Bolted vs. High-Extraction Flour and a New Michette

In Today's Post:

• New Blog Name
• High Extraction vs. Bolted Flour
• Michette in Einkorn
• Jovial Einkorn

This is a big and important post for a couple of reasons. The main reason is because I really want to talk about the difference between bolted and commercially milled high extraction flour, and to that end, I have a really fabulous and important experiment for you.

100% High-Extraction Einkorn Michette

But first, let's get today's business out on the table. As you can see, I have changed the name of my blog. This is not a new idea for me. It's a long time coming, and I wanted to do it during the last leg of the blog but never did. And yes, it has a story. Everything does, right?

It's not just a name change, mind. If you will recall with the last leg of the blog, I was compelled to do my own thing. More of my own thing than Tartine's thing really. Oh, I am going to keep doing Tartine Book 3 breads, but I want to do dive into other people's stuff too. Hamelman, Forkish, Peterson, my good friend Joe. You know. The lot. And so, it is not 'goodbye' to Tartine by any means. I want to be clear about that. We have only just begun, after all (and baguettes are next, grrrr.). No, this is rather a grander encompassment of the bread community. So many people have really fantastic breads to share. But more importantly, so many of my very own loaves are being built over here, as they were with the last leg of the blog. I put a lot of work and time into my experiments. The breads that you see are what I arrive at sometimes many bread trials later, and given the work that my own bread takes, I think they deserve their own platform, so the name change is really a validation of those efforts. Tartine has been a huge inspiration for me, but I feel like I want to fly (again). My dad used to say that I'm like a wild horse. I heed to no one else's call. I do my own thing. I live my life on my own terms. For better or worse: I. am. wild.

100% High-Extraction Einkorn Michette

And so, on y va! As the French say, or 'here we go'. You and I and the task at hand. I have lots of ideas swirling round my head, yeah, some of which you have already seen, and we are going to systematically see what comes of all of the 'what ifs' that are bouncing round. Of course we will continue working with our KoMo mills, but we are also going to work with store-bought flour, as I know that not everyone is going to want or be able to get a mill. It's a lofty investment that set me back quite a bit too, but I felt that it was worth it to elevate the challenge of the blog and my bread path. You should know that just because you do not have a mill, you will not be left out of the loop. I want to keep working stuff out with store bought flour because sometimes I'm too lazy to mill my own. And frankly, it's a really loud machine, so sometimes I simply cannot, unless I want to be evicted from my apartment for milling spelt at 5 a.m. After all, we learned in the last post to either mill and use our flour straight away, or let it age for at least three weeks. So, we don't want to mill the flour the day before or we end up with flattish loaves. So, on occasions of laziness, respect of neighbors, and our newfound erudition about freshly milled flour, store-bought is the train upon which we will forge on. It is also important to use store bought flour because it behaves so differently than freshly milled, and we are discovering so many fantastic millers who are making gorgeous flours for us, so with all of this in mind, we get to keep our bread kitchens diverse. The world is our floury oyster.

So, I'm glad you're here with me, back at the page. Embracing not the flight from Tartine, but the embrace of our very own experiments and the ownership of the work that goes into them. It's your energy that keeps me going. All of the comments and emails and hoorahs. I need them. You are what make me want to do this, right. You are my bread friends, Josh and Joe, Alicia, Yuvall, Stephanie, Jorg, Elie, Christian, Michalis and Judy, Marie and Katie Chang. All of you. Friends.

Now with all that out of the way, lets talk about the difference between bolted and high-extraction flours.

100% Bolted Einkorn Michette

So, here's the thing. I have been experimenting with 'high-extraction' flour both commercial and that which I have bolted myself using a series of sifting screens. And like everything made by hand, the bolted flour is a wholly different creature than what you can purchase, thus, will behave differently in your breads. In short (which will be elucidated further in a moment), commercially-milled high-extraction flour behaves halfway between a white flour and a whole grain, but bolted flour behaves like a whole grain flour with wings.

