Sprouted Wheat Sourdough Bread

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  1. Can I substitute instant yeast for the sourdough? If so, what adjustments to the other ingredients would I have to make?
  2. My Breadtopia oblong cloche can with instructions not to use it in a 500 degree oven. 475 was okay, but not any hotter.
  3. What is the Rubaud style of mixing?

I’m going to go backward through your questions and give you a whole heap of math at the end that is basically unnecessary for this recipe (such small differences) but useful if you are interested in converting other recipes and understanding baker’s percentages. I’m happy to clarify anything that you have questions on.

Rubaud mixing video can be seen here, scroll down a bit. https://breadtopia.com/sprouted-wheat-sourdough-ciabatta/

The product page for the clay baker in the Breadtopia store currently says 500F max. Maybe we’re looking at different pans? Perhaps @eric can chime in on max temp. I have two Breadtopia clay bakers and always preheat to 500.

1/4 tsp yeast is the typical substitute for 1/4 cup of active starter. The timing could still be different so keep an eye on your dough much more than the clock.

As for differing hydration, this recipe (unlike the ciabatta in the Rubaud video) doesn’t use a massive amount of starter, so you’re not losing much water by eliminating the starter.

Here is how you’d calculate it though:

Current Recipe
450g flour
335g water
75g starter (100% hydration; half water 37.5g, half flour 37.5g)
8g salt

Current recipe hydration in conventional baker’s percentage:
(335/450)x100= 74.4% hydration

Actual hydration (incl starter): (372.5/487.5)x100= 76.4% hydration

Remove starter but arrive at 76.4% hydration for 450g flour:
(450x76.4)÷100= 343.8g water

You can do the same with the 8g salt but again not really necessary.

(8/487.5)x100= 1.64

Apply to 450g flour
(450x1.64)÷100= 7.38 g salt

Yeast Version of Recipe
450g flour
344g water
7.4g salt
1/4 tsp yeast

Google will get you to cups and tablespoons if you’re not using weight e.g. 1 cup water is 236.59g water though I’m pretty sure I’m not that precise in volume or weight of ingredients! :wink:

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This looks great. Can you tell me what substitutions I would make to use regular hard red wheat instead of sprouted? Thanks!

I wouldn’t change any of the other ingredients because you’re substituting regular flour for the sprouted. Your bulk fermentation and proofing times may be a little different, but the suggested timeframes are always variable and depend on your particular environment and starter anyway. Enjoy!

Excellent. Thank you!

I should have noted that if you’re using whole grain hard red vs bolted hard red, the doughs feel a little different at the same hydration. Whole grain feeling dryer/being more thirsty.

Someday I should experiment to find out the h2o percentage-point spread for the same hydration “feel” of whole grain vs. bolted vs. white.

It would be different for each wheat type and for each milling scenario. A doozy of a project as I’d insist on baking all the comparison doughs!

Always happy to make more work for you :grinning:

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I’ve had a good experience adding nuts and dried fruit and olives to the dough after the bench rest, and wanted to share the technique that is working for me for this shape.

After the dough is stretched into a rectangle, sprinkle a line of additions along the top and fold the dough over it, then sprinkle more additions on that seam, and roll the dough over on top of it, and at least one more time: a line of additions and roll the dough over on top of it. Pinch closed the ends. It’s almost like a cinnamon roll.

Here are some photos:

This recipe was really fun. Thank you for all the information. I baked a really nice loaf of this bread after purchasing the flour and oblong cloche and proofing basket. (Incidentally this new cloche handled 500 degrees fine for me) I did the 1 1/2 hour proofing method on this first loaf. Excellent oven spring. My next loaf tomorrow I’ll try the 10 to 12 hour proof in the fridge. I was curious if the loaf, upon completion of the proof, can go directly into the oven or should I let it rest first bringing it up closer to room temperature? Thanks in advance.

I’ve had no problem with cold loaves directly into the baker. I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipe and your new cloche.

I was wanting to make some whole wheat sourdough sandwich loaves and since I had a bag of King Arthur sprouted wheat flour I tried this recipe. The loaves turned out really tasty but fairly dense and a tad on the dry side. I did weigh the ingredients, but I think my dough was still quite a bit drier than what was in the pictures. It wasn’t a bolted flour, so that was probably a factor, but I’m wondering how much weather and air humidity effects flour. It’s been in the single digits here in Idaho Falls with extremely low humidity. Is there a “rule of thumb” for increasing or decreasing the liquid in a bread dough depending on the humidity, or does it really matter that much? I also don’t have an oblong covered baker so they were just baked in a normal loaf pan.

The issue is most likely bolted vs whole grain. The more bran, the thirstier the dough.

I’m not sure about humidity and hydration but the more experience you get with X dough-feel = Y bread-results, the better you’ll be able to add water as needed.

Happy baking!

Hi Melissa,

Just curious, what was the total bulk fermentation time, including the stretch & fold period? And is there any problem with putting sprouted wheat dough into the fridge overnight (after a few hours of mix, rest, and multiple S&Fs) to proof and bake in the a.m.?

I have some sprouted red fife I want to bake with (non-bolted), but haven’t used sprouted flour before.

Thx!

I was wondering what changes you recommend, if any, for high altitude?

Hi Melissa,
In your write up, you mentioned overnight in the fridge 10-12 hours final proof.
Does long final proof lead to gummy bread when baking with sprouted grains?
Thank you,
a

I haven’t had that problem, maybe because my refrigerator is on the cold side, 37-38F and I’m not pushing the bulk fermentation super far. Also no autolyse or a short one. Are you running into a gummy crumb if you retard the dough?

Thank you Melissa for your prompt reply.
Yes, I get gummy crumb with overnight final proof in the fridge or room temp final proof more than 90 minutes. I was waiting to see the signs of rising then heat the oven. It takes almost 30 minutes to heat up the oven to 500 F, by then, it is too much of the final proof.
Yes, I have cut the autolyse.
Have you done overnight final proof in the fridge? Do you bake straight from the fridge or let it warm up with this dough? I know you have done both, let the dough rise on the counter prior to baking and baked straight from the fridge. i am wondering what you have done specifically with this dough.
a

It took a little digging because I haven’t made this exact bread in a while/with notes, but looking at the photos in the gallery of the recipe, the “after” photo of the final proof has that flat cold look, and I confirmed in my files: this was a 12 hour overnight proof.

9:16 pm to 9:28 am
image

Another thing to consider is that I was using the oblong baker where heat penetrates the center of the loaf faster than other shapes. Could that be a factor in your gumminess issue? Maybe remedied by dropping the water amount a bit and/or extending the bake time?

Thank you, Melissa!
My hydration rate is only 82%, but I will drop a bit further. I internal temperature is normally over 210F when I take it out of the oven. The bottom is darken even with the wax paper at the bottom.
Maybe because the flour I used is not bolted, but 100%?
I like to do the work the day before and bake the following morning. I also like the flavor much better with the long overnight proof.
I am going to try again, probably will have to add some AP or bolted bread flour.
Thank you for your help again,
a

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