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More than 2 years ago Lucy and I baked out first 100% Kamut Bread that was at 102% hydration.  Back then we weren't using straight rice flour in out baskets and the dough stuck causing a nasty disfigurement here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/30081/100-hydration-100-whole-grain-kamut-flat-boule-yw-and-sd-combo-starter

 The bread tasted fine and the crumb was fairly open due to the YW and SD combo levain we used.  We also ground the whole berries in a Krup’s coffee grinder since we didn’t have a grain mill till much later.  We thought we would give it another go to try to fix some of these earlier problems.

Lucy decide to add a small amount of whole grain Kamut sprouted flour to the mix this time and to only use a Kamut SD levain  leaving the YW out which I thought would be a mistake since YW really opens up the crumb of whole grain breads so well.   She didn’t want the YW to cancel at the sour as it does when mixed in the SD levain.

The sprouted Kamut was soaked  for 4 hours then drained and sprouted for 24 hours in a sprouter before being paper towel dried and then air dried in the Arizona sun over 4 hours to make sure the enzymes we released were not harmed by high heat.

We did our usual 3 stage levain build where we used the 15% extracted hard bits of the milled Kamut to get the levain up to speed.  We did not use any sprouted flour hard bits for the levain but we did put the sprouted flour into the autolyse with the 85% extraction of the non sprouted Kamut.

Since the sprouted grain went into the autolyse we limited it to 1/2 hour so it wouldn’t spike the autolyse into enzymatic overload.   Then the levain and the salt were added before a short mix with a spoon and 8 minutes of slap and folds.  During the slap and folds we adjusted the final dough water with small additions to fit the final mix feel as it was slapped around without learning a lesson.

We ended up at around 90% hydration which was 12% lower than the bake 2 years ago.  We think the sprouted flour was the difference plus we wanted a less wet mix since we planned on an 18 hour retard instead of 12 hours. After a 30 minute rest we did 3 sets of stretch and folds from the compass points on 30 minute intervals to finish off the gluten development.  

This got us to the 2 hour mark since mixing and we let the dough rest for 10 minutes before shaping into a squat oval, putting it a basket, bagging it and putting it in the fridge for long cold retard.

18 hours later it had proof sufficiently to warm up on the counter as Big Old Betsy was heated to ramming speed of 550 F when the Mega Steam went in for 15 minutes before the dough was un-molded onto parchment on a peel, slashed and slid onto the bottom stone for 15 minutes of steam.  Once the steam came out the oven was turned down to 425 F or another 10 minutes of baking until the inside hit 210 F – our new standard temperature for sprouted flour bread.

The thing to remember about Kamut is that it has a pretty good protein percent but it is very extensible and not very elastic.  The protein gluten isn’t the kind one would normally pick for bread that wasn’t going to be panned up when over 80% hydration like this one at 87.5%.   This dough was slack but it didn’t stick to the basket this time.

 We expected it to spread after it was un-molded due to the grain used and the sprouts too.  but it did try to puff itself up some in the heat of the oven and did bloom a bit.  The crust came out that beautiful orange tinged color that a durum derivative grain is so famous for.  It came out of the oven crispy but it went soft as it cooled.

 The yellow crumb also associated with durum was the other striking feature.  The crumb was open for 100% whole grain bread. It was soft and very moist due to the sprouts.  The best part was the taste though.  Nothing tastes as sweet as Kamut and the sprouts made is taste like it has a bit of sweet cornbread in it – maybe that was the color affecting my tongueJ

 This is one fine bread and if you want it to look like a majestic tall loaf, just pan it up instead but….you will miss the higher percent of tasty crust with a boule.

