Elsie_iu's blog

I was suddenly craving white sandwich bread. That’s very uncommon for me as I always prefer whole grain sourdough bread. Then, I figured out I actually wasn’t craving any white sandwich bread but the store bought purple rice coconut white sandwich bread. Easy solution: drop the white flour and sub in whole wheat, put in some purple rice flour (the original version only mix in cooked rice) and include a coconut kaya jam filling. You get something not only healthier but much more flavorful (coconut milk in both the dough and filling!).

Coconut Sweet Buns with 30% Purple Rice Flour

Dough flour:

210g      70%       Whole wheat flour

90g       30%       Freshly milled black glutinous rice flour

For leaven:

15g        5%       Starter

15g        5%       Bran shifted out from dough flour

15g        5%       Water

For tang zhong:

16g       5.3%       Whole wheat flour

16g       5.3%       Freshly milled black glutinous rice aka purple rice flour

180g      60%       Canned coconut milk

For dough:

258g      86%      Dough flour excluding tang zhong and bran for leaven

<212g  <70.7%  Tang zhong (I didn’t weight)

60g       20%       Whey

45g       15%       Water

45g       15%       Leaven

9g           3%       Vital Wheat Gluten

5g        1.7%       Salt

___________

305g      100%      Whole grain

305g      100%      Total hydration (inc. the tang zhong so it’s actually very easy to work with)

Pandan kaya jam (makes enough for 4 batches of buns):

180g     41.7%      Canned coconut milk (preferably full fat)

171g (3)  39.7%    Large whole eggs

80g       18.6%       Brown sugar (or coconut sugar)

(6)             -%        Pandan leaves (optional) 

Sift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 15g for leaven. Mix the rest back into the dough flour or soak them in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 6-8 hours.  

Make the tang zhong. Pour the coconut milk slowly while whisking into a pot containing the flour. When no lumps remain, heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring continuously until thickened to a paste, about 3 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate until needed. 

For the kaya jam, first extract the pandan juice if using. Blend the pandan leaves with as little water as possible until they turn into a fibrous paste. Strain and press it against a strainer to collect the extract. Discard the solids.Whisk the eggs. Heat the coconut milk with the pandan extract and sugar until the sugar melts and the mixture nearly comes to a boil. Pour a stream of the hot mixture into the eggs slowly while stirring continuously. Return the coconut milk-eggs mixture to the heat. Whisk constantly for 15 minutes over low-medium heat or until thickened. Blend it until completely smooth then refrigerate until needed.

Reserve 10g of the water and roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the leaven and salt. Autolyse for 30 minutes. Combine the reserved liquid with the leaven. Knead it into the dough along with the salt. Let it ferment for 10 hours.

Take the dough out of the bowl then stretch and fold for a couple of times. Let rest for 20 minutes. Roll the dough into a 38cm×15cm rectangle. Spread the pandan jam onto it, leaving a border on both long ends. Roll up the long ends of the dough and divide crosswise into 9 equal pieces. Place into the prepared pan (mine is 20cm×20cm) and let proof for 30 minutes. Retard overnight for 14 hours. 

Let the dough rest at room temperature for 1 hour. At the same time, preheat the oven at 190°C/375°F. Bake for 25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 190°F. Turn out to a rack to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Look at that dreamy purple! Full of Anthocyanin, a kind of flavonoid with powerful antioxidizing properties.

Ready to go into the oven...

I hate any forms of coconut flesh: flaked, desiccated or whatever. However, I seriously couldn’t resist the aroma of dishes prepared with coconut milk/cream. Case solved, my hatred for coconut meat is totally a texture issue :)

The buns are super soft thanks to the coconut milk and tang zhong. Nevertheless, I love that they are also slightly chewy instead of airy like typical cinnamon rolls due the glutinous rice. With so many flavour components going on, these buns are anything but lacking in flavour! They are a major upgrade from that pack of store-bought sandwich bread.