100% Bolted Einkorn Michette

That is to say that we get the health benefits of whole grain baking by using bolted flour, but we also get a little more loft than a loaf of 100% whole, unbolted flour. Thinking about it this way, a whole white flour loaf will be lofty with an open crumb, a bread using high-extraction flour will give you a light crumb, but a tad less irregular, and a bit less open than a white flour loaf, while our bolted flour gives us a more tightly knit crumb than that but one that is tender and fantastic and far more open than a 100% unbolted whole grain bread. Finally, a whole grain, unbolted loaf (when done correctly) will give us a really serious but lovely, hearty bread with a tight crumb.

I have been over here milling and bolting away (with this experiment alone, I went through a case of Jovial whole einkorn berries), and in my many bolting experiments, I arrive at anywhere from 36% to 47%  extracted flour (on average it weighs in at 42%-47%). That means for every 1,000g of milled grain, I get anywhere from 360g - 470g of flour. So far I have bolted hard red spring wheat, hard white spring wheat, rye, spelt and now with today's post, einkorn.

'Chaff' & Bolted Einkorn Flour

Bolted flour comes out so finely textured that one would think it would behave much like the commercially made high-extraction flour, but it does not. It actually contains more bran than a commercially made high-extraction flour, and I have come to think of it as a whole grain flour when used in my breads, albeit a lighter one. You can really feel this when you mix up your dough. It's also darker in hue. With red wheat, the bolted flour is a lovely russet color, einkorn and spelt make a gorgeous creamy flour, and bolted rye is the loveliest silver, and these colors only become more prominent when you mix up your dough, which means that we have some pretty high percentages of bran in our bolted flour.

Bolted Einkorn & Whole Grain Einkorn Flour

When you mix up a dough using commercial high-extraction flour, the dough looks like a white flour dough (though more golden), and the texture is more on the white flour side of things too, right, so the gluten structure is much less hampered by the sharp grain edges that we see in loaves of whole grain. Just a note, Jovial einkorn high-extraction flour, which is what I used for this experiment,  is labeled 'all-purpose flour' on the bag, which hints at its capabilities.

In regard to high-extraction flour, the thing we have to know is that a milling house is going to have sophisticated technology to precisely sift out just the bran (generally 80% - 90%), leaving behind a flour of purely endosperm and germ with a precisely quantified percentage of bran (yes, they have the ability to pull out all of the germ in this process).

100% High-Extraction Einkorn Michette

When we use our screens to bolt flour, we are sifting out the larger particles indiscriminately, and that could be endosperm, bran and germ, so it's hard to quantify what our extraction rate really is. And there is simply no way that we can pull out the germ first. Indeed, when you inspect the 'chaff' that is left behind, you can certainly see tiny particles of endosperm along with the more fibrous bran. But this sort of rudimentary technique works to our favor in my opinion, because the flour that it produces is extraordinary.

As you can see in the photos above, the finished loaf using commercial high-extraction flour has a decidedly open crumb, though as you can also see, you will not be making 'white bread' even using it at 100%. The one that employs bolted flour is much tighter, much more uniform, but the texture is still  unbelievably light and tender. No density at all. I am really enjoying the breads made using bolted flour, and the process is really rewarding. It makes one feel like absolutely involved in and in total control of their bread making. They have added a whole new and exciting vein to my bread repertoire that I would otherwise not be able to get with store-bought flour, or stoneground flour that I have milled myself, but otherwise not bolted. The breads that it makes are true whole grain breads, and out of all the loaves I have baked up in the past few weeks, these are my favorites, truly exhibiting the sweetness and the nuances of the grain.

50% Bolted Einkorn & 50% Whole Stone-Milled Einkorn

Now that I am confident of my findings, in ensuing posts, I will distinguish between the two types of 'high-extraction' flours by using specific terminology: if I am using that which I have handmade, I will call it 'bolted' flour, and if I am using commercially milled high-extraction flour, I will call it 'high-extraction' flour.

We cannot forget that there is also the 50/50 white/whole grain mix that Chad describes at the start of the book which he says can simulate high-extraction flour. With this mix, I have found that it definitely lightens the crumb because of the white flour, but the crumb is more uniform and tighter than if we were using all white flour, because of the quantity of whole grain. Lightening our loaves is the job of high-extraction flour, and to this end, it works, but I personally don't think that it's a stand-in for commercial high-extraction flour, given the research that I did to find out exactly what high-extraction is, and given my experiments with both (I have also experimented with another brand of high-extraction flour aside from Jovial). And it doesn't compare to bolted flour in terms of flavor or texture. This week alone I made 8 loaves with a focus on nothing but high-extraction, bolted flour, and 50/50 mix, and the results are always in favor of the bolted flour, with the high-extraction coming in second. Both make for a unique crumb that you cannot simulate with the 50/50, and without question, produce far more flavorful breads.

