WBD 09 – Vermont Sourdough with Increased Whole Grain

This recipe is from Jeffrey Hamelman’s “Bread”, a sourdough made of flour, salt and water only, without the use of commercial yeast. It’s the kind of pure yet delicious bread that I like the most.

There is another Vermont Sourdough recipe in Hamelman’s book using 10% rye and 15% starter, but this one are 15% and 20%. According to the book, the higher amount of rye provides more fermentable sugar and minerals to the yeasts in the levain. In addition to higher amount of levain, this bread is more acidic than the Vermont Sourdough. Acidity has tightening effect on gluten structure, hence the crumb of this bread is tighter, chewier, and more elastic.

In terms of taste, this version sweeter and slightly more tang to me. Definitely I prefer this one as I always like stronger taste from different grains in a bread.

I’m submitting this beloved bread to World Bread Day 09. Happy Anniversary! : )

Make 1 Loave

Ingredients:

Liquid-Levain Build

Bread flour 91g (I used King Arthur All Purpose)

Water 113g

Mature culture (liquid) 18g

Final Dough

Bread flour 295g

Whole-rye flour 68g (I used Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye)

Water 181g

Liquid Levain 204g

Salt 8.5g

1. Mix ingredients for liquid levain build. Cover & let stand for 12-16 hours at 70F.

2. When the levain is done, mix all ingredients except the salt of the final dough to medium consistency. Cover and let stand for autolyse for 20-60mins.

3. Sprinkle in salt and mix for another 1 1/2 -2 mins.

4. Bulk fermentation for 2 1/2 hrs. Fold after 1 1/4 hrs.

5. Shape the dough. Final fermentation for 2 to 2 1/2 hrs (or retard for 8 hrs at 50F, or up to 18 hrs at 42F)

6. Bake at 460F for 40-45 mins with normal steam.

Olive Levain

Never thought about it, olives and tangy flavor of the levain are greeeeeeat match! This bread tastes good! (though the crumb of my bread is not as airy as that in the pic of the recipe )

Recipe: “Bread” by Jeffrey Hamelman

Five-Grain Levain

Even though this bread contains a high percentage of whole grains (35%), its crumb is not substantial at all, and is very light and moist instead. I believe the key is the extremely high hydration (98%), of which 40% is to soak the grains thoroughly.

I used rye meal instead of cracked ryes as I could not find them. Luckily the crumb is still nice.

The bread first gives a taste of the mildly toasted sunflower seeds, then it comes the subtle rye meal and sourdough flavors. A good combination of grains. My new favourite.

Recipe from: “Bread” by Jeffrey Hamelman

White Chocolate Chip Bread

This is the milkiest loaf I ever had. The interesting thing is the dough itself doesn’t contain any milk or milk powder, and is in fact a lean dough instead of an enriched one, making it different from regular loaves. It’s the white chocolate chips which give the strong milk flavor, and I like them not sweet eating with the crumb together at all.

The bread makes great toasts. You could see the chocolate chips have formed little holes inside the bread, and when toasted, the little holes would be caramelized outside but lacy inside, producing two different textures and tastes. The fact is I had three pieces in one time. Yum!

Recipe: Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum