Hamelman's Five Grain Sourdough
I'm beginning to wonder whether I bake better when the weather is cool. This is the second bake in a row to turn out very well.
The bread is based on a rye levain that matures overnight. It also has a hot soaker that consists of cracked rye, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, oats, and all of the salt for the formula. For this bake, I subbed bulgur wheat for the cracked rye since I have more on hand than I can easily use up other ways. The soaker is allowed to rest overnight.
The next morning, the levain and soaker are combined with the rest of the ingredients. The final dough includes a smalll yeast kicker to ensure a good rise. After the dough was kneaded (I used my KA mixer), it was put in the proofer to rise for an hour. It was then given a letter fold and allowed to rise for about another hour.
I elected to shape the dough into three medium size loaves, rather than two larger loaves. Given the inherent stickiness of the rye in the dough, I dusted the shaped loaves with rye flour so that the plastic wrap draped over them wouldn't stick. That turned out to be a good call.
After proofing, the sheet pan containing the loaves was placed in the preheated oven with steam. Although well risen, they still had a substantial oven spring that caused two of the loaves to "kiss". Once baked, the loaves felt light for their size, which was another indication of having been well proofed.
On the cooling rack, I could hear faint crackling noises as the loaves "sang" while they cooled:
One might look at the crumb and think "That should be more open." I think the combination of the rye levain and the soaker militate against a lacy crumb. Still, it is moist and firm, with a very pleasing chew because of the soaker additions.
This is a seriously good bread that serves just as well in a sandwich as it does as an accompaniment for a bowl of homemade soup.
Paul
Comments
Paul,
This is also one of my favorite breads to bake, and one of the first ones that got me into sourdough baking, also substituting bulgur for the cracked rye. We always have some around at my house, but I usually don’t get the nice surface cracking that you show, I presumed that it was due to the hydration, so obviously I need to revisit that conclusion. I’m curious about one part of your formula. My versions of Hamelman call for a basic wheat levain with 125% hydration, but you mentioned a salted rye-based levain. I’m wondering how you decided to go that route, and what the difference taste-wise is compared it to the standard wheat levain. Thanks.
-Brad
And I’m referring to myself with that.
The title was off by one word, which I have now corrected. It's the Five-Grain Sourdough (not Levain) bread. The other correction is that the salt was in the soaker, not the levain. I really should have had the book in front of me while I was typing.
Other than this bread having a rye levain and some honey in the final dough, the two breads are very similar. If you haven’t tried this one yet, give it a shot. I suspect you will enjoy it. The formula begins on page 254 of the second edition.
The crust crackling is one of those elusive things for me. Hamelman seems to prefer baking profiles that result in deeply colored crusts for a lot of his breads. In this case, I think the dough was moist enough to allow plenty of expansion while baking, followed by contraction while cooling. Add to that plenty of steam for the early portion of the bake. All three factors working together were apparently the magic combination.
Paul
I will certainly try the rye sourdough version of the 5-grain. It is very similar, as you said, but Hamelman doesn’t mention an overnight retard, which I always do with the Levain version. Perhaps this affects the crackling as well, we shall see.
You’ve also inspired me to leaf through his books yet again to see if there are other gems I’ve missed. Thanks.
-Brad
I love this recipe. I used to bake it regularly and you have inspired me to go again as it’s been a few years back. Your loves look great.
I scored mine a bit differently after watching Hamelman’s video on seeded loaves. He uses a serrated knife and scores laterally across the loves. I made a post about one of my bakes here: 5-Grain Levain | The Fresh Loaf
David Synder commented on the benefit of an overnight retard before baking. I’ve tried both but prefer to bake without.
Cheers,
Gavin
in my post, as I noted in my reply to Brad.
The biggest one was that it's a slightly different bread with a slightly different name; Five-Grain Sourdough instead of Five-Grain Levain. Oops! But, hey, now you have a chance to try this one and compare it to the one you know.
I've only used the “sausage” score on some rye breads. It would be interesting to see how it affects this bread. Of course, what are the odds that I’ll remember to try it next time?
Paul
Lovely read, and cracking crust normally means better eating. What a great bake!
Had no idea there was a similarly named 5 grain recipe, will have to look it up.
-Jon