Romancing the Dough

Dutch Oven Multigrain Bread

Like some lethargic liturgy of the semi-woke, I amble from the bedroom to the kitchen to perform the daily feeding rites of my sourdough starter, Clint Yeastwood. The world sleeps while I stir, pour, and mutter to myself, to him.

There is a perverse romance to the thing. I, the officiator, and Clint, the helpless, starving jar of microbes and grain, looks up at me, a fallen spectre of his yeasty self. He cries out, “FEED ME SEYMO…. CRUISE.” I resuscitate my baking companion with a stir of new grain and water. Balance is restored. Drama diverted. Bakers are heros, too.

And when the Russian pianist, Vladimir Horowitz, was criticized for a particularly emotional interpretation of a very classical Mozart concerto, he replied with casual Horowitzian tart, “... well you know, isn't all music romantic?

Now we bake. Ain't it romantic?

Things we need:

A kitchen scale

A bench knife

Parchment paper

A linen-lined banneton, or large bowl lined with floured kitchen towel

A lidded Dutch oven, or other covered baker

Whole wheat flour

Whole grains*

*I use a delicious whole grain blend of red & white quinoa, millet, amaranth, buckwheat, flax, rye chops, oats, and pumpkin seeds cause I'm extra, but a 1 lb bag of ancient grains from your nearest healthy grocer gets you the same thing for under a fiver.

Day One

Levain

Mix 12 hours before you plan to make dough. I do this when making dinner and set aside. It's ready by morning.

68grams water

54grams unbleached bread flour

14grams sourdough culture*

*if you don’t have a sourdough starter or hip urban baker friend you can pinch some off from, you can easily substitute in a COUNTABLE number of instant dry yeast granules. Take it easy - a lot of yeast baby-makin’ happens in twelve hours.

Grain Soaker

Mix at same time as levain.

135 g grains

enough boiling water to cover grains

small pinch kosher salt*

*The small amount of salt inhibits enzymatic activity in the grain soaker so you don’t wake up to prison hooch. The orange jumper can stay in the back of the closet.

Day Two

Final Dough

270 g high protein bread flour

130 g whole wheat flour

205 g water

all of levain

14g (1 tbsp) honey

2g (½ tsp) yeast

10g kosher salt

all of grain soaker

Whisk bread and whole wheat flours together in a large bowl and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together water, all of the levain, yeast, and honey. Pour this over the large bowl of flour and stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy mass forms. Cover for 20 minutes.

When you return, the liquid will have hydrated the flour and improved extensibility considerably. This helps make quick work of the next steps of incorporating salt and kneading.

Sprinkling a little water from our fingertips over the shaggy mass, take the salt and distribute over the dough. Now with wetted hands grab the dough from the north, pull up, and take it down south. Move the bowl one quarter turn and repeat this movement until you have worked the dough 2-3 minutes.

Cover and leave for 10 minutes.

Uncover the dough and perform the same technique of stretching and folding the dough onto itself for 4-5 minutes.

Cover and allow to ferment 20 minutes.

While you wait, pour all of the grain soaker into a fine mesh strainer and allow excess water to drain.

After 20 minutes, dump the grains onto the dough and begin the process of incorporating them in stages using the same technique of stretching and folding the dough. The first minutes of this will seem scary and it is. It will be messy but you and your family (think of the children!) will be rewarded with the best bread this side of anywhere. After your internal panic has subsided this should take no longer than 2-3 minutes.

Leave covered one and a half hours undisturbed.

Uncover and scrape dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

Shape into a boule (ball) by taking floured hands and gently pulling the south side of the dough and pulling it 2/3 of the way north and softly pressing it down. Then, take the east and west sides and and stretch them onto opposite sides. Gently press down to make sure your folds have stuck. We want to retain those pockets of gas while building a strong shape to hold it all in while baking. Take the north side and stretch it away from you and up, folding it down to the very bottom of the loaf. If, at any point, the dough is really sticking to you or the counter do not be afraid to toss a little flour under or over the dough. Place the dough, folded-side up, into banneton or large bowl lined with floured kitchen towel.

Proof the loaf in a warm spot in the kitchen 60-80 minutes, until it looks pillowy and especially airy.

While proofing preheat oven to 450 degress Fahrenheit with lidded Dutch oven inside.

Working quickly, take the Dutch oven out of the oven, remove lid, and place on heat safe surface. Carefully turn dough out of bowl onto a piece of parchment paper and slash the top in a cross pattern with a very sharp knife or razor. Lower parchment into Dutch oven, cover, and return to oven. Bake with lid on 20 minutes. Remove lid and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until loaf is richly browned and golden. A thump on the bottom should sound hollow. Cool on wire rack.

Refrain from kissing your romantic loaf for at least one hour after baking.