100% Bolted Einkorn Michette

I also like the fact that our bolted flour is still a whole grain flour. With the 50/50 flour, even as it is supplemented with 50% whole grain flour, it doesn't cancel out the fact that you are still using white flour in your baking, so if you are looking to avoid using white flour in your breads, the 50/50 flour mix is not an attractive option. I have no objection to white flour. I luckily do not have health or weight issues or food issues like carb phobia, and I am no purist, even if I was raised by hippies and continue to eat like one. Bread is an asset in my life, and sourdough bread, in my opinion, removes all of the negative aspects of white flour breads because it is a fermented food. It is like raising eyebrows to the fact that Kombucha is made with sugar. All that aside, I have an increasing interest in making true whole grain breads, what's more, whole grain breads that aren't leaden loaves like so many can be if one does not know how to handle them skillfully.

In my humble opinion, I would suggest first trying your hand at bolting your own freshly-milled flour, or perhaps even your store-bought flour (I have not tried bolting store-bought whole grain flour yet, but I will do, and share the results). Next I would use commercial high-extraction because in this flour, none of the germ is removed in the process, and the texture of all of my breads using it thus far have been really gorgeous. Jovial is a good place to start.

If you do use bolted flour to make your breads, just be aware that you are going to have to treat it like a whole grain dough in terms of hydration percentage and handling, and expectations of the final loaf, which is to say that the crumb will be tighter/more even and certainly darker than white flour bread (it all comes out looking like a 100% whole grain bread, because, well, it is), but will successfully lighten your loaves without sacrificing nutrition or flavor.

Speaking of, the flavor of my bolted flour breads vs. those that use commercial high-extraction is incredibly different. For instance, in these loaves, the earthy flavors of the grain were definitively more 'present', the minerality and nuttiness profound. The Jovial high-extraction loaves, while delicious, had more herbaceous and even floral flavors. I think I mentioned that Jovial high-extraction flour is really intriguing. It arrives compacted, almost crumbly, clay-like and dense. It has a remarkable, resinous aroma, and I will keep my larder stocked with it because it has such a unique character. But it does make a powerfully flavored loaf, so take that into consideration when pairing it with other grains. You don't want to add it to a loaf where it will compete with the dominant grain, like, say, rye. Two strongly-flavored flours in one loaf might not be a great idea.

So the bottom line is that there is a difference between bolted and high-extraction flour, one that cannot be ignored, and the two, in my opinion, should not be confused nor used to supplant one another. Further, the 50/50 is not a viable stand-in for either. I think it's too dangerously close to simply lightening a whole grain loaf with the addition of white flour. Not a bad thing, but definitely not what we are trying to accomplish here in our pursuit of other worldly (commercial high-extraction flour indeed makes an 'other worldly' loaf) or whole grain breads. In the move to higher percentages of whole grains in our breads, white flour sort of hampers us from becoming masters of skillful fermentation and the knowledge of a given grain. I think that we should trust our experiments rather than automatically build white flour into our formulae when we have at least two other options available to us. But I think that that is the issue here. Experimentation. If you don't experiment it's very easy to fall back on white flour, which is not a terrible thing. White flour makes lovely breads. But whole grains throw a whole new learning curve into your bread baking, and you have to be up to the task, because even though it is simply flour, water, salt and yeast, it is also technique, and time, and ingenuity that create a fine loaf of bread, and further, the delicate balance of these components.

I will confess, you must educate yourself before endeavoring to increase the percentages of whole grains in your breads. My suggestion is to approach this one grain at a time. Each grain behaves differently than the next, so take your time and get to know their characteristics, first by reading as much as you can, then empirically. I would never have known about the nature of einkorn had I not first read about it and then worked with it right after that. And I could never have known about the temperamental nature of it in terms of hydration unless I actually made up a dough, preferably one that used a higher percentage of it so that the true nature of the flour was exhibited. Using white flour in your baking keeps you shielded from the true nature of the grain because of its power. It becomes a crutch (a delicious crutch, but a crutch nonetheless). A loaf of bread that takes 100g rye to 400g of white flour is not a rye bread. A loaf of bread with 70% rye flour is a rye bread. A loaf of 100% rye bread is a work of art.