Save the extra kaya jam! It is traditionally enjoyed as a spread for toast but it is exceptional when served with pancakes and crumpets as well. And I can’t think of why it won’t go well with ice cream… 

Feel free to serve the buns with extra kaya jam! I made a much lower sugar version compared with the traditional recipe (but still sweet enough) so that I can put more of it onto the buns.

 Enjoy! 

Apparently, these are inspired by Ian aka the King of Buns as referred to by dabrownman. As I can never allow myself to follow a recipe exactly, of course I have changed things up to show my own character. Unlike Ian, who blended the cream cheese with the dough, I put in chunks of cream cheese. Also, candied orange peels and sunflower seeds are incorporated to make the rolls more interesting. Rye flours are usually used along with orange and earl grey, yet to break the tradition, I chose to use barley flour (which resembles more of Ian’s rolls as well).

Earl grey cream cheese rolls with orange and sunflower seeds

Dough flour:

90g       30%       Freshly milled pearl barley flour

75g       25%       Whole spelt flour      

75g       25%       Whole red wheat flour

60g       20%       Freshly milled sprouted white wheat flour

For leaven:

10g       3.3%       Starter

13g       4.3%       Bran shifted out from dough flour

13g       4.3%       Water

For dough:

287g     95.7%       Dough flour excluding bran for leaven 

207g     68.9%       Water

52g       17.3%       Whey

36g         12%        Leaven

9g             3%        Vital Wheat Gluten

5g          1.7%        Salt

1g        0.33%        Ground earl grey tea leaves

Add-ins:

90g         30%       Cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

30g         10%       Toasted sunflower seeds

21g           7%       Candied orange peels

___________

215g       70.5%      Whole grain

277g       90.8%      Total hydration 

Shift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 13g for leaven. Mix the rest back into the dough flour or soak them in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 6-8 hours. Soak the candied orange peel in a little hot water to rehydrate.

Freeze the cream cheese for 1 hour. Cut into cubes and return to the freezer until needed.

Reserve 10g of the liquid and roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the leaven and salt. Autolyse for 30 minutes. Combine the reserved liquid with the leaven. Knead it into the dough along with the salt. Let it ferment for 10 hours.

Fold in the sunflower seeds and orange peels and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Fold the frozen cream cheese into the dough and shape them tightly into tiny boules. Leave it on the counter for 1 hour or until fully proofed. At the same time, preheat the oven at 250°C/480°F and pre-steam at the last ten minutes.

Score the dough and bake at 250°C/480°F with steam for 10 minutes then without steam for 15 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 205°F. Let cool for 1 hour before serving.

These rolls have chewy and moist crumb but a crispy crust when toasted. The crumb is not very open probably due to over-proofing (the oven was occupied so I couldn’t heat it up in time for the rolls!) but acceptable to me for rolls.

I adore the taste of these rolls! They taste mildly sweet thanks to barley, spelt and sprouted white wheat. Cream cheese, orange, sunflower and earl grey are such a killer combo! You get sweetness from cream cheese and orange, tanginess from cream cheese, toasty nuttiness from the sunflower seeds and whatever aromatic scent from the earl grey. 

Thanks Ian for inspiring such delicious rolls!

After a few not-so-successful bake, I decided to cheer myself up with a loaf of golden sourdough bread. To be exact, it’s quintuple (aka five times) positive energy sourdough. So how does it add up to five? I’ll count it for you.

Cornmeal          

Masa harina      

Turmeric  

Golden tea leaves

Toasted white sesame seeds  

See? I didn’t lie to you!

