Spelt, Rye, Einkorn & Organic AP

The baking aroma was so wonderfully powerful.   I was drawn back to the oven before my timer.  To come inside to a home smelling of baking rye is just, well, one has to be there.  On my list of life's little pleasures.  

Mini

matter what flour, just stick to one or a special flour mixture all thru the starter growing process.  

I started a rye (although I already have a rye starter) to compare to the einkorn starter which turned out to be one day slower than the rye.  They caught up to each other on Monday.  The einkorn starter was smaller than the rye as I had already removed part of it for a poor recipe that rushed the fermenting process.  That loaf had to be rescued with instant yeast.   I had never made an einkorn starter before so didn't know if it would act like a gluten free starter or a wheat one.  

As soon as it started smelling yeasty and bubbles collecting and rising to pop on the surface (and those wonderful pungent aromas showed up)  I knew I had to at least double the size of the starter when I fed it.  The container soon becomes cramped so some discarding has to be done.  It is very easy to just keep going, doubling (tripling or quadrupling)  the amount of flour to starter with pauses between; waiting until enough starter is ripe to make bread dough.   Usually in one or two feedings.  So have your recipe on standby (I tape inside a nearby cupboard) ready when the yeast get going knowing exactly how much starter is needed plus a little bit to feed for more starter.  Anything else gets composted or used as flavourings in other recipes.  (thickening soup, egg drop like noodles, pancakes, Mark's muffins)

I tend to jump to a generic recipe like the 1,2 3  when growing a wheat starter because no mater what the starter amount, all I have to do to make bread is double for water and triple for flour.  Yes, it is possible to just double the amount of flour to starter and add enough water to make a fine dough.  It's been done often enough.  Keep track of the flour so the salt can be figured out easily.  The more starter in the dough (to flour) the faster it ferments.  Do take into account temperatures.  Warm speeds things up, cool slows them down.  There are different ways to influence temperatures.  

Some flours will exhaust themselves sooner than others so pairing a slow fermenting sourdough starter with a weak flour can get you into bricks.  

As you can see with this bread, the starter and thus the dough fermented fast enough, had enough yeast to raise the shaped loaf while the flours remained bonded together.  This is a no knead recipe.  (The first thing I checked for in the morning, power of yeast in fed starters and the feel of the rested dough.)  

Not one of those flours can stand by itself for 16 hrs without some kind of help to make a sourdough loaf.  The rye needs sour and something to slow down enzymes, the spelt needs rye to weigh it down, the einkorn needs more gluten the AP also has a time limit and deteriorates quickly but provides more gluten and combines into the protein bonds in the other flours.  Together with salt and enough hydration (felt like a lower hydration) they did it.  The combination of flours resisted deterioration while building flavour long enough to raise a loaf of bread.  I just slit it up and baked it before it doubled.  

of toasted lightly crushed, caraway, coriander and fennel seeds.  I used about 2% to 3% of the flour weight.  Slightly less  if pre-soaked in the starter.  Different bakers have their preferred blend that gets added to dark bread doughs.  Bread spices are seldom mentioned in basic recipes but the "secret" ingredient to regional breads.

They may also include other spices and seeds but this is one basic blend.

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my purple yam flour experiment, just for you.  (later)   :)