Peppermint Mocha Kahlua Multi-grain Sourdough

Okay, so every time I go down to my basement I keep passing the bottle of Peppermint Mocha Kahlua staring at me from its perch on our bar.  It's red and white bottle was just yelling at me to try it in a bread or down some with ice, so I decided to do both.

I rediscovered some interesting nut flours that I had in my refrigerator and decided to mix  the toasted almond and hazelnut flours with some fresh milled rye flour.  I really like the effect a soaker/scald has on a multi-grain bread so I mixed up some cracked wheat, red quinoa and bulgur wheat with some hot water.  It is interesting how these ingredients sucked up every last bit of water as when I added them to the dough there was not a dry eye in the house or the bowl.  The official way of calculating the hydration of a dough is to not include the water sucked up by the soaker, but I warn you this bread is a wet one especially due to the soaker.

I also deviated from my normal starter and used a 100% AP starter instead of my normal 65% starter.  I also used a much smaller amount of starter mainly due to that I didn't have any more left to use.  I used 222 grams of this starter versus the usual 425 grams of my dryer starter.

I have to say the end result of this bake was very satisfying.  If you don't like moist bread, then this one is not for you as the final dough was probably the most  moist  I have made to date.  The crumb melts in your mouth and you can really taste the nut flours but not really the Kahula.  I thing the Kahlua definitely contributed to the moist crumb for sure.

And now for the directions if you are so inclined:

Soaker

100 grams Cracked Wheat

100 grams Red Quinoa

60 grams Bulgar Wheat

250 grams Hot Water

Mix water in a bowl with other ingredients and let sit covered at room temperature for 1 hours or overnight.

Main Dough

Ingredients

222 grams Starter at 100% Hydration

200 grams Bread Flour (KAF)

65 grams Toasted Almond Flour (KAF)

65 grams Roasted Hazelnut Flour (KAF)

269 grams Freshly Ground  Rye Flour

256 grams Peppermint Mocha Kahlua at room temperature

100 grams Water at room temperature

14 grams Sea Salt (or table salt)

Procedure

I mixed  the flours and starter together with all the liquids  except for 50 grams of Kahlua and let them autolyes for 20 minutes.    I then added the soaker and the rest of the Kahlua with the salt and mixed on speed #1 for 3 minute and #2 for 2 minutes.  I then did a stretch and fold, rested the dough uncovered for 10 minutes.  Since this dough is very wet I put it in an oiled bowl and did another stretch and fold, covered the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.  I did one more stretch and fold and let it rest out for another 2 hours after which I put it in the refrigerator until the next day.

The next day I let the dough sit out at room temperature for 2 hours.  After 2 hours I formed it into a miche boule and put it in a floured banneton which has a cloth insert and let it rise covered for 2 hours.  Make sure to either use a cloth insert or use a loaf pan as this dough is very, very moist.

After 2 hours or when the dough passes the poke test, score the loaf as desired and prepare your oven for baking with steam.

I warm my oven to 500 F. and once I put the loaf in the oven I add 1 cup of boiling water in a heavy-duty pan on the bottom shelf of my oven and lower the temperature to 450 degrees F.

Bake the loaf for around 40-50  minutes until the crust is nice and  golden brown and reaches an internal temperature of 200 - 210 degrees F.