Abe's Spelt and Rye Bread (My Bake)

Abe recently posted about a bread he put together from some flour and seeds, and the combination appealed to me as a change of pace from the usual breads that I bake.  Here is my version (pretty much following his steps).

     The ingredients in my version of his bread are:

Spelt Flour -- 400 g

Whole Rye Flour -- 100 g

Salt -- 8 g

Pumpkin Seeds -- 15 g

Sunflower Seeds -- 20 g

Flaxseeds -- 10 g

Sesame Seeds (white) -- 15 g

Starter -- 23 g

Water -- 420 g

As Abe described, I mixed the flour, seeds, and salt and made a well, into which I added the starter (which had been fed about five hours earlier).  I then poured in 350 g of water and mixed a bit until that water was absorbed.  More water was needed, and I added a little more until the consistency felt right (sticky, but holding together).  In all, I used 420 g of water.  I mixed the dough some more while feeling a bit of gluten development.  The dough temperature was 76 F, and I covered it for the first of the thirty-minute periods between four stretch-and-fold sessions.

After the fourth S&F the dough went into the refrigerator, and then about five hours later I took it out for an overnight bulk fermentation at room temperature.  In the morning, the dough had sat for a tad over ten hours (but had not expanded much).  I wet my hand and worked the dough gently to feel some resistance in it, shaped the dough into a log, and put it into a 4-1/2" x 8-1/2" loaf pan that I had greased with butter.  The loaf pan then went into a plastic bag for a little over an hour-and-a-half while the dough proofed.

Meanwhile I heated the oven to 450 F.  After the proofing, during which the dough expanded noticeably, I put the loaf pan into the oven and left it there for 47 minutes (rotating after twenty minutes).  After thirty minutes the internal temperature was only 179 F, which did not surprise me because of the hydration level, but by the end the internal temperature was about 208 F.  The loaf split on its own along one side (no scoring).

The crust is very crispy and crunchy in a good way.  The crumb is a little dense, but not heavy like a pure rye bread.  Instead, the crumb is soft and allows the various seeds to be tasted.

This is a neat bread.  My wife is not a fan of spelt, but she really liked this bread.  It is simple to make, and I will do so again sometime. If you are looking for a bread with spelt and rye and some seeds, you will enjoy this one.  Thanks, Abe, for your post about this bread.

Happy baking.  Stay safe and stay healthy.

Ted