White Whole-wheat, Khorasan, Spelt, and Rye Sourdough Bread

Have you ever had one of those baking days where luck produced something better than you thought you were making? That happened to me yesterday when I was trying to make Chef Courtney’s Kamut ® (Khorasan) Sourdough Sandwich Bread and at the same time, Maurizo Leo’s Spelt, Rye, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread.

I thought I had followed both recipes very closely, but Leo’s dough was too wet and would not come together. At the same time, Courtney’s dough was dry, heavy, and barely moist enough to manipulate. After two hours of trying to stretch and fold them separately, I pulled out my stand mixer and combined them.

This was, naturally no small task, with the one too wet and the other too dry. But Peter Reinhart had explained this process in his book “Whole Grain Breads,” when he described how to use a soaker (also known as a poolish or bigga in some circles).

In his book, he clarifies:

“Many traditional whole grain and multigrain bread formulas call for soakers. …Soakers are easy to make: grain, liquid, and a small amount of salt are combined until hydrated.

“The primary function of a soaker is to soften uncooked coarsely ground grains by soaking them first in water. These grains are often too coarse to fully hydrate and soften during the regular mixing and fermentation cycles, so an overnight soaking in water (or milk) not only softens them but also activates the dormant enzymes nestled in the grain, and thus initiates the processes described above.”

“…Because the two pieces of pre-dough (the soaker and the starter or biga) have had plenty of time to develop flavor, they require less time for fermentation when they are combined in the final dough. Fermentation and proofing times on Day 2 are much shorter than in conventional bread making. The result is a whole grain or multigrain bread that has maximum flavor development and excellent cell structure and mouthfeel.

“…To make the final dough, we will combine two pre-doughs—the starter or biga and a soaker—and then add additional ingredients.”

Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads . Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale. Kindle Edition.

This defined exactly what I had with the Khorasan Sandwich recipe; it had become a very stiff mix as the freshly ground Khorasan soaked up the milk. So following Reinhart’s advice, I cut the Khorasan soaker into twelve pieces. Then I placed the wheat/spelt/rye dough into my stand mixer with the dough hook on. Running it on a low setting, I dropped in pieces of the soaker one at a time.

In just a few minutes, the doughs were well incorporated and ready for the long ferment, which I did cold, overnight in our unheated garage.

Bread Ingredients

• All of the soaker ingredients
• 2¾ Tbsp / 60g honey
• 2 Tbsp / 30g butter, softened or melted
• 2¾ scant cups / 365g White Whole Wheat (or bread flour)
• 1 heaping cup / 130g Spelt flour
• 3½ Tbsp / 26g Rye flour
• 1¾ cups / 420g water (up to ¼ cup / 60 g additional water may be added with the salt and starter after the autolyze
  The next two ingredients are added after the autolyze
• 1 Tbs+1 tsp / 22 g salt
• ¼ cup / 60g active starter

Directions

1. Chop the soaker into 12 nearly equal parts.
2. In a stand mixer bring other ingredients, except for the salt and starter, together, adding soaker pieces one at a time until well incorporated.
3. Allow this mixture to rest for 30 or more minutes, then add the salt and starter (you may need up to ¼ cup / 60 g additional water at this point)
4. Next give the dough a 3-hour bulk fermentation, during which you do three sets of stretch and folds every 30 minutes. Then allow the dough to rest after the last stretch and fold for the remaining 90 minutes of the bulk fermentation.
5. Next, preshape the dough by scraping it from the bulk container onto a dry counter. Divide it in half using a bench knife. Then using a wet hand and the knife, preshape each half into a very taut round boule to give it some extra strength. Tautness also helps stop spreading on the counter.
6. At this point, give the dough a 20-minute bench rest uncovered.
7. Then give the dough its final shape as a boule or bâtard and put the dough into two proofing baskets. Cover these and put them in your fridge for a long, cold overnight proofing
8. In the morning, preheat your oven to 500°F / 260°C along with whatever you will be baking the bread in (ie. Dutch oven, combo cooker, baking cloche, baking stone, etc.) for an hour.
9. Just before baking, invert the proofing basket onto a piece of parchment paper, then score each loaf.
10. Open the hot oven and gently place the dough into the baker you are using by lowering it from the corners of the parchment to prevent burning yourself.
11. Cover the baker with its lid (if you are using one) otherwise put a pan of boiling water below the bakers to steam the oven. Close the oven and lower the heat to 460°F / 238°C.
12. Bake the bread for 20 minutes with steam (or lid on). Then, remove the steaming pan from the oven (or remove the lid of the combo cooker or Dutch oven) and bake the bread for 30-35 minutes more, or until the internal temperature reaches 205°F / 96°C.
13. Once baked, you should cool the loaves for 1-2 hours to set the crumb

If you try this recipe, please tell us about it in the comment section below.