Let me stress the importance of also building upon knowledge that you have already acquired. We are not reinventing the wheel here, but we are capable of making it stronger, better, faster, more attractive. Hopefully when you read any bread book you will not see the formulae as 'recipes' but elevated starting points so that you may produce your own bread within a given 'theme'. It is several years of working with different flours, hydrations, and my specific environment that I continue to build upon. And, as I have mentioned, I test breads however much is necessary to arrive at a formula that you all can reproduce at home without error. One advantage to baking my breads is that I am a home baker so it's likely that my environment is fairly close to yours. I am not really interested in owning a bakery. I am interested in making bakery-quality breads in my own home. I push the boundaries of my limits and make the most of what I have - some old pans, stained pizza stones, and a really, really crappy oven. What I produce is my bread, my way, and I believe that this is why you meet me here every week (or thereabouts), well, that and because we are learning all of this together. I trust that most of you all probably don't want to own your own bakery either. So then, this blog is for you. When the time comes that I can install a wood oven in my yard (or even have a yard to begin with!), then I will take my bread in another direction. But for now, this is it, and it's just want I need.

100% Einkorn High-Extraction Michette

Onward.

When working with any bread that calls for high-extraction, whether in the Tartine book or any other, take a step back and look at the formula, try to get a sense of what the finished loaf is intended to be, and then decide which route to take. You have some options. One will work.

About bolting flour. So, with bolting, you want to mill a flour to only a slightly coarser grind  than your milled flour. If you have proper screens, you will let the screens do the work for you. You want to mill as much of that endosperm as possible since this is the gluten powerhouse of our flour (even those with limited gluten), and so you want to have as much access as possible to it, and that means milling as finely as you can. If you mill too coarsely, your endosperm will end up in tiny beads and get trapped behind the screen along with the bran and be subsequently discarded. Wasteful. I have been bolting mine first with a #30 then a #50 screen with excellent results. You will still have a fair amount of bran and germ left in the flour, though the flour is exquisitely fine. Once you mix up your dough, you will see what I mean.

With these loaves, I used all Jovial Einkorn. This interesting little grain is small, teardrop shaped, and flat. It is one of the earliest cultivated forms of wheat along with emmer wheat, and Jovial's einkorn is not hybridized. Einkorn is actually the German name (literally 'single grain') for this ancient wheat, in Italian it is called farro piccolo. Einkorn wheat is recommended for people with celiac's disease and gluten intolerance, as its form of gliadin is not as aggravating as the gliadin in other wheat varietals.

The bolted flour yield for this einkorn was on the low end of the scale that I mentioned above, probably due to its small size and bran to endosperm ratio. I sifted it through first a #30 screen then a #50. I also used their high-extraction flour. Each yielded excellent results. Their whole einkorn produces a nutty, earthy loaf of bread with a gorgeous ochre crumb and shattery crust.

Be prepared to get your hands dirty with all of this because einkorn is a very difficult grain to work with if, especially if it is overhydrated, and it does not take much to go too far. If you think that rye doughs are sticky, just wait until you work with einkorn. Because of the stickiness factor, I was overzealous in my flouring of le banneton, thus the snowy loaves. Alas, an easy fix.

Einkorn does develop gluten, unlike rye, however, so turns are necessary and do add to the strength of the dough. Just beware with hydration. It sneaks up on you. Start with a conservative hand, say, hold some of the water back at autolyse, because you can always add more later at salt, right. Einkorn takes a while to absorb all of the water, and by the time it has finished autolysing, if you have added too much, you are basically going to be fighting with a very sticky dough. This is not the flour to be pulling your high-hydration rock star moves on. My first high-extraction hydration percentage was a mere 77.5%, and working with it, it felt like a 100% hydration dough. Very hard to fold, handle and shape, a beast if ever there was. I must admit, I cursed it and had little faith that it would amount to anything at all. Alas, I was happily proven wrong.

