Project Description

 

photo for website recipe

This recipe, and the style of bread it makes, was heavily influenced by the Tartine Bread book by Chad Roberston.

Community Grains Whole Wheat Country Loaf

Makes 2 loaves.

Levain

Ingredient Amount Baker’s Percentage
CG Hard Red Wheat Flour 100g 100%
Water 65g 65%
Sourdough starter 25g 25%

 

The day before making your dough, prepare the levain by combining the following ingredients in a small bowl:

  1. 30g starter
  2. 100g Community Grains Hard Red Wheat Flour
  3. 70g lukewarm water (about 80°F)
  4. Cover loosely with a breathable top, and let sit at room temperature for 8-10 hours (overnight)

Dough 

Ingredient

Amount

Baker’s Percentage

Total flour

1000g

100%

CG Hard Red Wheat Flour

500g

50%

CG Hard White Wheat Flour

500g

50%

Water

925g

92.5%

Salt

22g

2.2%

Brown rice flour (for dusting)

–

N/A

 

Premix

  1. Place a large mixing bowl on a kitchen scale. Zero the scale.
  2. Pour 875g of warm water into the bowl, and add the 200g levain. Break apart the levain with your fingers, and gently stir to disperse.
  3. Add all of the flour to the bowl and stir until the dough comes together into a shaggy mass, making sure there are no pockets of unmixed, dry flour.
  4. Let rest, or autolyse, for 1 hour.

Final Mix

  1. At the end of the autolyse, add the 22g of salt and 50g of water to your dough.
  2. Wet one hand, and mix together for a few minutes by squeezing and folding the dough on top of itself.
  3. The bulk fermentation has now begun. Note the time.

Bulk Fermentation

  1. For the next 3 hours, turn the dough in the bowl every 30-45 minutes. To perform a turn, lightly grab the quadrant of dough closest to you, gently stretch it upwards and fold it back onto the center of the dough mass.
  2. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat. Continue rotating and folding the dough until all “sides” have been folded (4-5 folds = 1 turn).
  3. At the end of the bulk fermentation, the dough should feel gassy and alive. If your dough doesn’t feel ready after 3 hours, or if the room is cool, extend the bulk fermentation for another hour or so.

 Shape

  1. At the end of the bulk fermentation, transfer the dough onto an un-floured work surface.
  2. Dust the top of the dough with whole wheat flour, and cut the dough into two equal pieces using a bench knife.
  3. Using your hands or the bench knife, shape each piece of dough into a round and let rest for 15-20 minutes. This is called the bench rest
  4. During the bench rest, line two medium-sized bowls with kitchen towels. Liberally dust with brown rice flour.
  5. After the bench rest, shape each loaf as follows.
  6. Dust the top of one dough round with whole wheat flour and flip it over. Grab the closest quadrant of dough and lightly pull towards your body, and then fold it back over the center. Then grab the sides of the dough and pull outward. Fold the left flap of dough back over the center, and then the right flap. Repeat with the remaining, top quadrant.
  7. Roll the dough over so that the side that was facing down (touching the table) is now face up. The surface of the dough should be smooth and taut.
  8. Transfer the dough into the flour-lined bowls with the seam side up, smooth side down.
  9. Repeat steps 1-3 with the second round of dough.
  10. Place dough in the fridge and let rise overnight, or at least 12 hours.

Bake (the next day):

  1. Preheat oven to 500°F with an empty combo cooker or Dutch oven inside. The baking container should be at least 10 inches in diameter.
  2. After 45-60 minutes, quickly remove the combo cooker from the oven and close the door.
  3. Remove your dough from the fridge, and carefully flip each round into the shallow side of the combo cooker. When you load your dough, make sure the seam side is facing down, and the smooth, floured side is facing up.
  4. Score the top of each loaf, cover with the top of the combo cooker, and return to the oven. Reduce temperature to 475°F.
  5. After 25 minutes, remove the top of the baking container and continue baking until the crust is GBD (Golden Brown & Delicious).
  6. A note on crust: I like to say that bread is like bacon – it’s done when it looks like it’s done.
  7. Let bread rest for at least one hour before cutting.

Recipe and photos by Miles McCreary.

[1] A sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water that, when allowed to sit at room temperature, is colonized by wild yeasts and bacteria in the air. Once the mixture is colonized, it is then maintained on a regular “feeding” schedule. To feed a sourdough starter, simply throw away 80% of the mixture, and replace with new flour and water. A starter can be used to make a levain once it settles into a regular pattern of rising and deflating between daily feedings. A naturally leavened loaf of bread relies on this starter culture for its rise in the oven, instead of commercial baker’s yeast.

[2] In bread baking, the term “autolyse” refers to the resting period immediately after the initial mixing of flour and water to form a dough. The term was popularized by Raymond Calvel, a renowned French professor of bread baking techniques and dough rheology.