Currently on vacation for two weeks and not travelling anywhere too far from home, I have the luxury to bake and post the results sooner than I've managed to over the last 6 months. The Czech type Rye bread that was shown in my last post was the most recent loaf made and it disappeared, ahem, rather quickly. It was such a nice bread I almost made a second loaf of it but decided to conserve the remaining bit of the Czech rye flour for other projects. It's been an interesting, and very satisfying experience over the last two bread bakes using the Gilchester's flour from the UK that Andy shared with me and the Czech rye I found in Prague, but now it was time to use some of the flours from my own country. 

The formula I put together uses organic whole grain Red Fife milled at True Grain Bakery here on Vancouver Island, along with One Degree Organics Sprouted Spelt Flour and Anita's Organic AP flour. The whole grain RF and the spelt account for just slightly over 51% of total flour in the formula giving the finished loaf a wonderfully robust and complex flavour profile highlighted by the slightly spicy character of the Red Fife and the toasty, nut-like contribution of the spelt, all complimented by the tang of a 16 hour sour leaven. The crust has a good crunch to it, offering notes of caramel to the overall flavour of the bread as well. The flours were given a three hour autolyse before the final mix which resulted in a remarkably soft, moist, and open crumb compared to similar type mixes I've made in the past. Somehow I don't think this loaf will have the opportunity to go stale and more likely it will disappear as quickly as the previous loaf did.

 Formula and procedure below.

Cheers,

Franko

• Mix leaven ingredients and ripen for 15 to 18 hours at 76-78F

• Add all of the water indicated in the final mix to all of the flours and autolyse for 3 hours. Add more water if needed to ensure there are no dry parts in the dough.

• Final Mix: Add the barley syrup and leaven to the dough and mix till thoroughly combined then add the salt and continue mixing until the dough is smooth and cohesive. Five minutes on 2nd or 3rd speed depending on your mixer, or by hand for 8-9 minutes. Using the slap and fold technique is recommended. Test for a windowpane to ensure sufficient development before putting the dough into bulk ferment.

• Bulk ferment for 90- 120 minutes at 78F giving the dough two stretch and folds at 30 and 60 minutes. Give the dough a third S&F if needed at 90 minutes.

• When bulk ferment is complete, round the dough lightly and rest it for 15 minutes before final shaping.

• Shape as desired and put the dough for a final rise of 60 -90 minutes. The spelt content makes this dough a fast riser and it should be monitored closely after 45 minutes.

• Preheat oven and stone to 485F for 45-60 minutes.

• Proof the dough to 10% less than double the original size. Have your steam system in place in the oven. Slash as desired and slide the dough on to the baking stone.

• Reduce the oven temperature to 465F and bake for 10 minutes, then remove the steam system and allow the oven to vent. Continue baking for 25-30 minutes, rotating the loaf for even colouring and reducing the oven temperature if necessary for a well coloured loaf. Bake to an internal temperature of 210 F.

• Remove the loaf to a rack to cool for an hour before wrapping it in cloth. Allow to cool completely before slicing, 5 hours or more.

Sending this toYeastspotting.
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Holiday season is pumpkin season. Pumpkin in dishes, in pies, in cakes, in breads, and in croissants!

Pumpkin Croissant with Sourdough Starter
Note: for details and tips on making croissants, please see this post & this post.
Note: this recipe makes about 12 large danishes.

-levain
starter (100%), 35g
water, 59g
bread flour, 105g

1. mix and leave at room temp for 12 hours.

-final dough
bread flour, 422g
sugar, 68g
salt, 10g
instant yeast, 7g
butter, 21g, softened
pumpkin puree, 200g
water, 120g
levain, all
roll-in butter, 287g

1. Mix everything but the rolling butter, knead until medium gluten developement. Then follow the steps here.

Tried out two fillings. The ones at bottom were filled with dark chocolate, a safe bet that never disappoints; the top ones had a caramelized cranberry walnut filling, how very seasonal! Chocolate ones were easier to roll than the soft/mushy cranberry filling, that's why the bottom ones had more turns and appeared to be fuller/taller.

Both had pretty open crumb though. Love the golden hue.

Makes great holiday gifts