77.5% Hydration, 100% High-Extraction Einkorn Michette

When I took it down to 68%, which is low even by my conservative standards, the dough was much more pleasant to work with. Gluten development was much more evident, and the dough showed promise (no cursing) as it grew during the folds in bulk.

68% Hydration, 100% High-Extraction Einkorn Michette

I hope this clarifies some things for everyone. There is not a lot out there about einkorn. The breads that I found all employed commercial yeast or healthy amounts of white flour to temper the intractability of this little grain.

We have found, and empirically so, that there is an undeniable difference in the employment of these three 'high-extraction' flours in our loaves and that we really cannot just exchange one for the other so simply. For me, the clarification in differences between bolted and high-extraction flour has opened up a whole new and exciting avenue on this path to making extraordinary bread, so I am glad that I took on this experiment. It is my goal to keep you completely informed about the breads I am baking through rigorous and dedicated testing so that you all continue to turn out incredible loaves with as little error as possible.

Finally, to those of you who have reached out to me in the past couple of weeks, please forgive my late response. I have about a dozen emails to catch up on, and I will get back to you this week, I promise. It is on my list of things to do. I would rather send you a response with undivided attention than a quick reply that will not help you along your bread path. You emailers know who you are ;)

Here are the findings for our three new breads. A 100% hand-bolted Jovial einkorn flour bread, a 100% Jovial einkorn high-extraction flour bread, and a bread that employes half hand-bolted Jovial einkorn flour and half whole, freshly stone-milled Jovial einkorn flour.

Have a look:

100% High-Extraction Einkorn Michette, 77.5% hydration 

MAKE YOUR LEVAIN

For the levain, you will need

75g Jovial high-extraction flour

75g h2o

10g 100% hydration, 100% rye starter

Mix together your levain ingredients and ferment. Mine fermented for 8 hours 25 minutes.

DOUGH DAY

For the dough, you will need

All of the levain

370g h2o

500g Jovial einkorn high-extraction flour

12g kosher salt, I used Diamond

When your levain is properly fermented, dissolve it in the water and mix it together with the flours and the h2o until you reach a shaggy mass. It will look like this:

Autolyse for 30 minutes. After the autolyse, squish the salt into the dough until it's fully incorporated work the dough into a smooth mass. Now it's time for the 4-hour bulk fermentation. Here you will perform a series of turns every half-hour throughout the entire bulk fermentation, taking care not to deflate the dough as you near the end of bulk. If the dough puffs up and you find it too difficult to perform the turns without deflating the dough, then you can let it finish its fermentation untouched. It will be fine. Einkorn produces such a slack dough though, there will be paltry inflation of the dough, so you may be able to do turns throughout or a least the better part of the 4-hour bulk. Use your judgement.

Just a note, the dough will be very sticky/glue. It will appear to have very little gluten structure, even with your folds. For the first three series of folds, I extended my number of folds until the dough felt like it was gaining strength. The dough smells cherry-almond like and will be golden in hue.

When bulk fermentation is accomplished, it will still be very slack and almost formless. It will be very shiny, and even look gluey. It's ok. Forge on.

Turn the dough out onto a workspace dusted with some of the 'chaff' that you saved from bolting your flour, or some brown rice flour.

Shape into a loose round. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

After the bench, shape the dough into a taut boule and pop into a banneton or a bowl lined with linen that you have dusted with your leftover chaff.

Pop in the fridge and ferment. Mine fermented for 10 hours.

BAKE DAY

Preheat the oven to 500 with a dutch oven and baking stone inside.

Unearth the dough by placing a sheet of parchment over the mouth of the dough bowl, then place a peel over this and quickly invert the bowl so that the dough ends up sitting on the paper and the peel, seam side down.

Snip the thing in some divine manner. A note, with very highly hydrated loaves or slack dough loaves, I find it best to snip vs. slashing the dough to prevent bleeding. Slide it into the shallow half of the hot dutchie. Cover with the fat half, slide it into the oven, and steam for 15 minutes at this temp, then turn the oven down to 475 and steam for another 15 minutes.

After the steam, remove the fat end of the dutchie, then stack the pan over its mouth to create a buffer between the hot stone and the bread. This will help keep the bottom of your bread from blackening.

