Everyday Multigrain Sourdough with Scald

We’ve been working on an everyday white bread that has at least 25% whole grain flour.  This bread would need a soaker, scald or sprouted whole grain berries inside it to give the crumb some chew.  It would need some potato and oat in the mix since we love what they do for the rise. 

It would need to include some ground flax, sesame seeds and Toadies to give the crumb some healthy flecks of color and more flavor.  Including the Toadies we would want the bread to be over 40% whole grains

This bread is a variation of that theme using yogurt whey water for the majority of the dough liquid to give the already tangy SD even more pucker.  We went all out to get sour out of this bread by using a week old refrigerated 66% hydration, 50-50 mix, totaling 20 g, of our whole grain rye and whole wheat SD starters.

The levain was also retarded for 24 hours - 1 hour after the 3rd build feeding to enhance the sour of the levain.  All of the whole grain flours were in the levain to allow them the most time to be wet and get soft.

We simmered the scald for 20 minutes before allowing it to sit undisturbed on the counter for 6 hours.  The autolyse was 2 hours in length and included everything except the levain and the scald.   Once the autolyse met the levain it was at 77% hydration.  we did 10 minutes of slap and folds and 3 sets of S&F’s 20 minutes apart. 

We incorporated the large whole berry scald in the first set of S& F’s.  After completion of the last S&F, we allowed the dough to ferment on the counter in an oiled bowl for 30 minutes before going into the fridge for a 16 hour retard.

It more than doubled in the fridge.  After 15 minutes of warm up the next morning, we shaped the dough into a boule and put it into a lightly rice floured basket to final proof inside a used trash can liner.  After 1 ½ hours of final proof we fired up Big Old Betsy to 500 F.  This loaf was too big for the mini oven.

Once the oven hit 350 F we put (2) of Sylvia’s steaming pans and (1) 12” CI skillet full of lava rocks into the bottom of the oven to supply mega steam.   After Betsy said she was at temperature, we waited 15 more minutes to allow the top and bottom stone to get to temperature.

 We un-molded the bread from the basket onto a peel covered in parchment.  We slashed the boule T-Rex style with a pairing knife and slid it onto the bottom stone.  We turned the oven down to 450 F after 3 minutes and continued to steam for another 12 minutes.

At that point the steam came out and we turned the oven down to 425 F, convection.  After rotating the bread every 5 minutes 90 degrees on the stone to promote even browning, in 20 more minutes the bread was 203 F on the inside when we turned off the oven.  Baking time was 35 minutes total.  When the bread hit 205 F we cracked open the oven door and let the bread sit on the stone to crisp the crust for another 5 minutes.  The boule eventually hit  207 F after the 5 minute crisp and then we removed it to a cooling rack.

It browned up, sprang and bloomed nicely.  It s a quite handsome boule - if there is such a thing.  It sure smelled earthy and deliciously wheaty coming out of the oven and it had that tinge of semolina color on the crust.  No blisters but it wasn’t baked in the min oven either where blisters are common.

The crumb turned out as expected; open ,soft and moist with some gloss.  No one will ever ask "is this a sourdough bread?'  They will know it is a SD without question.  This is the kind of pucker we look for and hope it only gets better tomorrow.  Our most distinctly sour breads come from this metho of handling starter, levain and dough retarding  processes and using yogurt whey water for half the dough liquid.  This bread is the one you want for you everyday sourdough sandwich bread.  It is delicious, hearty, healthy and satisfying.

Breakfast  and lunch on bake day.  White DaPumpernickel for breakfast and this everyday bread for lunch.

Formula