Thirded Bread - Buckwheat, Rye, Corn (Maize)

Several days ago I made a loaf of rye-corn bread, following the linked recipe from this post:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/73341/rye-and-maize-bread

A month earlier I had tried making an all-buckwheat loaf; see -

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/73198/almost-abes-100-buckwheat

These two breads seemed to me to be very similar, and one could think of them as following a template. They were both good, and I felt that both were missing something in flavor and texture. Also,  the corn grits hadn't softened as much as I hoped in the rye-corn loaf.  I don't really like too many hard little bits in my breads, and the hard bits don't contribute to flavor like they ought to.

Today's post is the third try in my evolution of this kind of bread.  I think it's been very successful. The changes are the addition of buckwheat flour, pre-cooking part of the corn grits, and scalding part but not all of the buckwheat.

The term "thirded", I have read, is a term from the 19th century and refers to using equal volumes of three grain types.  This being the 21st century, I used roughly equal weights instead.  Picture of a slice first, then the recipe.

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 All flours were stone-ground.  The biggest bits of bran were sifted out of the buckwheat and rye flours.  Part of the corn was partially pre-cooked in the milk used for scalding.  The rest was included in the scald.  All of the rye and 40% of the buckwheat were also included in the scald.  The corn grits were precooked to soften them further and bring out their flavor.  When the milk was near boiling, the portion of the grits was stirred in and cooked for about 5 minutes until the milk started to thicken a little.  Then the milk with grits was poured over the flours to be scalded.  The flours were very thirsty and needed more liquid, so I boiled 300g water and added it in two stages.  That seemed enough.

Ingredients
=========
150g rye      all scalded
180g yellow corn grits     100g scalded, 80g pre-cooked in scalding milk
170g sifted buckwheat    70g scalded, 100g unscalded **
370g milk                       (+ 300g boiling water in two infusions)
1 large egg
10g yeast
11g salt

** Only 40% of the buckwheat flour was scalded because that ratio worked better than 60% in Abe's version of the 100% buckwheat loaf.

Process
========
- partially cook grits in milk
- scald all rye, 70g buckwheat, and corn with cooking milk & cooked grits in glass bowl.  Add more boiling water if too dry
- when cool, add egg and remaining 100g buckwheat flour
- add water if too dry
- add yeast, salt, and more water if needed to make a mixable dough
- mix/knead to incorporate + 80g more room temp water (if needed)
- bulk ferment until visibly risen (this took 95 minutes)
- move to Pullman pan, preheat oven to 350° F
- proof until visible rise, cracked top, or two hours (this took 75 minutes)
- bake at 350 deg F/ 177C 40 minutes with lid, 55 minutes no lid

The baked loaf was 1/2 inch taller than the previous rye-maize loaf even though both used 500g of flour and were baked in the same Pullman pan.  The thirded loaf was also heavier, 1030g vs 880g.  This is about equal to the difference in the total weigh of the liquids.

I baked the loaf until the internal temperature reached 204 deg F/95.5C and had been close to that for around 10 minutes.  Then I turned the loaf out of the pan.

 The flavor is richer and more buckwheaty that the rye/maize bread.  It is lighter and more complex than the 100% buckwheat loaf. The crumb is moister than the rye/maize loaf.  It's been too long for me to be sure about comparing the moisture with the 100% buckwheat loaf. Because I sifted the buckwheat the flavor and texture seemed cleaner - I had not liked the larger bran bits in the 100% buckwheat bread. They seemed like soggy tasteless flakes that stayed in my mouth for a long time.  That feel is not present in this thirded loaf. It's a good improvement.