Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Loaf #8, Millet flour and flax meal


So, for a change of pace I decided to make something a bit different. I started with a preferment

Preferment
8oz high gluten bread flour
15 oz cold water
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon yeast

This I left at room temp overnight. In the morning/early afternoon it was a wonderful spongy froth. In a mixing bowl I mixed

1 pound (16 oz) bread flour
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 cup millet flour
2 tablespoons flax meal

My new lidded containers work well for proofind on a warm day, so I didn't do my usual method of putting them in the oven with a pan of hot water, instead capped them and left them on the counter. Two hours and the dough doubled, I shaped them into two French loaves on a French loaf pan (sprayed with nonstick spray and sprinkled with cornmeal). This I put into the oven with a bowl of water hot from the tap, just enough to keep the loaves from crusting over. After an hour proofing, I brushed the top of both loaves with a beaten egg and sprinkled with sesame seed (just for looks, with some pro bakers think is not good unless it helps the flavor. I just didn't feel like sprinkling it with more flax seed). It went into a 450 degree oven for 25 minutes. The top browned nice and crunchy, the flax seed made the bread itself just slightly darker than it would usually come out, and it has a slight nutty smell/taste that I find appealing. I may bring up the amount of millet flour in my next batch to see how it affects the flavor.

Overall I call this loaf a success.