Chaosqueen's Kitchen

Indigrients

Source

Directions

1. Feed the starter. 8-12 hours before baking mix all indigrients together and store it covered at roomtemperature.

2. Toast the seeds. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spread the pumkin seeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds (pine seeds) in a cookie sheet and toast for 7 minutes or until the sunflower seeds beginn to darken. Place them in a small bowl and allow them to cool. Add polenta and flaxseed.

3. Mix the dough. In the mixer bowl, place the whole wheat flour, bread flour, wheat germ, wheat bran, water and honey. With the dough hook, mix on low speed (#2 if using an KitchenAid) for 5 minutes to form a rough doogh. Cover the bowl with plastiv wrap and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.

Tear the starter into 6 pieces, roughly the same size, and add to the dough. On low speed (#2 KitchenAid), knead it into the dough for 2 minutes. Add the salt and knead for 1 minute, Raise the speed to medium (#4 KitchenAid) and knead for 2 minutes. Add the seed mixture and knead on low speed (#2 KitchenAid) for 2 to 3 minutes or until incorporated. The dough will be very sticky but should pull away from the bowl. If it doesen’t, knead in a little flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

4. Let the dough rise. Place the dough in a 4-quart dough-rising container or bowl, lightly greased with cooking spray or oil. Push down the dough and lightly spray oil on the top. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise (odeally at 75° to 80°F) until it has puffed slightly, to just over 2 quarts, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and press it down to flatten it slightly. With a rolling pin, roll it into a long rectangle (the exact size doesn’t matter). Give a businessletter turn. Turn it 45 (90) degrees so that the closed side is facing to your left, and repeat the rolling and folding process 4 times, for a total of 5 turns. With each turn, the dough will become more elastic. Set it back in the container. Oil the top of the dough, cover it, and allow to rise a second time until it puffs a little more than the first rise, to 3 quart, 1 1/1 to 2 hours.

5. Preshape the dough and let it rest. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and cut it in half. Gently pat each piece into a rectangle and shape it into a stubby log by rolling the top edge down to the middle, then pushing it back slightly with your thumbs. Repeat this rolling motion two more times, ending with the seam at the bottom edge of the dough. Use a bench scraper to move the logs of dough to a clean, lightly floured part of the counter, seam side down. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow to sit for about 30 minutes or until relaxed and extensible (when you pull the dough gently, it stretches without tearing).

6. Shape the dough and let it rise. Press or roll each log into a rectangle and then shape into a 7 3/4-ihc-long torpedo-shaped loaf. Set them on the prepared baking sheet, leaving ample space between the 2 loaves for rising. Cover with a large container or oiled plastic wrap an let rise (idealy at 75° to 80°F) until the dough puffs a bit more than the first 2 rises, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Ech loaf will be about 8 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches wide. The dough will feel buoyant to the touch, and then pressed gently with yur fingertip, it will spring back.

7. Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 450° one hour before baking. Have an ofen shelf at the lowest level an place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating. Place a cast-iron skillet or sheet pan in the floor of the oven to preheat.

8. Slash and bake the bread. With a sharp knife or single-edged razor blade, make two or three 1/4- to 1/2-inch-deep diagonal slashes in the top of each loaf. Quickly bit gently set the baking sheet on the hot stone or hot baking sheet. Toss 1/2 cup of ice cubes in to the pan beneath and immediatly shut the door. Bake for 15 minutes. With a heavy pancake turner, lift the breads from the pan and set directly on the stone, turning them around as you do so for even baking. Lower the temperature to 450°F and continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust is tawny brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center will read aboud 190°F).

10. Cool the bread. Remove the bread(s) fromthe oven and transfer to wire racks to coll completely.

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