Quintuple Golden Sourdough

Dough flour:

150g      60%       Whole wheat flour

60g        20%       Whole Spelt flour

60g        20%       Masa Harina

For leaven:

10g       3.3%       Starter

10g       3.3%       Bran shifted out from dough flour

10g       3.3%       Water

For porridge:

45g         15%       Medium stone grind cornmeal

135g       45%       Water

0.25g    0.08%       Salt

For tea-infused liquid:

217g    72.3%       Water

54g      18.1%       Whey

3g             1%       Kenyan golden pekoe tea leaves

For dough:

290g     96.7%      Dough flour excluding bran for leaven 

271g     90.3%      Tea-infused liquid

30g          10%      Leaven

9g             3%       Powdered toasted white sesame seeds

9g             3%       Vital Wheat Gluten

5g          1.7%       Salt

3g             1%       Turmeric powder

Add-ins:

21g          7%        Toasted white sesame seeds

45g        15%        Raisins

___________

(Excluding the porridge)

305g       100%      Whole grain

286g      93.8%      Total hydration 

Shift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 10g for leaven. Mix the rest back into the dough flour or soak them in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 6 hours. Soak the raisins in a little hot water to re-hydrate.

Make the porridge. Bring the water to a boil and dissolve a pinch (0.25g) of salt into it. Stir in the cornmeal and keep whisking until no lumps remains. Cover the pot and let stand stove off for 30 minutes. Let the porridge cool to room temperature and refrigerate until needed.

Infuse the tea leaves by pouring 30g of hot water over them. Let steep for 20 minutes before pressing the mixture through a sieve to extract as much of the tea essence as possible. Discard the tea leaves. Pour in enough water to measure 217g and combine with the whey. Refrigerate until cold (skip if your kitchen is cool).

Reserve 10g of the liquid and roughly combine all dough ingredients except for the leaven and salt. Autolyse for 30 minutes. Combine the reserved liquid with the leaven. Knead it into the dough along with the salt and polenta porridge. Let it ferment for 8 hours (Mind you: my kitchen is 27°C currently).

Fold in the sesame seeds and raisins and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Shape the dough and put in into a proofing basket. Leave it on the counter for 20 minutes then retard for 8 hours. 

Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest on the counter for 1 hour. At the same time, preheat the oven at 250°C/480°F and pre-steam at the last ten minutes.

Score the dough and bake at 250°C/480°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 25 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 205°F. Let cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

The crust is extra-crispy thanks to the cornmeal, which gives a nice contrast to the creamy crumb. The oven spring is not as much as I’d hoped for but I’m not too stressed over it since this is just the 2nd time I try retarding the dough. Hopefully, I’ll get a better grasp on the timing after a few more bakes.

The crumb’s colour is a stunning yellow even with just 1 tsp of turmeric. I doubt there’s any natural colour that won’t be masked by the pigment of turmeric. As expected, the crumb is rather closely-packed but very moist and creamy due to the incorporation of polenta porridge. The slight under-proofing might also have contributed to that to some extent. Next time, I’ll let the dough proof for 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes before retarding to see if it’d improve the situation.

To be honest, the turmeric, tea and corn flavour are rather subtle. Though I already tried to tone down the taste of sesame by using a lower percentage of it, it is still the dominant aroma of this bread. Doubling the tea leaves and halving the sesame might achieve a more balanced profile. 

Let this golden bread lift your mood up!

After working with sprouted wheat, it makes total sense to start venturing into the zone of sprouted spelt. This time, I decided to make it fully-loaded rather than leaving it plain.

20% Sprouted Spelt Sun-dried Tomatoes Cheddar Sourdough

Dough flour:

150g     50%       Whole wheat flour

90g       30%       Whole spelt flour

60g       20%       Freshly milled sprouted spelt flour 

For leaven:

10g       3.3%      Starter

10g       3.3%      Bran shifted out from dough flour

10g       3.3%      Water

For dough:

290g     96.7%      Dough flour excluding bran for leaven 

265g     88.3%      Water

30g         10%      Leaven

9g             3%      Vital Wheat Gluten

3g             1%      Dark barley malt powder

5g        1.67%      Salt

Add-ins:

34g       11.3%     Sun-dried tomatoes

90g         30%      Smoked cheddar cheese

___________

305g       100%     Whole grain

280g      91.8%     Total hydration

Shift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 10g for leaven. Mix the rest back into the dough flour or soak them in equal amount of water taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 8 hours.

