I’ve been baking quite a bit lately but most of the loaves are just some quickies to have some bread on hand for toast, cheesy bread and sandwiches. This recipe is one I’ve made a few times lately and thought it’s good enough to make into its own post! These loaves have a ton of earthy, wheaty, aroma with a hint of chocolate on the palate.

Schedule: I based this loaf off of my overnight bakers yeast schedule.

Since this bread got an overnight bulk fermentation, I only needed to use a scant 1/4 tsp (~0.8g) of bakers yeast. I had to make sure to mix it extremely well in the beginning to make sure the yeast got thoroughly incorporated.

30 minutes before mixing the bakers yeast and salt into the dough, I performed an autolyse by mixing the water, spices and flours together.

Ingredients:

Dough

• 875g high gluten flour (14.3%)
• 100g whole wheat flour
• 25g spent grain flour (method here)
• 780g filtered water @ 90-95’F
• 22g sea salt
• 1/4 tsp yeast

Method:

After mixing in the salt and yeast, I performed 3 stretch and folds within the first 90 minutes. Spent grain can add a little bit of coarseness to the dough, but it still stays pretty elastic when using spent grain in small quantities. Since it’s the middle of winter, my kitchen was in the mid 60’s during the 13 hour overnight fermentation. If your house is warmer, you may only need a 12 hour fermentation.

When I woke up in the morning, some massive bubbles had formed on the top of my bucket. This is a sure sign of good gluten development.

I started preheating the oven right after I started proofing the loaves. Since it was still cold in my kitchen, I let the dough proof for about an hour and fifteen minutes (but probably could have gone up to an hour thirty). I baked the loaves in preheated dutch ovens at 450’F for 20 minutes covered, then removed the lid of the dutch oven and baked for an additional 32 minutes.

Result:

I still struggle to properly score room temperature dough. I’m not sure if it’s a personal problem or my lame is just shoddy. Either way, I scored to the best of my ability given the circumstances and the bread rose well in the oven. I didn’t quite get the ear I was looking for, but no big deal.

The crumb is dense and has a tan color, leaning toward brown, thanks to the spent grain and whole wheat flours. I prefer my bread to have a tighter crumb, as it’s easier to make toast and sandwiches without everything leaking out.

Like I mentioned earlier, the aroma is very heavy on the wheat / grainy side which smells phenomenal when you take them out of the oven. Eating the bread straight gives you a lot of that same wheat and grain flavor but with some light chocolate mixed in.

Thoughts for next time:

Given the temperature of my kitchen, I’d let the dough proof for an additional 10-15 minutes. While the loaves seem to have risen just fine, they’re a little smaller than my previous iterations.

My Baking Notes

• Ambient temperature: 67’F
• Started autolyse @ 5:30pm
• Water temp: 92’F
• Dough was 86’F at autolyse
• Mixed @ 6:00pm
• Dough was 78’F after mixing
• 3 stretch and folds in first 90 minutes, w/ overnight bulk fermentation at room temp (68’F)
• Started proof & oven preheat @ 7:05am the next morning
• Into oven @ 8:30am