SPELT AND KAMUT WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH BREAD

Spelt and Kamut Whole Grain Sourdough Bread image

This whole grain sourdough bread has a mild nutty and buttery flavor, as well as a tender pliable crumb. It uses ancient wheat flours to achieve a lovely flavor and texture that appeal to whole grain lovers, as well as people who claim they don't like whole wheat bread.

Provided by Melissa Johnson

Categories Recipes

Time 2h

Number Of Ingredients 12

Ingredients

Version 1: Moderate Hydration 80%
340g whole grain spelt flour or home-milled spelt berries (2 ½ cups flour)
160g whole grain Kamut flour or home-milled Kamut wheat berries (scant 1 ¼ cups flour)
390g water divided (reserve 20g for dissolving the salt in) (1 2/3 cups total)
100g sourdough starter (approx ⅓ cup)
10g salt (1 ¾ tsp)
Version 2: High Hydration 84%
340g whole grain spelt flour or home-milled spelt berries (2 ½ cups flour)
160g whole grain Kamut flour or home-milled Kamut wheat berries (scant 1 ¼ cups flour)
410g water divided (reserve 20g for dissolving the salt in) (scant 1 ¾ cups total)
150g sourdough starter (approx ½ cup)
10g salt (1 ¾ tsp)

Steps:

Autolyse
Mix together the flour and most of the water (reserve 20g water) until completely incorporated. Cover and let autolyse for 1-2 hours.
Bulk Fermentation
Add the starter to the dough by spreading it on the surface, stretching and folding the dough over the starter and gently kneading it into the dough. Cover and let sit for about 30 minutes.
Dissolve the salt into the 20g of reserved water and add the mixture to the dough the same way you added the starter. Cover the dough and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
With 30 minutes rests in between each gluten development maneuver, coil fold the dough, then laminate it, and then coil fold it twice more. Here are videos of gluten development techniques.
Let the dough continue to rise until it has grown by about 75% and has some surface bubbles. See photo gallery below for before and after photos.
Calculating from when the starter was added, Version 1's bulk fermentation was 6 hours at room temperature, 12 hours in the refrigerator, and another 1 hour at room temperature. Had I not refrigerated the dough, I suspect 7-8 hours would have sufficed. Version 2's bulk fermentation was 5 hours at room temperature. This shorter time can be attributed to both the larger amount of starter and higher hydration of the dough.
Pre-Shape, Bench Rest, Shape
Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and pre-shape it into a ball.
Lightly dampen the top of the dough or cover it, and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Prepare your proofing basket with flour.
Shape the dough. Here are some videos if you want shaping pointers.
Flour the top of the dough, flip it into your proofing basket and cover.
Final Proof
Let the dough proof until it has expanded in volume and looks a bit puffy. See the photo gallery below for before and after photos.
Version 1 proofed 1.5 hours at room temperature and Version 2 proofed for 13 hours in the refrigerator.
Bake
Preheat your oven to 500F for 30 minutes with your baking vessel inside.
Flip your dough onto parchment paper, score it, and load it into the hot baking vessel.
Bake at 500F for 20 minutes with the lid on.
Then, if you're baking in cast iron, slide a baking sheet under the vessels, same shelf, direct contact.
Lower the oven temperature to 450F and bake for an additional 10 minutes with the lid on.
Remove the lid and bake for 5-10 minutes more.