Spelt Bread

Posted on March 16, 2011 by admin

Spelt is a relative of wheat, however unlike wheat it is low on gluten and is considered health food. Bread from spelt is very easy to prepare as it doesn’t require kneading as wheat bread does nor it requires lengthy preparations as rye bread. After many experiments, testing different hydration percentages and different shaping methods – at one point i was even doing spelt miches – i arrived at the formula and method that i want to share here. The resulting bread is a bit sour with good smell, soft and moist crumb and crunchy crust.

For two loafs we will use 1 kg of organic stone ground flour, 820 gr water and 18 gr salt. In baker percentages it is 82% hydration and 1.8% salt.

1. Mix well 4o gr of dry (60% hydration) sourdough with 200 gr spelt flour and 200 gr water and let rest for 10 – 12 hours. Cover the dough to prevent drying.

2. Add 620 gr water and 18 gr salt and mix well. We are not going to knead the dough so it is important to mix the salt well at this stage. Add 800 gr of flour and mix well. The dough is pretty loose. That is OK, it is because there is not enough gluten to absorb all the water that we added. Desired dough temperature is 25 C. Allow two – three hours of bulk fermentation.

3. Mix the dough again and fill two loaf pans. I use silicone 22 x 10 x 8 cm loaf pans. Silicone allows me to avoid use of oil in baking . Let proof until inflated at least 1.5 times.

4. When dough had risen well bake in hot oven at 250 C for 15 minutes and at 200 C for another 30 minutes. Because the dough is so soft we don’t score it – it will find a weak spot on the surface and burst out of it during oven spring.

5. Let cool for 8 – 10 hours before opening. Slice some bread for your family, spread goat butter on it and enjoy the flavor of this ancient freshly baked bread.

Notes:

  • Spelt flour is reddish in color and when mixed with water has even stronger red shade.
  • Spelt dough is always looser then wheat dough at the same hydreation. Adding more flour will not strengthen the dough until it is too dry. The loaf may look beautiful but have inferior  flavor.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt

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Basic Rye Bread

Posted on March 6, 2011 by admin

Rye bread is delicious and healthy and is relatively easy to make – it doesn’t require as much hand skill as wheat bread only a lot of patience and capability to follow instructions. The procedure may look lengthy at first but in fact it fits well in a busy working day. The bread from this recipe has rich flavor, excellent smell and good keeping quality.

Important: the procedure may seem arbitrary but each stage has its purpose. This process is known as three stage rye bread or Detmolder method rye bread.

Total of ingredients: 1 kg wholegrain rye flour, 790 gr water and 19 gr salt.

Part 1:

Dissolve 10 gr of sourdough in 30 gr of water and mix with 20 gr of wholegrain rye flour. The resulting mixture should be soft. Let stand for about 6 to 10 hours. In this stage the yest is refreshed.

Part 2:

Add 50 gr of water and 80 gr of wholegrain rye flour and mix well. The resulting mixture should be thick. The purpose of this stage is to develop acidity. Let stand for 24 hours.

Part 3:

After 24 hours our sourdough should have strong and pleasant smell of fermentation. Add 200 gr of warm water and 200 gr of wholegrain rye flour. We should try to get dough temperature of 28 C. At this stage we may add 2 – 4 gr salt so the dough may wait for the end of our working day. If you add salt at this stage don’t forget to subtract it in the next stage.

Part 4:

Add 510 gr warm water and 19 gr salt and mix well. We don’t knead rye dough so it is important to mix the salt well before adding flour. Add 700 gr wholegrain rye flour and mix well. The resulting dough is sticky but that is OK. Resist the temptation to add more flour at this stage. Best dough temperature at this stage is 29 C

Let the dough rest for 15 – 30 minutes then form loafs. If it is difficult to make the loaf because of dough stickiness you can just press it into the baking form. Let it raise until you see beautiful cracks on top of the loaf. Bake in hot oven. First 20 minutes at 250 C and then 35 minutes at  200 C.

When ready take out from the form and let cool for at least 12 hours

In this recipe i used organic stone ground flour but any wholegrain rye flour may be used to get similar results without changing quantities.

References and similar posts:

 

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Fruit Sourdough

Posted on March 5, 2011 by admin

Sourdough is the oldest bread leavening method. It is based on spontaneous fermentation that naturally occurs in a mixture of smashed fresh fruit or ground grains. Wild yeasts, that are always present on the fruit or grain, are mixed with fruit’s juice and start processing it’s sugars. If we use grains some water is added. Then the yeast is joined by lactobacillus and vinegar producing bacteria in a symbiotic relationship that effectively prevent any other unwanted bacteria from settling in our sourdough. Breads prepared with sourdough take longer but result in better flavor, better smell and in excellent keeping quality.

In this post we will see how to make a sourdough from fresh fruit. I use mulberries but the same can be made from fresh grapes or apples.

Day 1:

Pick some fruits. The best time is in the morning before the sun is too high. Only a small amount of fruit is needed.

Bring the fruit home and place it in a clean bowl. It is important not to wash the fruit so the yeast will stay there for the next stage.

Smash berries using your hands and let rest for a day.

Day 2:

After a day or two we can see bubbles and light foam on the surface. These are signs that fermentation started. There is still plenty of sugar in the mixture so we let it stay for one more day.

Day 3:

Drain and keep the liquid. Mix the liquid with wholegrain flour in a 1:1 ratio. This is called 100% hydration dough. For example mix 50 grams liquid with 50 grams of wholegrain flour.

Day 4:

Our mixture of flour with juice starts looking like a sponge. Throw half of the mixture and add 50 grams of water and 50 grams of wholegrain flour and let stand for another day. Important: at this stage you must throw away that half of the dough.

Day 5:

Repeat the procedure as in day 4.

Day 6:

We have beautifully looking sponge that is ready to prepare our sourdough bread. Recipes for rye, spelt and wheat breads will follow in future posts.

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Wellcome

Posted on February 28, 2011 by admin

Welcome to my bread blog.

I am Giora and in this blog I share recipes and techniques of bread making. I am mostly interested in preparation of breads from organically grown, stone ground whole grain flours using ancient leavening methods. Qualities i try to achieve in my bread are: good and “long” taste that stays in the mouth for a while, good smell and beautifully looking loafs.

Enjoy.

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