So, I tried to make English Granary-Style Bread (follow the link to see the recipe at Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a Day), but I couldn’t find malted wheat flakes. So, I decided to substitute that with oatmeal instead. And I’d used coarse whole meal instead of whole wheat flour for some extra crunch :-).
The barley malt powder I found was very dark … made the dough look like I was making chocolate cookies instead of bread!
Here’s the list of ingredients I’d used to make enough for two 1-lb loaves:
- 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
- 0.75+ tablespoon granulated yeast (about 10mL)
- 1/2 tablespoon fine salt
- 2 tablespoon dark malted barley powder
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal (Quaker)
- 1/2 cup whole meal
- 2 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
- ~5 cups bread flour
I did not really measure 5 cups of bread flour … I’d zeroed my scale with an empty bowl, added the malt powder, oatmeal, whole meal & VWG, and then topped up with bread flour until I’d reached about 1 lb (454g).
BTW, I decided to add some VWG (wasn’t called for in the original recipe) as I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough gluten to get a nice hole structure in the bread.
When I’d mixed everything together, I felt that the dough was too wet and not elastic enough. So I’d stirred in about another 1/2 cup of bread flour to get the dough to what I thought was the right consistency.
The dough’s now rising on my counter … will try to make a loaf in a couple of hours time.
… a couple of hours later …
So, with wet hands, I’d cut out a 1-pound glop of dough, which was really sticky and wet. Quickly forming a ball (or tried to, anyway 🙁 … the dough was too sticky), I’d plopped it down on a silicone baking mat and covered it with a metal bowl to rest for about 40 minutes.
When I had later removed the metal bowl, I wasn’t too surprised to find the dough had flattened out and had spread out to the rim of the bowl. Oh well, in the oven the dough went, and here’s the result …
Not very inspiring, eh?
So, I thought it was an abject failure. But since I’d already made the bread (looks more like a giant chocolate cookie, don’t ya think?), I might as well try it.
But, lo and behold, it turns out it had a nice internal hole structure …
And it tasted fantastic! It was hearty and a bit sweet. And it was great when spread with a bit of cream cheese … okay, not really just a bit, as I do love cream cheese 🙂
Till my next post …
Cheers!
Aldrin
Looks really hearty …. Good for a traditional pub lunch with cheese!
Yes, perhaps as a Ploughman’s Lunch, with butter, some nice cheese, sliced ham and a pickle or two?
It’s not rye bread, but I think I’ll also try it with some pastrami & mustard. 🙂
Cheers!
Aldrin
Here is a late comment. When your dough batter looks like that, it is a batter bread and needs to be baked in a sprayed with pam casserole or traditional metal loaf pan that has been also greased. Batter breads are yummy and fun to make. Because of the darkness of the bread you need to go by sound in order to figure out if it done all the way. Tap on the top and it should have a real hollow sound not a thump. Thump means it is still doughy inside.
Hi, Trkingmomoe, many thanks for your tip! I’ve also learnt to tell if a loaf is done, by checking if the middle of the bread has reached 190°F (88°C) using an instant read thermometer. Of course, this leaves a hole in the middle of the loaf. 🙂
And, yes, I guess it does look more like batter bread and the technique is a bit similar to batter bread in that no kneading is involved … just mix, “plop” and bake.
Cheers!
Aldrin