Whole Wheat 5-Grain Bread

Lorem.

With the addition of rolled oats, flax seed, and sunflower seeds, this bread has a soft and tender interior and a crusty outside. The seeds give this bread a wonderful flavor and a nice chew, so it is a great choice for sandwiches. The soaker and pâte fermentée are made the night before making the bread. I based this whole grain version on Jeffry’s version in Isolation Baking. His genius is beyond compare, and I have learned so much from watching his videos.

Ingredients

Soaker (make the night before)

1/2 cup (55g) flax seeds

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (52g) sunflower seeds, toasted

1/2 cup (45g) old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup (228 g) water, cool

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix and cover. Leave on the counter overnight.

Pate fermentée

1 3/4 cups (210g) Hard Red Wheat (I used Red Rife)

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (142g) water, cool

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of instant yeast (1/8 teaspoon)

To make the pâté fermentée: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix all of the ingredients until thoroughly combined. Cover the bowl and let rest at room temperature for about 14 hours.

Dough Ingredients

1-1/2 cups less 1 tablespoon (324g) water, lukewarm

Add all of the soaker

Add all of the pâte fermentée

4 cups + 2 tablespoons (496g) Hard White Wheat Flour (sifted with a 40-mesh sifter to remove about 10 percent of the bran. Weigh to 496 g after sifting and removing the excel bran))

2/3 cup (71g) rye flour (not sifted)

1 tablespoon (25g) honey

2 teaspoons (12g) salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons salt (12 g)

3 tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten

Instructions

To make the dough: Combine all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. I used a heavy duty stand mixer. Place the water in first and then add all of the soaker, all of the Pâte fermentée, and the rest of the dough ingredients.

Mix and knead to make a supple, elastic dough. If you’re using a stand mixer, mix on low speed for 3 minutes to incorporate the ingredients, then on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until the dough looks fairly well developed. When my mixer gets hot, I remove the dough and knead and do stretch and folds on my work surface.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a reusable cover and allow it to rise for 1 hour. After 1 hour uncover the bowl and, using a bowl scraper or spatula, run the scraper or spatula down the inside far wall of the bowl. Bring the dough up from the bottom of the bowl, and fold it over on top of itself.

Turn the bowl 90° and repeat; repeat twice more (for a total of four times), turning the bowl 90° each time. This process, which helps develop the dough, is called a fold.

Re-cover the bowl, and let the dough rise for another 60 minutes, adding another fold midway through if the dough doesn’t seem elastic and strong enough.

Gently deflate the dough and divide it into two pieces; each will weigh about 830 g. Shape each piece into a rough ball, cover, and let rest for about 20 minutes; this rest will make the loaves easier to shape.

After the rest, shape the two pieces of dough into rounds or logs. Place them on a piece of parchment and place parchment with the dough on it into two floured bannetons (round or oval), or into two bowls lined with floured smooth cotton dish towels or parchment paper.

Cover the loaves and let them rise for 50 to 60 minutes at room temperature (68°F to 78°F is ideal).

Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450°F. At the same time, place two lidded oven-safe baking pans (such as a cloche, Dutch oven, or long covered baker) into the oven to preheat. Make sure the baker you choose is safe to be preheated empty, without anything inside.

When the oven is fully preheated, carefully transfer the loaves and your parchment to your chosen bakers. With a sharp knife or a razor black slash them several times across the top to allow for expansion.

Cover the bakers and place them in the oven. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Remove the covers and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, or until the bread is golden brown. Its internal temperature should register about 210°F to 212°F on a digital thermometer.

Remove the bread from the oven and turn it out of the pans onto a rack to cool completely.

Store the bread at room temperature, loosely wrapped, for up to 5 days; freeze for longer storage.