Roughly combine all dough ingredients and let ferment until ready. My leaven wasn’t ready when I use it so the dough took 16 hours to double. This leads to degradation of dough structure as the excessive activity of protease broke down the gluten. The bulk fermentation should take less than 10 hours if the starter is ripe and this problem should not occur. Fold in the smoked cheddar and sun-dried tomatoes and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Construct 3 sets of stretch and fold over a 1.25 hour proofing period (20+30+25), shape the dough after the last set of stretch and fold and let rise untouched for 25 minutes (part of the 1.25 hour). At the same time, preheat the oven at 250°C/480°F and pre-steam at the last ten minutes.

Score the dough and bake at 250°C/480°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 20 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 205°F. Let cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

The gluten broke down leads to poor dough structure that couldn’t support itself. The dough thus flattened out immediately when put into the oven. However, there was still some oven spring and the crumb wasn’t too bad. It is very moist and chewy: just the way I like it.  Shuuu… I’ll just tell my mom that it’s flatbread when I serve it to her!

As for the taste, there’re no words…They are so delicious! Of course, you can hardly go wrong with sun-dried tomatoes and cheese but the sprouted spelt added something special too. I’d be lying if I tell you I can taste strong sprouted spelt flavour. Yet it is what that takes this bread from tasty to phenomenal.

_________

I took some extra dough and made it into pizza. It turned out to be the best decision ever! 

Spread with home-made tomato relish. Half with feta cheese and half with smoked cheddar (my mom can’t stand goat’s cheese), topped with caramelized cabbage.

Crispy bottom and crust with a chewy centre! Have you tried cabbage on pizza? Just slice them thinly and put them on top of everything of the dough raw. It’ll come out of the oven perfectly caramelized!

This is my second attempt at both barley flour and sprouted white wheat flour. I’ve wanted to retry working with barley flour since my failed first try. After Ian posted his Guinness Rye Barley Wild Rice Bread, I decided that I’d be brave and incorporate barley into my bread again.

30/30 Freshly Milled Barley/Sprouted White Wheat Sourdough

Dough flour:

90g       30%      Freshly milled pearl barley flour (since I can’t get whole)

90g       30%      Freshly milled sprouted white wheat flour

120g      40%      Whole red wheat flour 

For leaven:

13g        4%      Starter

13g        4%      Bran shifted out from dough flour

13g        4%      Whey

For dough:

287g      96%      Dough flour excluding bran for leaven 

280g      93%      Whey 

39g       13%      Leaven

10g        3%      Vital Wheat Gluten

6g          2%      Salt

____________

216.5g     71%     Whole grain

299.5g     98%     Total hydration

Shift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 13g for leaven. Mix the rest back into the dough flour or soak them in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 7 hours.

Roughly combine all dough ingredients and let ferment overnight for 12 hours. At the 10 hour point, the dough didn’t rise much so I let it ferment for 2 more hours. The dough still felt very firm even after that but I took it out of the bowl anyway.   Immediately I freaked out as the gluten was very poorly developed and the strands were very short and kept breaking. I calmed down and stretched and folded it for a couple of times. The dough became slightly more elastic but it’s still nothing close to other dough I’ve worked with before. Therefore, I stretched and folded it again after letting it rest for 20 minutes. It was allowed to rest for another 20 minutes before the third set of stretch and fold followed by a 30 minute rest. The dough was shaped after the last set of stretch and fold (so 4 in total) and let rise in the proofing basket. At the same time, the oven was preheated at 250°C/480°.

The dough didn’t really rise after 40 minutes so I decided to wait for longer. Nevertheless, the dough still felt firm after 75 minutes which was very unusual as the dough is normally 80% proofed after 30 minutes at this very warm temperature. I scored the dough anyway and bake at 250°C/480°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 20 minutes more until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 205°F. Let cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

There was little oven spring but to my surprise, the dough rose upward rather than spread out. The bread is flatter than most of my other bread but at least it looks like a loaf of bread rather than a pancake brick. The bread actually came out much better than I expected. When I cut it open, I know the bread was very over-proofed though it felt very firm before entering into the oven. However, the crumb is not that close and dense when considering the firmness of the dough. The crust didn’t brown very well but it is thin and crisp.

