Whole Grain Sourdough Bread With Red Fife Flour Recipes

RED FIFE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Mix the flour and water. Cover to autolyse for 1-2 hours.
• Add the leaven and salt to the dough, pinching and kneading to incorporate the additions. Cover and let rest for 30-40 minutes.
• After the rest, begin a series of six stretch and folds every 20-30 minutes.
• Cover and let bulk ferment for a total of 6-12 hours from when you added the leaven. The time will depend on your room temperature and starter strength. My all red fife fermented 9.5 hours at about 75 F, and my 40% red fife fermented 9 hours at about 72 F.
• Scrape the dough onto a well-floured surface. Dust the top of the dough with flour and stretch/press it into a rectangular shape. Fold it in thirds and then in half as per this video.
• Cover and let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes while you prep a basket/tea towel with all-purpose and rice flour, or bran flakes.
• Flip the dough and shape it into a boule or batard, depending on your baking vessel. Lay it in your basket seam side up for smooth scoring, or seam side down for a rustic look.
• Let the dough proof 1-3 hours at room temperature, or 6-10 hours in the refrigerator. My all whole grain red fife dough proofed in the refrigerator for 7 hours, as the dough was wet and I wanted it to stiffen up. I proofed the 40% whole grain red fife dough for 3 hours at room temperature, which is longer than I normally would let it go, but I felt had ended the bulk fermentation a little early, so I wanted to give it more time on the final proof.
• Thirty minutes before the end of the proofing stage, preheat your oven to 500 F with the baking vessel inside. (Follow the temperature limits of your baker, and see note below).
• Flour your hand and flip the dough out of the basket. Gently place it in the hot baking vessel. Score the top, cover, and bake:
• 500 F for 30 minutes lid on
• 450 F for 10 minutes lid off
• Or until the internal temperature is over 205 F.
• Note
• I have also baked a nice crusty loaf of all whole grain red fife sourdough with similar flour and water proportions at 450 F for 35 minutes lid on, and 450 F for 10 additional minutes lid off.

WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH RUSTIC COUNTRY LOAF

Steps:

• Combine salt with flour in a mixing bowl, then add water and mix either by hand or with a dough whisk until fully incorporated into a "shaggy mass."
• Add starter and mix / squish by hand until fully incorporated. The process of incorporating the starter is a bit of primary kneading and should result in the dough smoothing out some, but don't go nuts. As soon as the starter is fully incorporated, you're done.
• Cover mixing bowl and let sit.
• First Bulk Fermentation Period
• The first (of three) bulk fermentation period is at room temperature which for me is 73 - 75 degrees F, and lasts about 10 hours.
• At about an hour in, do 5-10 minutes of hand kneading (see notes and video below) until the dough develops some strength and elasticity and becomes noticeably smoother. Cover and let sit.
• Every 1-2 hours (exact timing is not important - really!) do a short round of stretching and folding to re-develop the dough's elasticity (see notes and video below). Then re-cover and let sit.
• Second Bulk Fermentation Period
• After about 10 hours, or whenever the dough has risen to about 1.5 times its original volume, put the covered bowl of dough into a cold (~40 F) refrigerator and let sit (for me, this is overnight) for about 10 hours.
• Third Bulk Fermentation Period
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature again.
• As the dough warms up, resume periodic stretch and folds. Dough should be feeling progressively more lively, developing a bit of sour aroma, and eventually starting to bubble some.
• This final bulk fermentation period is the hardest to put a time length on. Getting it right matters, and it will totally depend on how active your starter is, how warm your kitchen is, and a whole host of other mostly invisible things. You are shooting to finish this period when the dough has risen to 2 - 2.5 times its original volume and ideally is actively blowing a few bubbles. I've had this take anywhere from 4 - 8 hours depending on this and that. Your mileage may vary. Try not to overshoot this - you'll probably have a better result erring on the too soon side than the too late side.
• Shaping and Proofing
• (See notes and video below)
• Prepare a lined proofing basket by generously flouring the inside and set it aside.
• Lightly flour a large work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
• Wet your hands, punch down the dough and then stretch and flatten it into a large thin rectangle.
• Fold dough in half from top to bottom and press top into bottom, flattening again but not as big as the initial rectangle. At this point, you want the height of the dough rectangle to be right about the length of your proofing basket (no more than that).
• [Optional] Lightly flour the top of the dough (and your hands).
• Start at one end and roll the dough rectangle into a cylinder.
• Keep track of the seam and transfer the dough cylinder into the lined, floured proofing basket seam-side up.
• Cover and let sit for 1 - 1.5 hours.
• Baking
• From 30 - 60 minutes after transferring dough into proofing basket, pre-heat oven and clay baker to 450 degrees F ~ about 20 - 30 minutes.
• Uncover dough and transfer from proofing basket into base of clay baker, score top of dough, cover and bake at 450 F for 25 minutes.
• Uncover clay baker, reduce oven temperature to 400 F and bake uncovered for another 20-25 minutes (or until desired crust color develops).
• Remove bread and place on cooling rack for at least a couple hours before cutting.