Description
An extremely soft sandwich bread made with a touch of honey, freshly milled white wheat, and a cooked buckwheat porridge. The porridge brings a level of tenderness to this bread similar to adding in tangzhong.
Ingredients
Levain
- 47g medium-protein bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 22g freshly milled whole white wheat flour
- 65g water
- 10g ripe sourdough starter
Porridge
- 132g cracked buckwheat groats (I used Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat cereal)
- 158g boiled water
Main dough
- 479g medium-protein bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 330g freshly milled whole white wheat
- 35g honey (or barley malt syrup)
- 30g neutral-flavored oil (vegetable oil)
- 287g buckwheat porridge (from step 2)
- 452g water 1 (levain, porridge, mix)
- 43g water 2 (later mixing)
- 16g fine sea salt
- 128g ripe levain (from step 1)
Optional topper
- Raw wheat bran, rolled oats, or white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Levain (9:00 p.m., night before mixing)
In a small bowl, mix and knead the Levain ingredients. Transfer to a small container, cover, and keep it at a warm temperature for 5 hours. - Prepare porridge and mill flour (8:00 a.m.)
Finely mill 330g of white wheat flour. In a heat-resistant bowl, add the porridge ingredients and mix. Set the flour and porridge aside to cool until mixing. - Mix (9:00 a.m.)
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, ripe levain, honey, oil, Water 1, and salt. Turn on the mixer to low and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated, about 2-3 minutes. Depending on your flour, you might need to add additional water to help the ingredients come together, but be conservative with these additions. Then, turn the mixer up to speed 2 and mix for 2-3 more minutes until the dough strengthens and smooths. Finally, turn the mixer off and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. After the 10 minute rest, add a small portion of the porridge with a splash of Water 2 and mix at low speed for a minute. Continue to add the rest of the porridge in small increments while the mixer runs, adding a splash of water as needed. Once all the porridge is added, mix until the dough is homogenous. This could take up to 3-4 minutes. - Bulk Fermentation (9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
This dough needs 2 sets of stretches and folds during bulk fermentation, where the first set starts after 30 minutes into bulk fermentation, and the subsequent sets are at 30-minute intervals. After the second set of stretches and folds, let the dough rest, covered, for the remainder of bulk fermentation. - Divide and Preshape (12:15 p.m.)
Scrape the dough out from your bulk fermentation container to your work surface. Using wet hands, divide the dough in half. Lightly shape each half into a round shape. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, uncovered. - Shape (12:45 p.m.)
Butter two 9x4x4″ Pullman pans. Shape each round of dough into a long tube to fit each pan. If desired, roll each piece of dough in any of the Optional Toppers, then place the dough, seam side down, in the Pullman pan. - Proof (1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.)
Cover the pans with reusable plastic and seal shut. Then, let the dough proof on the counter until well-risen and very soft to the touch. - Bake (3:00 p.m.)
Preheat your empty oven with a rack in the middle to 425°F (220°C). When your dough is ready, uncover the Pullman pans and slide them into the oven—bake for 20 minutes with steam. Then, remove the steaming pans from inside the oven, turn the oven down to 375°F (190°C), and bake for an additional 35 minutes, or until the crust is deeply colored and the interior temperature registers around 200°F (93°C). Once fully baked, be sure to cool your loaves on a cooling rack for 1-2 hours before slicing.
Notes
- If you don’t have white whole wheat, a red wheat variety will also work well for this recipe.
- If you’re using aged whole wheat flour in place of the freshly milled white wheat, expect that your dough might take longer in bulk fermentation and/or proof.