Huge holes: an obvious sign of over-proofing

Despite the closeness of the crumb, the bread is very moist and still kind of light. The taste is exceptional for bread this plain (any bread tastes better with nuts or cheese in my opinion). I kept it very simple as I really want to taste the barley and sprouted white wheat. This has really paid off as the nuttiness and freshness of the grains really shine. 

I’m not sure exactly what contributed to the performance of this bread so any comments regarding it are welcome!

I figured out that I’ve only shared my pumpkin pancake recipe on this site. Not that I like it any less but I don’t always want pumpkin pancakes nor have the mood to roast and mash a pumpkin. This base recipe is the one I turn to most often when I’m craving pancakes. It’s my proud no-fail formula that I’ve took at least 40 times to perfect.

 This is the version following suggestion 2 below.

My secretly healthy all-time-favourite pancake base recipe (yield: 6 medium-sized thick pancakes)

Dry ingredients:

40 g whole spelt flour (whole wheat flour can be used but spelt is sweeter and lighter)

55 g dark rye flour/ buckwheat flour/ other flour/ unsweetened cocoa powder

(Suggestions:

1. all dark rye: extra light and fluffy pancakes

2. 40/15 buckwheat/dark rye: strong buckwheat aroma without a dry and sandy texture

3. 15 g unsweetened cocoa with 45 g flour: chocolate pancakes)

2 tsp brown sugar (omit for savory pancakes, 1 tbsp for sweeter pancakes and 1-1.5 tbsp for the cocoa version)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

Wet ingredients (all at room temperature):

1 large whole egg

100 g regular fat free yogurt (sub with ricotta for extra airy pancakes)

80 g water/ milk/ whey/ extra yogurt (I often use whey or water)

1/4 tsp any kind of flavorings (optional) e.g. vanilla extract, maple flavour etc.

Add-ins (totally optional):

Citrus zest

Chopped chocolate/ cacao nibs

Berries

Nuts and seeds

cheese, corn, leek and bacon (my favourite savory combo)

etc.

Combine all dry ingredients. Beat the egg with a fork and stir into the rest of the wet ingredients. Meanwhile, preheat a non-stick 10 inch pan (I love my cast iron skillet but non-stick yields better pancake as it gives you better heat level control) at low/medium heat.

Gently and roughly mix the dry ingredients into the egg/ yogurt mixture, leaving a few small lumps. Fold in any add-ins if using.

Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter into the preheated pan. Spread it out a bit with the back of a spoon as the batter should be very thick. I like to cook 3 pancakes at the same time by arranging the 3 ladles of batter in a triangle pattern. Adjust the heat as required. Maintaining the pan at the right temperature is tricky but is also the key to making the thickest and fluffiest pancakes. It requires practices to master but here’s an indicator of the right temperature: hold your hand about 10 cm above the pan, it should feel very warm but you should be able to keep it there for over a minute.

Flip the pancakes when the pancakes are fully puffed up with lots of air bubbles. Heat the other side for roughly a minute or until cooked through.

This recipe yields soft, moist and fluffy pancakes that are in fact super healthy. They are slightly hearty rather than super airy which I actually prefer as they are more satisfying. I mostly serve it with just half a tsp of ghee and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. However, I sometimes make lemon curd or a chocolate ganache to go with chocolate pancakes.

Hope you would try this out. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Finally! The white wheat berries are back in stock! I bought a bag of it and decided to put it into use immediately by sprouting and milling it into flour. Not sure how it would affect the dough, I started out at a low percentage of 20% sprouted flour. 

The berries were sprouted and dried a few days ahead but freshly milled (using the newly bought coffee grinder) on the day the leaven is built. The first thing I noticed is the smell of the flour. Its scent is divine! I have never smelled anything like that before. Though I enjoy the aroma of bagged whole grain flour, it is by no mean comparable to freshly milled sprouted flour. I now regret starting to mill my own sprouted flour so late but I guess it’s better late than never!  

