Honeyed Spelt and Oat
This recipe is from Sourdough: Recipes for Rustic Fermented Breads, Sweets, Savories, and More from
Sarah Owens. She won the James Beard Award for 2016 in baking books. I don't own the book but I found a copy of the recipe online.
I changed the method a bit to allow for an autolyse with just flour but the dough was really stiff and I probably should have added the oat soaker in at the same time. Anyhow, this was my method which differs a bit from the book.
1. Make levain with 40 g water, 30 g starter and 40 grams spelt. Let sit overnight.
2. Make soaker with 140 g rolled oats (old fashioned) and 275 g boiling water. Let that sit overnight too.
3. Next morning, autolyse 245 g of warm water and 45 g honey with 445 g flour and 105 g spelt. I let it sit for one hour.
4. I mixed in the 110 g of levain, 415 g of soaker and 16 g of salt. I added 25 g of water here to adjust the feel of the dough. I did slaps and folds to integrate the oats right through the dough.
5. I started the bulk fermentation with folds every half hour and this went on and on and on. The dough just didn't seem to want to rise at all. 7 and a half hours later, the dough had risen about 30% and was finally ready to be divided and pre-shaped.
6. I pre-shaped using the letter fold method and let sit for a half hour before doing the final shape. I shaped it again using the letter fold method and put it into floured baskets.
7. I let it proof on the counter for a half hour (next time I am doing the full hour) and it went into the fridge for an overnight proof.
8. Late the next morning, I baked it in dutch ovens at 500F for 20 minutes, and took off the lid. I realized 10 minutes later that I had not dropped the temp at the 20 minute mark and had taken off the lid instead. So I dropped the temp to 430F and let it bake for another 20 minutes. Once again, I wasn't paying close attention but it worked out anyhow.
The results were a delicious bread with a super fluffy crumb. The one loaf disappeared in one day. Mind you, the loaves were tiny and next time, I am doubling the recipe and not forgetting to autolyse the oat soaker along with the flour.
Crumb shot:
With butter and honey:
Comments
That crumb looks great, love it! Lets not forget that golden crust...
What did the oats do to the texture of the crumb, did it add some chewiness or did it kind of disappear? Could you taste it?
Butter and honey.... YUMMY!!
Great job :)
completely disappeared which surprised me because they were the large flake ones which usually take a while to cook. The texture was nice and fluffy, contrary to the chewy crumb I have been getting from other breads with all of the add ins. And yes, I could taste the oats. I am definitely making this one again.
"to bake" list.
Great job Danni, your loaf looks gorgeous on the home page!
Happy baking!
I think I will have to put this on my list to try.
Leslie
Lovely, artistic loaf, and your patience is admirable. I use a lot of Hamelman recipes that include soakers. Unless the soaker ingredient is hard, e.g., cracked grains, he just uses room temp water. Rolled grains still disappear in my bakes, even with room temp water. I had a similar problem with a recipe where I tried to do an autolyse where there wasn't enough water without the soaker. One solution is to use a Tartine/FWSY level of hydration.
Love the crust and crumb! I'm sure it tastes lovely.
Oh, you are making some lovely loaves, Danni! I've got a few of them bookmarked now. :)
I've started incorporating the soaker into the first mix of the dough too - way easier to get it all in there and distributed properly, especially when you're making a big batch. I can't slap and fold the dough for 10-12 loaves of bread!
I'm liking the way the soaked flakes disappear into the dough, actually. I make one with rye flakes and the bread ends up like a moist, creamy wheat sourdough, but with the flavour of rye. Best of both worlds!
I have a deep love for anything rye. Can you tell me where to get rye flakes, and share a basic recipe for the loaf you mentioned Lazy Loafer?
Well, I can't really share the basic recipe as it is from "Tartine 3". However, someone else has published the basic porridge bread recipe here. I used cooked rye flakes instead of oats, and added a few things as shown in my blog here.
I don't know where you live, but I buy rye flakes (and others) at Bulk Barn.
that make it want to puff up in the oven.Has to taste as good as it looks. Well done adn happy baking
Really lovely. Would you mind if I featured this post on the homepage for a bit?
I would be honored to be featured on the home page!
Bravo! So many nice breads here and you baked a ringer! Good job! I'm jealous!
Murph
Congratulations!