Toggle the oven between 460 and 475 until the boule is baked to desired darkness. I baked mine to an internal temp of 210 degrees.

Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.

100% High-Extraction Einkorn Michette, 68% hydration 

MAKE YOUR LEVAIN

For the levain, you will need

75g Jovial high-extraction flour

75g h2o

10g 100% hydration, 100% rye starter

Mix together your levain ingredients and ferment. Mine fermented for 9 hours.

DOUGH DAY

For the dough, you will need

All of the levain

315g h2o

500g Jovial einkorn high-extraction flour

12g kosher salt, I used Diamond

When your levain is properly fermented, dissolve it in the water and mix it together with the flours and the h2o until you reach a shaggy mass. It will look like this:

Autolyse for 30 minutes. After the autolyse, squish the salt into the dough until it's fully incorporated work the dough into a smooth mass. Now it's time for the 4-hour bulk fermentation. Here you will perform a series of turns every half-hour throughout the entire bulk fermentation, taking care not to deflate the dough as you near the end of bulk. If the dough puffs up and you find it too difficult to perform the turns without deflating the dough, then you can let it finish its fermentation untouched. It will be fine. Einkorn produces such a slack dough though, there will be paltry inflation of the dough, so you may be able to do turns throughout or a least the better part of the 4-hour bulk. Use your judgement.

This lower hydration dough will not be nearly as sticky to work with than the higher hydration dough, nonetheless, it is einkorn, so it will be more sticky than even a high-hydration white flour dough.  It will also appear to have very little gluten structure, even with your folds. For the first three series of folds, I extended my number of folds until the dough felt like it was gaining strength.

Turn the dough out onto a workspace dusted with some of the 'chaff' that you saved from bolting your flour, or some brown rice flour.

Shape into a loose round. Let it rest for 17 minutes.

After the bench, shape the dough into a taut boule and pop into a banneton or a bowl lined with linen that you have dusted with your leftover chaff.

Pop in the fridge and ferment. Mine fermented for 10 hours 15 minutes.

BAKE DAY

Preheat the oven to 500 with a dutch oven and baking stone inside.

Unearth the dough by placing a sheet of parchment over the mouth of the dough bowl, then place a peel over this and quickly invert the bowl so that the dough ends up sitting on the paper and the peel, seam side down.

Snip the thing in some divine manner. A note, with very highly hydrated loaves or slack dough loaves, I find it best to snip vs. slashing the dough to prevent bleeding. Slide it into the shallow half of the hot dutchie. Cover with the fat half, slide it into the oven, and steam for 15 minutes at this temp, then turn the oven down to 475 and steam for another 15 minutes.

After the steam, remove the fat end of the dutchie, then stack the pan over its mouth to create a buffer between the hot stone and the bread. This will help keep the bottom of your bread from blackening.

Toggle the oven between 460 and 475 until the boule is baked to desired darkness. I baked mine to an internal temp of 210 degrees.

Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.

100% Hand-Bolted Einkorn Michette

MAKE YOUR LEVAIN

For the levain, you will need

75g Jovial hand-bolted, stoneground einkorn flour

75g h2o

10g 100% hydration, 100% rye starter

Mix together your levain ingredients and ferment. Mine fermented for 8 hours 25 minutes.

DOUGH DAY

For the dough, you will need

All of the levain

315g h2o

500g home-stoneground and bolted einkorn flour

12g kosher salt, I used Diamond

When your levain is properly fermented, dissolve it in the water and mix it together with the flours and the h2o until you reach a shaggy mass. It will look like this:

Autolyse for 30 minutes. After the autolyse, squish the salt into the dough until it's fully incorporated work the dough into a smooth mass. Now it's time for the 4-hour bulk fermentation. Here you will perform a series of turns every half-hour throughout the entire bulk fermentation, taking care not to deflate the dough as you near the end of bulk. If the dough puffs up and you find it too difficult to perform the turns without deflating the dough, then you can let it finish its fermentation untouched. It will be fine. Einkorn produces such a slack dough though, there will be paltry inflation of the dough, so you may be able to do turns throughout or a least the better part of the 4-hour bulk. Use your judgement.

