100% Stoneground Organic Whole Wheat Sourdough 90% Hydration
This is my second bake using the method I described in my last bake of 100% whole wheat. In short, I sift out the larger flakes of bran with a #40 sieve, that bran gets scalded and allowed to cool in the fridge overnight while the levain ferments. In the morning the dough is mixed and the gluten is developed before adding the bran. The major difference with this bake is that I increased the hydration to 90%. Despite that I believe that this flour could still take even more which I’ll do next time.
After the bran is added through a series of stretch and folds in the bowl, the dough was given an additional 100 slap and folds to ensure that the brans is well distributed. The pH at this point was 5.51.
Target pH drop of 1.0 for shaping and an additional 0.3 pH drop for baking. Because I found the dough challenging to score and I wanted to try something different with the crust when the dough reached 4.22 and had a rise of 59% I placed the dough in the freezer for 20 mins and then 10 mins in the fridge. By the time the dough came out of the fridge the pH had fallen past the target 1.3 pH drop and had fallen all the way down between 4.1-4.15. The pH meter had a difficult time locking into a reading likely because of the varying temperature of the dough the exterior being colder and then warmer the deeper into the dough.
So I wanted to do a decorative dark crust, something I’ve seen on IG by Aggie of @aggie.chronicles. Essentially it is a simple but slightly messy method of applying dark cocoa to the crust. After the dough is turned out of the banneton onto parchment the rice flour is brushed off. Next the dough is misted with water. Then dark cocoa is sprinkled on the dough trying to fully cover the dough. Any Excess cocoa is dusted off. Next the the cocoa layer is misted again with water and then rubbed into the surface. The coating should be a thin paste. Finally score as you like then bake.
Comments
Is it actually 250 S&F´s followed by 110 more? what kind of crumb did you get: open/honeycomb/lacy?
Yes that is how many slap and folds I did. I’m not expecting huge open crumb as this is a 100% stoneground whole wheat. However, if you look at my last bake with a slightly lower hydration version of this loaf it had a very nice crumb for 100% whole grain.
Overall I’m pleased with the crumb. I will increase the hydration next time that should help open the crumb, maybe, and perhaps do a bit less gluten development.
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I'd be super pleased to get this kind of crumb with 100% WW loaf. I think you did a great job...I'll have to peek back at your original recipe a little closer and give this a try next weekend. I'm curious what kind of flavor the cocoa imparted to the crust. It is a beautiful and unique look.
The cocoa isn’t noticeable in the flavor although I wouldn’t be upset if it was there. At most there is a bit of a slight bitterness from the cocoa. I’m quite pleased that this formula is working so well. I have been chatting with another baker on IG who is also doing pH based fermentation and we have another idea about the levain which I’m excited to try as well in the near future.
Benny
an amazing crumb for 100% wheat! I’m totally impressed! Must taste wonderful!
Thank you Danni, I’m so happy that I’ve figured out a way that I can bake a 100% whole wheat sourdough hearth loaf now that has a good crumb and good rise. Even though I’m not milling my own flour, this flour is from a “local” mill and is apparently quite fresh. I know one of the best bakeries in Toronto (my opinion) uses this mill’s flours. I now can say I love the flavour of 100% whole wheat.
Benny
Wow Benny! That crumb is amazingly lacy and uniform for 100% WW. Also really impressed with the profile of the loaf. Nice and tall!
Thanks so much Troy, I was shocked at both this and the first bake of this formula with this flour turning out so well, given the issues I’ve had with other flours so far. I have to say that the method I’m currently using seems to be working, I’m not even sure 100% that I need to add the VWG. I cannot detect any off flavour from it so for now I’ll continue to add it, but it may not be necessary.
Benny
Good grief that is spectacular... charcoal crust with the design and the exploding middle in orange, browns... amazing.
And yes spectacular crumb for whole wheat.
