50/50 Batard - Lindley Mills Super Sprout & Bread Flour

Howdy folks!

A few months back while doing some genealogy research, I discovered that I was related to a miller in North Carolina- my 7th great grandfather was Thomas W. Lindley, founder of Lindley Mills. I hadn't heard of Lindley Mills before and was super eager to try out their flour. I ordered 25lbs of bread flour and really liked it- it baked nicely, and I powered through a ton of it getting my chops up on the Ooni doing pizza. It's a great price, and affordable shipped to Atlanta from NC.

I also saw Lindley Mills developed a flour called Super Sprout- their brand of sprouted wheat flour. I've never baked with sprouted wheat flour, but I had such a good experience with their bread flour, I figured I'd give it a shot. I didn't find much info on this forum about it besides people being ambivalent about it on their bakes. I'm not well versed in flour/grain types, but I've never felt a flour like this. Their description of "soft & silky" is on the money. It almost feels like if you squeezed a handful it would clump together. I made pancakes for my kids with it but was kind of freaked out to try it on bread. However, I figured since last weeks sourdough went so well, I'd give it a shot in the new banneton/baker. 

My formula was loosely based on Anis Bouabsa's baguette (it's my go to "whip up some bread" technique.):

50:50 LM Super Sprout & Bread Flour: 600g, 100%

Water: 460g, 76%

IDY: 1/4tsp

Salt: 12g, 2%

Lindley Mills says to add 10% - 20% more water on any recipe you're using 1:1 for this. I was a little hesitant as I don't do well with high hydration dough. I started with 66% hydration and an autolyze for 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes I dissolved the salt and yeast into 20g of water and mixed it in, bringing it to 70%. It felt firm, not quite the hydration I wanted. I added an additional 20g, then another 40g. After I added the last bit, I thought I went to far as the dough looked like mush.

Super Sprout feels strange during mixing- almost kind of gummy? It was a little difficult to develop, but I tried not to overwork it. I did some stretch and folds at 30 minutes, 1hr, 1hr20, 1hr40, and finally 2 hours. I came together quite nicely after resting, but still had quite a silky feel to it. The best way I can describe it as almost like 00 extensibility, but it tears easier. Anyways at 2hrs I tossed it in the fridge to rest overnight.

Pulled it out after 16.5hrs. It wasn't overly bubbly, making me think maybe I didn't develop it enough or let it ferment long enough, but my schedule dictated it was time to bake (I have 2 young children and I bake on their terms, not mine :)) Gave it a 30 minute bench rest, preshape, another 30 minute rest, then final shaping into the banneton. Side note, I'm so grateful to have a banneton that fits my loaves- being able to seam them up after they go in is helping my shaping a lot I think.

I let it rise for about 2 hours, then scored and into the clay baker. 20 minutes at 450f covered, then 20 minutes at 425f uncovered.

It's a good looking loaf, although a little wonky from the parchment paper. I haven't sliced it yet, but the crust is interesting- maybe cause it's a zillion percent humidity in Atlanta, but it went from crispy crackly to kind of leathery. Will report back on my Super Sprout verdict after I cut this b-word open and give it a taste :) thanks for reading!