What a great looking loaf Dann, open, moist crumb and shiny, crunchy crust, bet it tasted wonderful. Thank you for sharing, and I'm going to give it a go. If I've understood you correctly the second day took about 10 hours in total which I'm happy to do for such a tasty looking loaf, but do you think adding a little more starter to the levain (maintaining %ages by adjusting down flour and water) would make timing more manageable, or does that risk sacrificing quality?
because spelt usually ferments really fast for me. I think this was a one time exception. It might have been due to the low initial hydration and that my kitchen was on the cool side that particular day.
The other reason I wouldn't increase the starter is that it might proof too fast in the fridge unless you don't mind checking it and baking in the middle of the night if necessary. But then, you might be sacrificing flavour.
Just add the oats to the autolyse and see how it goes. I am going to redo these loaves soon but first, we have to eat up some of what I have stored in the freezer. Let us know how your loaves turn out.
Thanks for the advice Dann, much appreciated. I'll let you know how I get on.
That looks quite fantastic! (I know it's tasty too) ..... well done indeed :)
I took your advice Danni and had a go. The result was nutty taste, open texture, crispy crust – perfect with French butter and home-made Seville orange marmalade. I should have paid more attention to your oven settings though because I used my usual bread settings but forgot to adjust down for the honey in this dough, I’ll take it down a few degrees next time. I used my proofing box (improvised from a polystyrene box, a mug of hot water and a probe thermometer – not exactly high tech) and monitored proofing progress throughout. Also, I did the final proof and bake on the same day rather than retard overnight because that better suited my schedule. Many thanks for the guidance Danni, I think I’ll be making this one again, and again, and…..
How long did it take to ferment in your proofing box? And did you have to add additional water to the dough? Did you autolyse the oat soaker with the flour, water and honey? I am so glad that it worked out for you and that you like it!
I made it again this weekend and the fermentation took hours and hours again due to the cool temps in my kitchen and this time, the dough needed an additional 35 g of water. I replaced 100 g of the white flour with Robin Hood's Multigrain Best for Bread flour since I have a bag that needs using up; that might account for some of the additional water that was needed.
My loaves also stuck to the Dutch ovens even though I had sprinkled cornmeal in the bottom. I just let them cool in the pot until they came loose. I am really not sure why they stuck.
By the way, I used my brand new homemade sourdough starter and it worked like a champion. I think I got pretty good rise for a starter that was only 10 days old! (I will add a picture as soon as I get to my computer. Adding one is a pain on my phone).
Thanks Danni, it certainly looked and tasted better than my usual efforts so I’m really glad I spotted your post (and that Floyd used your tasty looking pic in the header).
The bulk fermentation took about 4 hours at about 25c with letter folds every half hour, until it achieved the 30% rise you told me to watch for. The final proof took about 1½ hours, again at about 25c. I don’t know if baking straight from final proof rather than retarding made a difference but the unbaked loaves certainly looked more buoyant than the sourdough loaves I’ve recently been retarding and baking, so I might try this with them too.
Yes, as you suggested, I autolysed the oat soaker with the flour, water and honey, and then added the levain and salt after. I used high protein bread flour and organic spelt so I found the dough didn’t need any additional water (it was quite sticky) but I did accidentally pour 25g more hot water into the oat soaker than you advised, so I corrected this by reducing the water in the final dough by an equivalent amount.
Your 10-day old starter clearly likes your set-up. Mine’s 3 years old, is called Nigel, and despite irregular feeding, extended neglect and even freezing when we vanish on long trips, wakes up ready to party whenever needed. Until now I’ve used a high proportion of starter in sourdough levains but I wonder if the lower proportion used here meant Nigel had more to feed on and revved up in appreciation.
This is amazing! I have just been thinking of trying your recipe.
Hi lall Iogged in just so I could make this bread with your lovely help hopefully..... I prepared last night the pictures the honey and the oats made me want to give it a go...
I made the autolyse 5 mins ago and it was so stiff made me want to knead it...I just notice the update about adding the soaker so albeit a bit late i squished it into the flour mix... now for the question I have to go out in an hour for about 5 hrs... should I add everything else ( salt and Levin ) or leave like this till I get back? any words of wisdom appreciated may bake late tonight but happy to bake tomorrow which ever will bring greatest success... any suggestions much appreciated.
too late to help. That being said, I would have put the dough in the fridge until got back. Then I would let the dough warm up and add the levain and salt. Then continue with the recipe.
