Grass Bread

I was thinking about grass a few days ago while finishing the last lawn mowing of the season and while not really appreciating my lawn grass as such, was struck by the fact that wild grasses are the archetype for the many grains we use to make our bread.  Many species/strains of wheat and other grains can trace their origins as wild grasses that have been cultivated, modified and preserved over many years as food crops.  So, with that in mind, I baked what I decided to call "Grass Bread", as inspired by the grass roots of our modern grains. 

300 g fresh milled mix of organic rye/spelt/khorasan/Marquis wheat sifted to yield 250 g high extraction flour (bran set aside for coating the loaves); 750 g organic all purpose flour; mixed with 725 g water and autolysed for 2 hours at room temperature; then added 15 g sea salt, 250 g levain (4 hours, very active), mixed with a series of stretch/folds and set aside for a 4 1/2 hour bulk fermentation with more stretch/folds every 30 minutes for the first  2 hours; additions were mixed in after the second series of stretch/folds - 150 g cracked grain, steel cut oat porridge; 50 g cooked hulless oats; 50 g cooked hulless barley; 75 g cooked wild rice. FDH estimated at 85% after additions. Pre-shaped and rested for 1/2 hour then final shaped and cold-proofed overnight (10 hours).  Baked directly out of the fridge covered at 500 F for 25 minutes; 450 F for 10 minutes and then uncovered at 450 F for 20 minutes directly on the baking stone.  Oh, and almost forgot...before setting the loaves into the baskets I coated the loaves with some of the sifted bran, ground pumpkin and sunflower seeds (not grass, I know) and toasted hemp seeds (some would say "grass"!)  I am very happy with this bread. Of all the loaves I have baked this one is my absolute favourite - taste, texture, nutritional composition - who knew grass could be so good?