Saturday, October 16, 2010

World Bread Day: Whole wheat multigrain levain

Happy World Bread Day to all of my bread baking buddies out there!

World Bread Day 2010 (submission date October 16)

I was nervous about being able to fit a bread in today as we're in the midst of a very full weekend: a friend visiting from out of town, another friend's wedding, free tickets to the family concert of our local chamber orchestra, a housewarming party. And then I couldn't decide what to bake. Finally I decided to combine two goals and bake a bread that I could bring to the housewarming. These friends love whole grains, so I settled on Jeffrey Hamelman's whole wheat multigrain levain.

It was a little exciting and a little nerve-wracking that JH doesn't give list any specific grains in any specific amounts. He just says to make a soaker of a combination of grains that total 165 grams. I ended up using oatmeal, flax seeds, wheat bran, barley, and coarse corn meal. I made the soaker and the liquid levain last night.

Today (after the concert), I mixed everything together: bread flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, water, honey, liquid levain, and starter. I let the dough rise for a couple of hours with a fold in the middle. Then I shaped it into two loaves, stuck them in the fridge, and headed out to the wedding.

After the wedding (and totally exhausted), I put the loaves into a preheated oven with steam and almost forty minutes later, I took them out and went to bed!


Next day report:
Delicious with butter or as a sandwich base. Dense, chewy texture. Nutty, rich flavor.




Be sure to check out Zorra's site for the WBD round-up!

3 comments:

  1. I'm glad you made it even your were so stressed. And the result worth it. Your loaf looks gorgeous. Thank you for your participation in World Bread Day.

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