The Power of Bread #BreadBakingBabes

The bread of the month for the Bread Baking Babes is “Power Bread.” I titled my post “The power of bread” because I experienced some unexpected events this past weekend while preparing this loaf and it reminded me that the best plans are just that – plans.

Speaking of planning, it takes three days to make this loaf from start to finish due to the pre-soaker, soaker, and overnight biga.  You only spend a little bit of hands-on time preparing the soakers and preferment, but you do need to allocate time for the overnight rest at room temperature or in the refrigerator. I chose Saturday as the bake day so I had scheduled accordingly.

With my agenda in hand, I was all set to start the pre-soaker Thursday evening, and that’s when the fun began. I was driving my car to run an errand, and when I started turning left into a shopping center, the car just shut off.  I didn’t have any power steering, but thankfully, I was able to glide it manually down the hill and into an empty parking space.

Thank goodness for downhills and cars behind you that are paying attention. I sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out what had just happened.  Then I decided to see if it would start again. It started right up with no check engine light.  So I drove it around the parking lot, then I went home. A friend of mine checked it out and cleaned some of the connections and the car was fine. Yea for friends who know what to check.

I started the pre-soaker on Thursday as planned. Mark that one off the list. Then early Friday evening, I started the soaker and the biga. So far so good.

Saturday rolled around and everything was going according to schedule except I hadn’t planned on my air conditioner going on the fritz.   I ended up with no air conditioning on one of the hottest weekends so far, but I had fans. Lovely fans!

I managed to bake this bread even with all of the loops that were thrown my way. However, due to the excessive heat, the loaf was over-proofed and sunk a bit in the oven.

Initially, I was going to call this one a failure and chuck it up to the events of the day. I even thought about remaking the bread when my air conditioning was fixed, but I chose not to.

I always claim that bread has a story to tell so I decided to let this loaf tell its story.  You see, not every bread will turn out perfect and sometimes even the best plans go awry, but this doesn’t mean the bread isn’t any good. There will be days when we make gorgeous loaves and other days when we make humble (or rustic) loaves for sustenance or just for the simple pleasure of baking.

To me, this loaf represents the power to adapt and change. If you have a plan, it doesn’t mean that things won’t go wrong, it just means you will be able to manage around the unexpected things that come up.

In case you are wondering why my loaf looks purple, it’s because I substituted dried blueberries for the raisins. I didn’t have any raisins, but I had just dried some blueberries so I decided to use them. I kind of like the effect. Both soakers had a beautiful color. I also used whole grain emmer flour instead of regular whole wheat flour in the biga and the final dough.

This bread has a very complex flavor. I thought it tasted better the next day once the flavors had a chance to meld.  The whole grain emmer and seeds, along with the blueberries, provide lots of energy (power) and it keeps fairly well.  Try it toasted, or spread it with peanut butter, or smear it with jam for breakfast or a pick-me-up snack.

Power Bread

---

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

• Author: Bread Experience
• Yield: 1 Loaf 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Power Bread, made with whole grain emmer, sunflower seeds, dried blueberries; utilizes a soaker and biga to provide extra flavor and texture.

---

Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

Pre-soaker

• 71 g (6.5 Tbsp.) dried blueberries
• 14 g (1.5 Tbsp.) flaxseeds
• 170 g (3/4 cup) water

Soaker

• All of pre-soaker
• 170 g (1 1/3 cups) white whole wheat flour
• 14 g (2 Tbsp.) oat bran
• 4 g (1/2 tsp) salt

Biga

• 170 g (1 1/3 cups) whole grain emmer flour
• 1 g (1/4 tsp) instant yeast
• 142 g (1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp.) buttermilk

Final dough

• All of soaker (at room temp)
• All of biga (at room temp)
• 56.5 g (6 Tbsp.) sunflower seeds, ground into a flour
• 56.5 g (7 Tbsp.) whole grain emmer flour
• 28.5 g (3 Tbsp.) sesame seeds, whole
• 4 g (1/2 tsp) salt
• 7 g (2.25 tsp) instant yeast
• 21 g (1.5 Tbsp.) honey

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

Pre-Soaker:

1. Mix all pre-soaker ingredients together in a small bowl, cover, and let sit at room temp for 8-24 hours.

Soaker:

1. Puree the pre-soaker in a blender, and mix with the remaining soaker ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir for about a minute, until everything is thoroughly combined and it forms a ball. Cover the bowl and leave at room temp for 12-24 hours (or, refrigerate it for up to 3 days, but let sit at room temp for 2 hours before mixing the final dough). Go ahead and make the biga now.

Biga:

1. Mix all of the biga ingredients together in a large bowl. Wet your hands, and knead for 2 min. Then let it rest for 5 min and knead again for 1 min. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 8 hours to 3 days. Two hours before you’re ready to mix the final dough, let the biga sit at room temp for 2 hours.

Final Dough:

1. Cut the soaker and the biga into 12 pieces each. Grind the sunflower seeds into flour in a blender, food processor, or spice grinder (gently pulse or it will turn into sunflower seed butter, not flour). Mix ground seeds with remaining ingredients, including the soaker and biga pieces. Knead the mixture with wet hands for 2 min, or until everything is thoroughly mixed. Dough should be slightly sticky; if it’s very tacky, add more flour; if it’s very dry and not sticky, add more water.
2. Dust your counter (or whatever you’re using) with flour, and roll the dough around in it. Knead it for 3-4 min. Let the dough rest for 5 min, and then knead for another minute. (Since I was using emmer, I didn’t knead it for the full amount of time and I didn’t do the windowpane test like the original formula suggests). Then form your dough into a ball, place it into a lightly oiled bowl, roll it around in the oil, and let it sit covered at room temp for 45-60 min (until it’s about 1.5 times its original size). .
3. Lightly flour your counter again, and form your dough into either a loaf shape or rolls. Put the loaf-shaped dough into a lightly oiled 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let it sit at room temp for 45-60 min (until it’s 1.5 times its original size).
4. Preheat the oven and a steam pan (an empty metal pan on the bottom oven rack) to 425. Put bread in the oven, pour 1 cup hot water into steam pan, and reduce oven temp to 350. Bake for 20 min. Then remove steam pan, rotate bread 180 degrees, and bake for another 20-30 min, or until loaf or rolls are brown, have an internal temp of at least 195, and have a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.
5. Remove the bread from the pan and let cool completely (at least 1 hour) before serving.

• Category: Whole Grain Power Bread
• Cuisine: Bread

Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats is the host kitchen this month for the Bread Baking Babes. She chose this powerful bread, and I would encourage you to give it a try. You can use regular whole wheat, emmer, spelt, or whatever suits your fancy.

For details on how to participate, please visit Judy’s post.  If you don’t have a blog, no worries, you can still participate.

Happy Baking!
Cathy

The Bread Baking Babes are:

• Bake My Day – Karen
• blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
• Bread Experience – Cathy
• Feeding my Enthusiasms – Pat/Elle
• girlichef – Heather
• Life’s a Feast – Jamie
• Lucullian Delights – Ilva
• My Diverse Kitchen – Aparna
• My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
• Notitie Van Lien – Lien
• Thyme for Cooking – Katie (Bitchin’ Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire)
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy