SPROUTED WHEAT BERRY SOURDOUGH LOAF WITH MAPLE & BEER

Sprouted Wheat Berry Sourdough Loaf with Maple & Beer image

Perfect alongside stew or chili, for sandwiches or with eggs for breakfast, this sprouted wheat berry maple beer sourdough is delicious and versatile. The recipe is an easy-to-follow variation on a Tartine No.3 recipe, and I made it with different wheat flours to test the impact on form and flavor.

Provided by Melissa Johnson

Categories Recipes

Time 1h30m

Number Of Ingredients 14

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Ingredients

For Sprouting
1/2 cup of dry wheat berries (you will have a bit left over to taste during the process)
Dry Ingredients
350 g bread flour (2 3/4 cups) (Increase to 375 g bread flour (scant 3 cups) if you make the spelt version as this flour was less thirsty)
150 g spelt or emmer flour (1 cup + 2 Tbsp)
140 g sprouted wheat berries, freshly sprouted or rehydrated. This is 1 cup of spelt berries and slightly more than 1 cup of emmer berries.
12 g salt (2 tsp)
Wet Ingredients
200 g water (between 3/4 and 7/8 cup)
150 g light beer (~5 ounces)
35 g maple syrup (about 2 Tbsp)
80 g starter (about 1/3 cup)
For Proofing Basket or Tea Towel
2-3 Tbsp of bran flakes

Steps:

Sprouting Instructions
Soak wheat berries in water, covered, for 6-12 hours.
Drain the water and rinse the berries. If you have a sprouting lid and jar, rest the jar inverted at an angle in a bowl for drainage. If you do not have a sprouting lid, pour the berries into a colander for draining and rinsing, and then rest the colander in a bowl and cover it with a towel or loosely with plastic. The berries should be at room temperature and in a relatively dark place.
Repeat the rinsing and draining every 8-12 hours until little sprouts emerge from the berries. Let the spouts grow to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. The sprouts will be of different length, so go for a loose average. The entire process should take 24-48 hours from the start of the soak.
Store the sprouted berries in your refrigerator, drained, for up to 5 days. If they get white fuzz in that time, it is because they are thirsty and growing mini shoots to extract moisture from the air. This isn't mold. Make sure you smell the wheat berries early in the process to get a sense of what fresh smells like.
Dough Instructions
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and let the dough rest for an hour.
Do a series of 4-6 stretch and folds at 20-30 minute intervals. I did 4 every 20 minutes. Each stretch and fold consisted of dipping my dough scraper in water, separating the dough from one side of the bowl, lifting it up and over onto the other side using the scraper and my other hand when needed. I did four sides around the bowl twice.
Cover and bulk ferment an additional 6-10 hours depending on your room temp. That is 8-12 hours total since mixing up the dough. My dough went 9.5 hours at about 69 F.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a well-floured counter. Gently spread the dough into a rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds and then in half. See this Breadtopia video if you need more details on pre-shaping.
Let the dough rest for 15 minutes while you wash the dough bowl and prep your proofing basket. There are many ways to prep a proofing basket. I sprinkled bran flakes onto a previously floured tea towel laid flat on the counter.
Flour your hands and the dough, flip the dough, tuck under the edges while rotating it to create a boule shape.
Put your boule in the basket, seam side down and cover. I placed the boule onto the towel, then lifted it into the basket.
Put the basket in the refrigerator for about 8 hours (up to 16) OR leave the basket at room temperature for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven and your baking vessel to 500 F for thirty minutes before the proofing time is up.
Flour your hand and flip the dough out of the basket, and place it into the hot baking vessel. Score it with a lame or allow the existing seams to open up.
Bake until the internal temp is around 205 F.
30 minutes at 500 degrees, lid on.
10 minutes at 450 degrees, lid off.