itsbarbarino's blog

Howdy folks!

A few months back while doing some genealogy research, I discovered that I was related to a miller in North Carolina- my 7th great grandfather was Thomas W. Lindley, founder of Lindley Mills. I hadn't heard of Lindley Mills before and was super eager to try out their flour. I ordered 25lbs of bread flour and really liked it- it baked nicely, and I powered through a ton of it getting my chops up on the Ooni doing pizza. It's a great price, and affordable shipped to Atlanta from NC.

I also saw Lindley Mills developed a flour called Super Sprout- their brand of sprouted wheat flour. I've never baked with sprouted wheat flour, but I had such a good experience with their bread flour, I figured I'd give it a shot. I didn't find much info on this forum about it besides people being ambivalent about it on their bakes. I'm not well versed in flour/grain types, but I've never felt a flour like this. Their description of "soft & silky" is on the money. It almost feels like if you squeezed a handful it would clump together. I made pancakes for my kids with it but was kind of freaked out to try it on bread. However, I figured since last weeks sourdough went so well, I'd give it a shot in the new banneton/baker. 

My formula was loosely based on Anis Bouabsa's baguette (it's my go to "whip up some bread" technique.):

50:50 LM Super Sprout & Bread Flour: 600g, 100%

Water: 460g, 76%

IDY: 1/4tsp

Salt: 12g, 2%

Lindley Mills says to add 10% - 20% more water on any recipe you're using 1:1 for this. I was a little hesitant as I don't do well with high hydration dough. I started with 66% hydration and an autolyze for 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes I dissolved the salt and yeast into 20g of water and mixed it in, bringing it to 70%. It felt firm, not quite the hydration I wanted. I added an additional 20g, then another 40g. After I added the last bit, I thought I went to far as the dough looked like mush.

Super Sprout feels strange during mixing- almost kind of gummy? It was a little difficult to develop, but I tried not to overwork it. I did some stretch and folds at 30 minutes, 1hr, 1hr20, 1hr40, and finally 2 hours. I came together quite nicely after resting, but still had quite a silky feel to it. The best way I can describe it as almost like 00 extensibility, but it tears easier. Anyways at 2hrs I tossed it in the fridge to rest overnight.

Pulled it out after 16.5hrs. It wasn't overly bubbly, making me think maybe I didn't develop it enough or let it ferment long enough, but my schedule dictated it was time to bake (I have 2 young children and I bake on their terms, not mine :)) Gave it a 30 minute bench rest, preshape, another 30 minute rest, then final shaping into the banneton. Side note, I'm so grateful to have a banneton that fits my loaves- being able to seam them up after they go in is helping my shaping a lot I think.

I let it rise for about 2 hours, then scored and into the clay baker. 20 minutes at 450f covered, then 20 minutes at 425f uncovered.

It's a good looking loaf, although a little wonky from the parchment paper. I haven't sliced it yet, but the crust is interesting- maybe cause it's a zillion percent humidity in Atlanta, but it went from crispy crackly to kind of leathery. Will report back on my Super Sprout verdict after I cut this b-word open and give it a taste :) thanks for reading!

I've been a long time lurker on this forum. I started baking back in 2018, getting really into rustic/lean breads (I made the Bouabsa Baguette 3 times a week during the early COVID days), and over the last year have expanded into more adventurous flavors and pizza's. This forum is such an amazing treasure trove of experience, and you guys have taught me so much over the last 5 years, so I figured I'd share this here. 

About a month ago I decided to try my hand with sourdough. I tried to cultivate a starter in May 2020 but had some trouble (in hindsight, I think I was just impatient/unexperienced.) At the time there were issues getting flour in Atlanta, so I decided to just use yeast. My second/more recent starter attempt has had it's ups and downs, but after some patience and about a month it seems to be reliably doubling in about 3-4 hours. I had just ordered some flour from Central Milling, so I decided to give it a shot. Formula was:

Water - 67% (469g)

Salt - 3 ish% (18g)

Starter - 20% (140g)

Central Milling Organic Type 85 Malted - 100%, (700g)

67% is my sweet spot right now. I struggle with shaping and gluten development still, so I try to stick below 68% so I don't end up with flat boules (of which I've made many.) 

My starter began doubling within about 4 hours, so I decided to build a levain. That afternoon it looked really promising, bubbly and making moves. I gave the flour and water an autolyse for ab an hour, then mixed in the starter and salt. I did about 5 minutes of slap and fold/rubaud method hybrid motions- it seemed like the dough was too small to do a 2 handed S&F, but I wanted to make sure I was actually developing something (as I said, I usually find out during shaping that I didn't develop the dough enough.) I rested it 5 minutes, then repeated once more. After that I gave it stretch and folds in the bowl every 30 minutes for 2 hours, then let it rest another 3 hours in the bowl. It had grown a little and so into the fridge it went for an overnight BF. 

When I got the dough out this next morning, it looked the exact same. I was pretty frustrated- my starter seemed so active, but I guess it was no match against the fridge? I took the dough to rest in our garage, which was about 80f- 85f.

It rallied thankfully, and 4 hours later this was how it looked. I scraped it out and gently pre-shaped for a batard. I realized it wouldn't fit in my clay cooker, so I snipped of a tail of the dough. 20 minutes bench rest, then final shaped a batard and a 200g demi baguette. The batard went into a basket, baguette in the couche. I gave the baguette about 3 hours to prove, scored, and put on the stone with a loaf pan of steaming towels. It baked for 20 minutes at 450f and came out looking pretty good. We have a gas oven that runs pretty regularly and I struggle to get thin crusts from it, but this one felt nice.

After the baguette came out, I put the clay cooker in to get it up to heat. I slashed and loaded, and put it in at 450f for 20 minutes. I pulled the top off and baked for another 20 at 400f.

 I was ecstatic. I have always wanted to make a loaf that looked like this- crispy on the outside but soft and pillowy inside. It tastes great to boot, I really like the Type 85. I'm not sure what sort of wizardry happened between the first time using a clay baker, malted flour, or my sourdough starter, but I hope I can replicate it. 

What really stands out though is PATIENCE. With IDY I have gotten used to the timeline- it moves pretty quickly, it's reliable, and I can rely on time vs the dough and still get solid results. With this bake I had to look to the dough- how does it feel? How does it look? What's it smell like? I got very close to tossing it when I saw it in the morning, and I'm so glad I didn't. I had to wait for my starter to be reliable and vigorous (almost 4 weeks.) I had to wait for the dough to look like it was fully fermented, not "12-18 hrs", but aerated throughout. I had to give it time for the final proof, making sure to feel it and look at the way it moved in the basket instead of baking right at the 2 hour mark. When I let the dough dictate the schedule, I got something I was really impressed with.

Thanks again for all the lessons learned from yall's experience- it's been invaluable on the journey thus far!