I guess I have to try adopting your kneading methods. I'm not too zen about anything unfortunately and I tend to lean on my KA but your results speak for themselves. I tried slap and folding but I sprayed everything in my kitchen with drops.
Incidentally, ever heard of a bostok dessert? My wife has requested one for the holidays. I was thinking to use your Hokkaido bread as the brioche part of it. It's sliced with almonds and frangipane then baked again. I made something similar with croissants awhile back but while it tasted great, it was a little too rich for our aging bodies.
Thank you David for the kind words. As I think I’ve said the cocoa crust would be better on a mostly white flour loaf that had more explosive bloom so the decorative scoring would open up. It’s the first time I’ve tried using the cocoa for a crust, apparently charcoal is much messier. The cocoa was messy enough so I wouldn’t want to try charcoal on the outside of a loaf.
I’d never heard of bostock but now that you mentioned it, I’ve looked it up. What a great way to use up any leftover bread, if there ever was any! Sounds like a good use of Hokkaido milk bread and a way to turn it into a dessert or breakfast for Christmas morning.
Benny
I used charcoal only as a colour descriptor. I didn't realize it was an option as well. To me the loaf looks like a big log that's gone into hot coals phase... from a campfire at night at a provincial park.
Sorry I misinterpreted what you wrote, but yes charcoal can also be used but is said to be very very messy rather than just a bit messy. I haven't ever used charcoal for baking so have no experience with it.
The effect of the cocoa is strikingly beautiful! Have you thought of using a chocolate roast malt instead of cocoa? I have some chocolate rye malt that looks like little coffee beans. There are chocolate barley and wheat malts, too.
You are right to be leery of using activated charcoal. I used it often in a chemical production lab and always tried for careful handling and minimizing any spills. The fact that the particle size is in the 10-µm range makes it insidious. It also is hard to remove from plastics, so any plastic utensils used will be lightly blackened, possibly forever.
I haven’t see chocolate roast malt or chocolate rye malt, malts aren’t that easy to find locally. Fortunately I had read that charcoal is a horrible mess so never even considered using it.
Benny
Do you have a home brewing supplies store in your area? I found the chocolate rye at a local homebrew store. It had several chocolate malts and the price was reasonable, <US$2/lb.
I’ll have to look into that at some point in the future, thanks for the suggestion.
I found chocolate malt at a local (to me) home brewery supply:
https://shop.greatfermentations.com/category/s?keyword=chocolate+malt
A combo of chocolate malt, coffee malt, and caramel malt made a nice Postum-like drink.
Note that no chocolate/coffee/caramel is added. Those flavors are brought out by roasting.
Update: alco, heh, we doubled. GMTA.
Hmmm... the idea of a malted portion of dough that is wrapped around the main dough sounds interesting.
I would think a choc malt is just roasting the malted rye or barley kernels for a longer period. I considered roasting my solod darker last time but chickened out as I didn't want Maillard reaction flavours overpowering the solod's fermentation.
I kept my solod in a jar in whole kernels though so... could roast a portion of them deeper...
Gorgeous jacket effect.
And superb crumb. The takeaway for the crumb is your new pH technique plus carefully chosen flour?
I do wonder what the bread would be like without the VWG. Especially with Canadian flour, you may be able to reduce that. For my weaker flours sometimes it is a necessity, but I'm not always a fan of the extra chew and prefer a soft mouth feel.
I've got a friend who uses the freezer for a whole hour while the oven is heating. Seems to not affect the final bake and even after an hour the full loaf is not completely frozen.
Well done on achieving WW success, feel this is a landmark loaf
-Jon
Thank you Jon, I kind of feel the same way, that for me this was my best loaf I’ve baked of bread of this type. In as far as changes, increasing hydration again is on my list, but I’m thinking of reducing the VWG a bit as well. On the other hand, I don’t find there to be any noticeable negative in terms of texture or taste to the added VWG so I’m also hesitant to change too much if it works. But I do like to tinker with recipes…
Benny