Seven-Grain Sunflower Seed Porridge Bread
A #bakeforukraine recipe
Seven-Grain Sunflower Seed Porridge Pan Bread
Makes one 750g pan loaf
Use commercial seven-grain cereal mix here (like Bob’s Red Mill), or make your own by setting your flour mill to its coarsest setting and running through it an equal-parts-ish (by volume) amount of wheat berries, rye berries, spelt berries, oats (rolled or steel-cut), brown rice, millet, and flax seeds (or some other combination of similar grains).
If you don’t have 7-grain mix, substitute an equal weight of another quick-cooking porridge, like rolled oats, semolina, or cornmeal.
For further intel on making this recipe, see these ones, on which it is a spin-off:
Total formula
bread flour 100%
seven-grain mix 14.5%
toasted sunflower seeds 20%
water 78%
honey 8%
unsalted butter 8.5%
salt 2.2%
levain 5%
Porridge
50 grams seven-grain mix
200 grams boiling water
29 grams (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
Final Dough
All of the porridge (from above)
30 grams (1-½ tablespoons) honey
53 grams room-temperature water
17 grams (1 tablespoon) levain
285 grams bread flour
7 grams (1 ¼ teaspoons) sea salt
70g lightly-toasted sunflower seeds, plus 2 tablespoons to coat top of loaf
FOR THE PORRIDGE: Place seven-grain mix and boiling water in medium bowl and stir until uniform. Set butter on top of porridge mixture, cover bowl with plate, and let sit for 20 minutes.
FOR THE DOUGH: Place about 15 grams (1 tablespoon) water in small bowl and set aside. Add honey, remaining room temperature water and levain to 7-grain mixture, and stir with wooden spoon or dough whisk until combined. Add flour and stir with wooden spoon or dough whisk until uniform and no dry flour remains. Add salt and reserved water to top of dough. Cover bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.
Using hands, knead, mash and squeeze dough in bowl until water and salt are fully incorporated and dough is uniform in texture. Cover dough and let sit for 30 minutes.
Scatter sunflower seeds over dough and gently knead into dough until uniformly incorporated.
Cover container well and let ferment at cool room temperature (68 to 75 degrees) until dough is domed, lightly bubbly and about tripled in volume, 12 to 14 hours.
Dust top of dough lightly with flour, loosen from bottom of bowl, and invert onto floured countertop. Using flour on hands and top of dough as necessary to prevent sticking, gently press dough into 8-inch circle, then fold edges toward middle to form round. Cover with inverted bowl and let rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease a 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Flour top of dough and surrounding countertop. Using bench scraper, loosen dough from counter and invert. Using flour on hands and top of dough as necessary to prevent sticking, press and stretch dough into 7 by 4-inch oval, with short side parallel to counter edge. Roll dough toward you into firm cylinder, keeping roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go. Pinch seam closed and roll log over itself so seam is on underside. Gently roll log back and forth under cupped hands until it is about 5 inches long. Place loaf seam side down in prepared pan, pressing dough gently toward corners (dough will not fill pan completely).
Cover pan tightly with plastic wrap or enclose in plastic bag and let sit for 30 minutes. Transfer pan to refrigerator and let sit for 8 to 24 hours (loaf will not rise appreciably during this time).
One hour before baking bread, adjust oven rack to middle position, set covered heavy-bottomed Dutch oven on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees. Fold an 18- by 13-inch piece of parchment in half lengthwise and set aside.
When oven is ready, remove loaf from refrigerator. Using spray bottle or brush, lightly moisten top of loaf with water. Coat top of loaf with remaining cornmeal. Using lame, sharp serrated knife, or single-edge razor blade, make one ¼-inch-deep slash lengthwise down center of loaf. Center loaf crosswise on prepared parchment sling and transfer to preheated Dutch oven. Cover pot and place in oven. Bake bread for 20 minutes.
Remove pot from oven and remove lid. Using parchment sling as handles, carefully remove loaf from pot. Set parchment and Dutch oven aside, return loaf pan to oven, and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and registers 200 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes longer.
Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove loaf from pan, return to wire rack, and let cool completely before slicing and serving, about 2 hours.
Do I put the extra seeds on the top before I bake/after I use the lame?
It looks like you have shaped the loaf and put it into a loaf pan to rise. Did I miss something? What is your advice for shaping and performing final rise in a loaf pan? I was thinking I might prefer this to a Dutch oven, and I might add steam during the bake.