July 21, 2022 - 5:46pm
Buckwheat Sourdough
Based on this recipe...
Overall Recipe:
- 500g wholegrain buckwheat flour
- 350g water
- 10g salt
- 2 medium size eggs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tsp psyllium husk powder
- 1 tablespoon brown rice flour starter (refreshed)
Method:
- Preferment 500g wholegrain buckwheat flour, 350g water + 1 tablespoon starter. Once risen and craggy then move onto the next step.
- In a bowl whisk together the eggs, olive oil, salt and psyllium husk powder.
- Add this mixture to the preferment and knead till you get a nice smooth "dough". Not quite a wheat dough and not a batter either, in-between. Should feel silky to the touch and you will be able to form a loaf. I had two options. Either the right size dough pan which I would have to prepare with baking paper or grease or the pullman which was far too big but needs no preparation. I opted for the pullman. Could have done 1.5x the recipe! So while it rose well it could have been a taller loaf in the right pan. Next time i'll increase the amount.
- Final proof for two hours at room temperature then into the fridge for two hours (it does need more time but because it has eggs I opted for two hours max at room temperature).
- Bake.
Wow! The flavour hits you. Flavour of buckwheat greatly accentuated. Almost has a smokiness to it. Never expected it quite so strong however it's really nice toasted.
Idea for next time. Because it is a 100% preferment and to shorten the final proof to accommodate the eggs then in this case I will be persuaded to add 1tsp instant yeast to the final dough. Normally I like to keep sourdough 100% bakers yeast free but due to the method I don't think it'll make it any less of a sourdough. Equally one could use baking soda/powder to bake immediately.
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Looks great Abe! Maybe not as tall as you’d like but still looks like a good rise. Did you toast the buckwheat flour?
During the kneading, what were you looking for to know it was ready?
When I put it in the pullman it really didn't look like i'd get a tall loaf at all yet it did rise very well and got a good loaf out of it. I'd still like to fill the pullman loafpan but it'll need about 750g of flour.
I didn't toast the flour. Just used 100% wholegrain buckwheat flour. This brand which is local here in the UK. Good quality. But it sure has loads of flavour so not missing anything by not toasting the flour first. However I am enjoying it toasted with topped with some leerdammer cheese.
Because the psyllium husk powder tends to clump when adding it to liquid, as supposed to missing it into the flour, I was looking to make sure there were no clumps of psyllium and a nice smooth dough. Was easy to do as it seemed to disperse easily when kneaded.
I’ve been using the method shown in the video you posted in the Gluten Free CB. Activate the dry yeast in water (or milk) for 10 minutes and then let the psyllium “gel” in the water/yeast mixture for another 10 minutes. Can easily get the psyllium well mixed and break up any clumps with a whisk. Works quite well.
because I put the psyllium husk powder in an eggs and oil mix while she puts it in 400g of water. I didn't whisk it, just used a spoon to stir, but it didn't clump too much. The clumps were small and easily were sorted with the kneading.
I'm in the middle of another gluten free bread and i've just mixed 10g salt + 20g psyllium husk powder + 150g water with no clumping issues. Made a thick gel, within seconds, and kneaded well into the 100% pre-fermented flour.
Nice 100% buckwheat loaf and sourdough to boot! Great way to taste what buckwheat tastes like.
Benny
Was a nice loaf indeed even if I do think the method can be tweaked a bit for the better. It did need more time but was concerned about the eggs in the dough. Buckwheat is a lovely "grain"/flour. In the middle of another loaf but this time a Buckwheat, Sorghum and Cassava flour mix.
Your buckwheat flour appears to be different than what I am used to on this side of the pond. I have never used buckwheat flour at more than 15% of total flour and the bread was very dark. When the buckwheat flour I have was mixed with water by itself it was almost ink black. The same goes for the toasted groats that were ground in a spice mill. There must be some variety to the types of buckwheat I am guessing.
Although I have no experience with GF bread yours looks tasty.
Don
Even though they are 100% whole groats are pale with a greenish/brown tinge. When toasted they have a dark grown colour. Here is a photo of the whole groats. Type I use...
1-buckwheat-groats-uncooked.jpg
I'm thinking the flour you bought has the husks. While looking for this image I did come across much darker buckwheat groats with husks.
Thank you, Don. I'm working on another right now. Always trying new ideas and tweaking the method.
See: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=unhulled+buckwheat&t=fpas&iax=images&ia=images&pn=1
Some photos are incorrectly labeled. But in the aggregate, you can see that unhulled (where the hull is still on the seed) is black, and hulled/de-hulled (both terms mean without the hull) is grey/green as in Abe's pic.
I need to get some de-hulled and try them out. I've only ever seen hulled in my local stores. Might need to go on-line.
Perhaps the flour is sometimes milled with the husk? If you search for images of buckwheat bread you will see some that are light brown and others that are much darker almost black. I think it was Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat flour that gave me the dark tinted bread.
Hi,
I have been looking at the YT by the Bread Kitchen which has a recipe that is similar to yours above. The batter was made for half the recipe and would have benefited from a smaller pan. However the rise did result in doubling the volume in about 1.5 h. I baked in the Zojirushi.
The pH tabs show the acidity of the buckwheat clas (8% of flour) that I used in place of the vinegar and starter. The bread is not dense nor is it pasty and it is well aerated but it does need work on!
You used the darker buckwheat. I think it's the same thing but it still has the outer shell. Used it only once and it had a grainier texture. Will give a different feel to the dough and the final results will differ too. Tends to be more crumby. If I were to use it again it'd probably tackle it a bit differently. Perhaps a long soak to soften it up. I do love working with buckwheat and it toasts up so nicely. Lovely bake!
I based my recipe on The Bread Kitchen. Gave a link to it above. Have you tried our community bake using whole buckwheat groats and naturally fermenting them?
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/71127/community-bake-naturally-fermented-buckwheat-bread