20% sprouted white wheat sourdough 

Dough flour:

60g       20%      Freshly milled sprouted white wheat flour

240g     80%      Whole red wheat flour 

For leaven:

10g       3%      Starter

10g       3%      Bran shifted out from sprouted flour

10g       3%      Whey

For dough:

290g     97%      Dough flour excluding bran for leaven 

275g     92%      Whey 

30g      10%      Leaven

10g       3%       Vital Wheat Gluten

6g         2%       Salt

Add-ins:

45g       15%     Whole sprouted white wheat berries

______________

310g     100%     Whole grain

290g      94%     Total hydration

Shift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 10g for leaven. Mix the rest back into the dough flour or soak them in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 9 hours.

Roughly combine all dough ingredients and let ferment overnight for 12 hours. Fold in the sprouted wheat berries and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Construct 3 sets of stretch and fold over a 1.25 hour proofing period (20+30+25), shape the dough after the last set of stretch and fold and let rise untouched for 25 minutes (part of the 1.25 hour). At the same time, preheat the oven at 250°C/480°F and pre-steam at the last ten minutes.

Score the dough and bake at 250°C/480°F with steam for 15 minutes then without steam for 20 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 205°F. Let cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

The crust is thin and browned nicely, which I think had something to do with the sugar of the sprouted wheat flour. The scoring was not completely successful but the bread still had decent oven spring. 

I thought this bread would be slightly drier than other bread I baked due to the lower hydration (I usually aim for 100% for whole wheat) and the sprouted flour. However, to my surprise, the crumb is actually moister and softer than those without sprouted flour. You can hardly relate it to the dry and coarse texture people often associate whole wheat with. Considering the presence of sprouted wheat berries, the crumb is fairly open too.  

I left out the dark barley malt this time as I didn’t want it to mask to flavour of the sprouted flour. The bread tastes a bit different from the previous ones. It is subtle and difficult to describe but the sprouted flour gives it a kind of fresh note, making the bread more complex in general. Next time, I’ll definitely up the % of sprouted flour so that its aroma would be more pronounced. 

________

This is an inspired bake a few days ago after reading Dabrownman’s post of tang zhong Hokkaido bread.

Mixed flour Tang zhong chocolate marble bread

For tang zhong:

40g      14%       Whole spelt flour 

200g     71%      Water

12g       4%        Brown sugar

15g        5%       Honey

24g      8.5%      Dry whole milk powder

For ‘white’ dough and chocolate dough:

141g     50%      Whole wheat flour

113g     40%       Whole spelt flour

28g      10%        Dark rye flour

60g      21%        Water

4.7g     1.7%       Instant yeast

10g      3.5%       Vital Wheat Gluten

2.5g     0.9 %      Salt

For chocolate dough:

14g       5%      Unsweetened cocoa powder

14g       5%      Water

For glaze:

12g       4%      Brown sugar

5g       1.8%      Water

______________

322g     100%     Whole grain

260g       81%     Total hydration (for ‘white’ dough)

Mix together the flour and water for the tang zhong and heat over medium-low, stirring continuously until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Let cool to room temperature.

Combine the 60g of water for the dough with the tang zhong. Pour it over the rest of the dough ingredients and mix thoroughly. Divide the dough into two parts in the ratio of 2:1. Combine the cocoa powder and water under For chocolate dough and knead it into the 1/3 dough portion. Let both dough rest for 30 minutes. Knead both the dough until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes for each. Let rise for 1 hour.

Flour the ‘white’ dough and stretch it lightly into rectangle (any dimension works). Sprinkle cocoa powder over the chocolate dough and stretch it into a rectangle with the same width but half the length of the ‘white’ dough. Place it onto one side of the white dough and fold the over half over it so that it is sandwiched between the two sides of the ‘white’ dough. Roll the dough out to the original size of the ‘white’ dough, and then cut it crosswise into two equal half. Put one half over the other with the cut side facing opposite directions. Roll out the dough again and repeat the above procedures for 2 more times. After layers of alternate dough are formed, roll the dough lengthwise to about 1.3 times the length of your bread pan. Cut it into three equal long strips of dough and braid them together. Put it into the pan and let proof for 1 hour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and water for the glaze and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake at 350°F in the middle rack for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 190°F. Brush the sugar mixture over the hot braid and let cool for 50 minutes before slicing.