I got in two hours ago, having left it out for 7 hrs....I'm in London so pretty cold in my kitchen. Have added the salt and starter we will see what happens, thanks for advice. Very wet dough without any additional water the consistency was surprisingly supple...
-Marcia
Hi Danni, love this bread! followed your recipe pretty closely, wasn't sure if I bulk fermented long enough but we were going out for dinner so shaped dough, left out for an hour then into fridge for overnight retard.
Normally I bake straight out of fridge, but followed your instruction and left on bench for an hour before baking. Edit: Forgot to sprinkle more oats on the top! :(
Lovely moist bread, slightly golden in colour.
Crumb shot from small boule, but it is now all gone. The other batard went into freezer and the above one I sliced and froze as well (otherwise we'd eat the lot!!). it is very nice indeed.
Happy baking
Leslie
I am glad that my notes helped make it a success.
I too will making this again.
Leslie
for that. How did it taste?
Just sliced it, tasted great, I really like the addition of the oats, lovely creamy texture. Will defiantly make again, need to watch my oven temperatures and have a free day for the folding lol... big air holes but I don't mind that ; )
I love big holes like that in bread!!! Awesome job!
the poster being in the UK and using flour that isn't as thirsty as Canadian. That might be why the dough felt wet and spread a bit with less spring - but had great big holes.
I'm guessing you could up the hydration of yours another 5% and get similar holes ....and wet dough too!
All the posters have made some fine bread with your recipe for sure!
Danni.. I'm giving this a go tonight. I pretty much am following the recipe, but added 35g of extra water. Even then, it's siff, stiff, siff! So much so that it's hard to do a proper stretch and fold! So I decided to do the bulk with the bowl in my oven with the light on. I'm hoping htat will help getting it going and make it easier to stretch and fold. I thought of slap and folds, but I don't think I need to - and it's too stiff.. the oats have almost entirely disappeared. The oat soaker was very stiff when I added it to the flour/levain.. I used a fork to break it and make a slurry with the water/honey/levain.. it will be interesting.. I'll be up until midnight i figure.. so I've got a few hours ahead of me to make it all work.. lets see!
till it feels like your earlobe. If you have added the Oats already, and it is still stiff , add water. Your flour and Oats must be absorbing more water than mine.
Next you'll tell me it's ready to shape when it giggles like my belly? ! :)
I think I'm not going to add water. I think I can get it there using the stove light. Boy oh boy, it smells great and the dough tastes incredible at this stage! Here's the pic..
It doesn't look too dry at this point but only you can tell if it is. The earlobe trick is something I learned at a bread baking class. And I like the idea of the jighly belly for shaping. Lol. I'll have to use hubby's belly though. His is more jiggly than mine. Ha ha!
Ok.. last question for the night.. not sure why she says to split the dough into two loves. Doesn't look that big.. did you and weren't they pretty small if you did? As to the belly, I won't tell my wife why I'm rubbing her belly! LOL :)
Yes, they do make two pretty small loaves. You could also just make one big one. Your choice!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/51439/spelt-honey-oat-porridge-sourdough
for the oat soaker, do you just bring water to boil, pour on top of oata, stir, cover and let sit overnight?
Another question that comes to mind for me is, is the cover airtight, sort of like a mason jar woth the lid screwed on, or is it like you covering it with plastic wrap? Just wondering your method for that..
Its my first try at an oat porridge style bread that's based off of this recipe here and I feel like I'm really branching out here haha! Your bread looks amazing by the way! Anyway, thank you in advance!!
Eric
over the Oats and let sit overnight. I just put some plastic wrap fairly tightly over the bowl.
And thank you for your kind words. I hope you try this loaf, it is delicious.
Thank you for the response! I do not have spelt unfortunately so it'll be a white/whole wheat combination but I used your formula for my recipe. I was thinking of adding in some dark rye as well. Anytime I use it, I highly enjoy it. Ill post my result on Sunday! Hopefully it's post worthy haha! Thanks again Danni!
it went really well! I was pleased with the overall result. I apologize for the lack of promptness. Nonetheless, here are some pictures of the loaves.
And here is the crumb. Sorry bout the pictures.. took them with my phone.
Thanks again for the inspiration!
I love the bold bake! I am so glad you tried this recipe!
I've made this exact loaf from the same book multiple times. So good! Mine never looks as picture perfect as yours does. Great job!
I do appreciate the compliment!