them cool on a rack. Each loaf will weigh approximately 2 pounds. Retarding: This is a method of improving the flavor of bread by moving the loaves into the refrigerator for 8 hours (overnight) when the second rise is finished and before baking. The loaves are taken out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before baking to warm up. Retarding will increase the acidity of the bread and will improve flavor, especially in breads made from white flour. Page 7 of 7