It tasted very mildly sweet so if you want, you can add some chopped chocolate or more sugar to make it more of a sweet treat.

Recently, I read some comments on an old discussion topic here about the length of proofing time required for whole grain sourdough bread. Dabrownman mentioned that it is easy to over-proof whole grain bread because of the high bacterial, yeast and enzymatic activities. I wonder if I was letting my bread to proof for too long sometimes such that the oven spring was minimal at times, so I deliberately cut the proofing period by 20 minutes this time to see what its effect would be.

Simple Seeded Sourdough

Dough flour:

270g     90%      Whole wheat flour

15g       5%      Dark rye flour 

15g       5%      Whole spelt flour

For leaven:

10g       3%      Starter

10g       3%      Bran shifted out from dough flour

10g       3%      Whey

For dough:

290g     97%      Dough flour excluding bran for leaven 

290g     97%      Whey 

34g      10%      Leaven

10g       3%      Vital Wheat Gluten

5g       1.7%      Salt

3g        1%      Dark barley malt powder 

Add-ins:

20g       7%      Toasted mixed seeds (10g white sesame seeds,7 g golden linseed and 3 g poppy seeds)

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310g     100%     Whole grain

310g     100%     Total hydration

Shift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 10g for leaven. Mix the rest back into the dough flour or soak them in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 6-10 hours.

Roughly combine all dough ingredients and let ferment overnight for 10 hours. Fold in the mixed seeds and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Construct 3 sets of stretch and fold over a 1.3 hour proofing period (20+30+30), shape the dough after the last set of stretch and fold and let rise untouched for 30 minutes (part of the 1.3 hour). At the same time, preheat the oven at 250°C/480°F and pre-steam at the last ten minutes.

Score the dough and bake at 250°C/480°F with steam for 15 minutes then at 230°C/446°F without steam for 15 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 205°F. Let cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

I felt the dough need longer proofing time but I still decided to bake it for experimental purpose. The resulting loaf turns out to be under-proofed indeed but the oven spring was really impressive. That’s enough to convince me that most of my loafs were slightly over-proofed. I would try cutting the proofing time by 10 minutes next time to see if it would produce a loaf with both great oven spring and open crumb.

I’m very pleased with the browning achieved for this bread. I think the dark malt plays a role in it. Although the blisters are not huge like those you find on the crust of white sourdough, there are a lot of them so it’s more than acceptable to me.

This bread actually tastes quite nice despite the slight denseness of the bottom of it. I really like the addition of dark malt, it reminds me of cocoa powder but in a sweeter and more complex way.

Sometimes I forget a simple loaf like this can taste amazing, it’s not a bad idea to bake some rather plain bread from time to time. Happy baking everyone!

I know it’s spring…not fall but the pumpkins sold in supermarket look gorgeous. If you’ve read my previous pumpkin pancakes post, you know I hate pumpkin. However, I can take it when it’s mashed and mixed into pancakes and bread, and to be honest, I adore the striking yellow-orange colour they add to the dough.

Although I did some research on the proportion of pumpkin usually incorporated to bread dough, the hydration level and the cream cheese filling ingredients are totally are not adopted from other recipes. I just kept adding water until the dough felt right to me and adjusting the filling ingredients until it tasted well-balanced.

