Wholemeal spelt bread with seeds (CLAS)
Continuing my CLAS experiments, made a whole spelt bread with seeds, following Rus Brot's recipe again, with a large/long pre-ferment, and very quick and warm bulk and final proof. Only uses a tiny amount of yeast (0.15% IDY of total flour). Recipe here. Here is my formula https://fgbc.dk/1ode (I used linseeds in place of sunflower seeds, that's what I had; also wanted to finish the last few grams from the bag of spelt flour, so added just a little more in the final dough).
I think I could have final proofed for just a few more minutes, the loaf got a little tear on top. Very tasty bread though! No hint of apple flavour from a little pureed apple. Almost moist crumb, and very soft. Nutty flavour, both from the seeds and the whole spelt. And I don't know if it's because I'm expecting this from CLAS, but again I feel like the aroma is also just a little more "bready" than normally! But I am not really used to whole spelt bread, so not the best bread to judge probably...
And I probably should have baked a little longer for a more caramelized crust, not sure why I didn't just leave it in longer.
Comments
Great looking loaf! Looks nice and moist and full of flavor.
I’ve done minimal reading on CLAS. Do you find it easier to use/maintain?
Thank you!
That's what I am trying to find out :) Just made it a week ago, this is just the second bread with it. In a way it's safer, i.e. you are using commercial yeast for leavening, so at the very least your bread is certainly going to rise, and much more predictably - which at least for beginners with SD baking can be challenging. It's supposed to give even more flavour to the bread than a regular SD starter, which so far I am not 100% sure about, the they are certainly very flavourful too.
Re ease of maintenance, as far as I understand as long as you have an easy way to keep it at ~40°C during refrechments, and have whole rye flour (and ideally diastatic malt too), it should be very easy: just refresh once overnight for whole rye breads, or use unrefreshed from the fridge for wheat breads. But I am still new to this :) Yippee is the most experienced CLAS user of TFL, she's better placed to answer this from experience.
Most importantly, consistently outstanding results! I can’t say enough good things about CLAS. But no matter what I say, you must experience it for yourself to appreciate its simplicity and versatility.
Yippee
Good looking tall loaf of whole spelt you baked up Ilya. I’ll be interested if you give up your sourdough starter as Yippie has and switch over to CLAS 100% or if you’ll do a combination of both switching back and forth.
Benny
I'm also curious what I'll do! My only technical worry is maintaining 40°C with my heating setup might be difficult in winter. But I'm moving in a few months, so no idea how it'll be in the new place. And with the regular starter I don't need to remember to buy yeast :)
Good job, Ilya! I am also preparing to make the same bread, the ingredients are ready, but I was distracted by other CLAS experiments. Your interpretation looks great! I must try to make this bread as soon as possible!
Yippee
Thank you Yippee! I just need to try some white bread and something sweet and enriched with CLAS now to cover all bases :) Thinking about ciabatta maybe, and cinnamon and raisin rolls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFg1E0EVALg&list=PLrSg5cYpPtU_swIBk9e7ay8ogTvqPkzqN&index=1 only in Russian this one though).
This is a great bread: soft, a little moist and full of flavour. Linseeds that I used when soaked make a very slimy liquid, so I actually now think I couldn't get rid of this extra water and overhydrated the dough a little bit... He designed this recipe to maximize shelf life, hence a seed soaker, and also apple puree - which I haven't heard about, but it seems it's the same idea as using mashed potato. And apparently malt extract also prolongs freshness, I guess adds some non-fermentable sugars to retain water. Anyway, shame I made just one small loaf - but the upside is I get to experiment with CLAS again very soon! I'm sure you'll like it too!
Don't yogurt makers keep a constant 40°C?
Thank you Mini!
Yes, I think that's one of the typical options people use for CLAS. I don't own one though, unfortunately.
The crumb looks very nice. I like spelt and occasionally bake a 75% spelt loaf that I love the taste of. I haven't tried CLAS yet, but have been following your adventure with interest.
Cheers,
Gavin.