Pumpkin cream cheese roll---in the form of sourdough bread

For leaven:

25g      6.5%      Starter

17g      4.5%      Whole wheat flour

15g       4%       Water

For dough:

380g     100%     Whole wheat flour 

240g      63%      Water

220g      58%      Mashed pumpkin (I pressure cooked Kabocha squash, you may need to add more water if you                                      option for roasted pumpkin)

57g       15%       Leaven

6g         1.6%      Salt

10g       2.6%     Vital wheat gluten

For filling:

200g     53%      1/3 less fat cream cheese

25g      6.5%       Honey

20g         5%       Lemon juice

20g         5%       Water

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411.5g    100%     Whole grain

267.5g     65%     Total hydration (excluding the pumpkin which offers a significant amount of moisture) 

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 6-8 hours.

Roughly combine all dough and let ferment overnight for 10 hours.

Mix all ingredients for the filling into a spreadable paste and keep refrigerated until one hour before the dough completes the overnight ferment.

Turn the dough out of the bowl and stretch and fold for a few times, then let rest for 20 minutes. Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle with the 2 sides being the length of the bread pan (8 inch for mine). Spread the filling onto the dough, leaving at least one inch on the edges of the 2 sides with the length of the pan. Roll the dough into a log and pinch the end together. Place into the bread pan and let proof for 1.5 hours. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 204°C/400°F.

Bake at 204°C/400°F for 35 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and bake for 5 more minutes or until well-browned and internal temperature reaches a minimum of 190°F.

This bread is slightly sour and only very subtly sweet. It tastes like naturally sweet pumpkin but not sugary pumpkin pie so if you should add some cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg along with a few tablespoons of sugar if that’s the route you’d like to take. The cream cheese filling provided a pleasant tang and slight sweetness that goes really well with this surprisingly light-tasting bread.

The crumb is very moist and tender thanks to the pumpkin and sourdough even if it’s 100% whole wheat. The crust is slightly crunchy out of the oven but softens and turns pleasingly chewy as it cools. 

Who knows pumpkin bread can be so refreshing that it reminds me of spring? Let’s celebrate spring…with pumpkin cream cheese bread!

Finally, I shared a bread recipe with no crazy combinations.

I feel like I was experimenting with some rather uncommon sourdough for too long. Not that they didn’t taste good but I’m suddenly craving a slice of plain and simple dark rye bread. Though I love the aroma of rye, I prefer the texture of wheat so 40% whole wheat and 10% whole spelt were included. 

 50% Dark Rye Sourdough with Dark Malt and Aromatics

Dough flour:

150g     50%      Dark rye flour 

120g     40%      Whole wheat flour 

30g      10%      Whole spelt flour

For leaven:

10g       3%      Starter

12g       4%      Bran shifted out from dough flour

12g       4%      Whey

For dough:

288g     96%      Dough flour excluding bran for leaven (including soaked bran)

255g     85%      Whey (including that for soaking)

34g      11%      Leaven

6g        2%      Salt

5g       1.7%      Dark barley malt powder 

Add-ins:

3g        1%      Aromatics (1 tsp each of whole coriander and fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin, toasted and crushed)

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310g     100%     Whole grain

272g      88%     Total hydration

Shift out the coarse bran from the dough flour, reserve 12g for leaven and soak the rest in equal amount of whey taken from dough ingredients for a minimum of 4 hours.

Combine all leaven ingredients and let sit until doubled, about 6-10 hours.

Roughly combine all dough ingredients including the soaked bran and let ferment overnight for 10 hours. Fold in the aromatics and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Construct 3 sets of stretch and fold over a 1.75 hour proofing period, shape the dough after the last set of stretch and fold and let rise untouched for at least 30 minutes (part of the 1.75 hour). At the same time, preheat the oven at 250°C/480°F and pre-steam at the last ten minutes.

Score the dough and bake at 250°C/480°F with steam for 15 minutes then at 230°C/446°F without steam for 15 minutes more or until the internal temperature reaches a minimum of 205°F. Let cool for at least 5 hours before slicing.

This bread had great oven spring but the crumb is rather close with some large holes  due to over-proofing. The slash in the middle should be cut deeper for better spring.

The smell of this bread is lovely with the aroma of the aromatics coming through. Overall, this sourdough is very moist with a slightly chewy but thin crust. It has deep and rich flavour with a slight tang.