This lower hydration dough will not be nearly as sticky to work with than the higher hydration dough, nonetheless, it is einkorn, so it will be more sticky than even a high-hydration white flour dough.  It will also appear to have very little gluten structure, even with your folds. For the first three series of folds, I extended my number of folds until the dough felt like it was gaining strength. The dough will inflate very little, but it will inflate.

Turn the dough out onto a workspace dusted with some of the 'chaff' that you saved from bolting your flour, or some brown rice flour.

Shape into a loose round. Let it rest for 17 minutes.

After the bench, shape the dough into a taut boule and pop into a banneton or a bowl lined with linen that you have dusted with your leftover chaff.

Pop in the fridge and ferment. Mine fermented for 10 hours 15 minutes.

BAKE DAY

Preheat the oven to 500 with a dutch oven and baking stone inside.

Unearth the dough by placing a sheet of parchment over the mouth of the dough bowl, then place a peel over this and quickly invert the bowl so that the dough ends up sitting on the paper and the peel, seam side down.

Snip the thing in some divine manner. A note, with very highly hydrated loaves or slack dough loaves, I find it best to snip vs. slashing the dough to prevent bleeding. Slide it into the shallow half of the hot dutchie. Cover with the fat half, slide it into the oven, and steam for 15 minutes at this temp, then turn the oven down to 475 and steam for another 15 minutes.

After the steam, remove the fat end of the dutchie, then stack the pan over its mouth to create a buffer between the hot stone and the bread. This will help keep the bottom of your bread from blackening.

Toggle the oven between 460 and 475 until the boule is baked to desired darkness. I baked mine to an internal temp of 210 degrees.

Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.

 

100% Einkorn Michette

MAKE YOUR LEVAIN

For the levain, you will need

75g Jovial home-stoneground einkorn flour

75g h2o

10g 100% hydration, 100% rye starter

Mix together your levain ingredients and ferment. Mine fermented for 8 hours 25 minutes.

DOUGH DAY

For the dough, you will need

All of the levain

315g h2o

250g home-stoneground and bolted einkorn flour

250g home-stoneground einkorn flour

12g kosher salt, I used Diamond

When your levain is properly fermented, dissolve it in the water and mix it together with the flours and the h2o until you reach a shaggy mass. It will look like this:

The dough may appear stiff, but it is very sticky. If you find that it is underhydrated at salt time, add more water, but trust me, employ a modest hand. Begin with perhaps 10g more water, work that thoroughly into the dough, and see what you get from that. Add water in these tiny increments, always working the water thoroughly into the dough before adding more.

Autolyse for 30 minutes. After the autolyse, squish the salt into the dough until it's fully incorporated work the dough into a smooth mass. Now it's time for the 4-hour bulk fermentation. Here you will perform a series of turns every half-hour throughout half of and quite possibly the entire bulk fermentation, taking care not to deflate the dough as you near the end of bulk. If the dough puffs up and you find it too difficult to perform the turns without deflating the dough, then you can let it finish its fermentation untouched. It will be fine.

Turn the dough out onto a workspace dusted with some of the 'chaff' that you saved from bolting your flour, or some brown rice flour. Shape into a loose round. Let it rest for 17 minutes.

After the bench, shape the dough into a taut boule and pop into a banneton or a bowl lined with linen that you have dusted with your leftover chaff. Pop in the fridge and ferment. Mine fermented for 10 hours.

BAKE DAY

Preheat the oven to 500 with a dutch oven and baking stone inside.

Unearth the dough by placing a sheet of parchment over the mouth of the dough bowl, then place a peel over this and quickly invert the bowl so that the dough ends up sitting on the paper and the peel, seam side down.

Snip the thing in some divine manner. A note, with very highly hydrated loaves or slack dough loaves, such as einkorn, I find it best to snip vs. slashing the dough to prevent bleeding. Slide it into the shallow half of the hot dutchie. Cover with the fat half, slide it into the oven, and steam for 15 minutes at this temp, then turn the oven down to 475 and steam for another 15 minutes.

After the steam, remove the fat end of the dutchie, then stack the pan over its mouth to create a buffer between the hot stone and the bread. This will help keep the bottom of your bread from blackening.

Toggle the oven between 460 and 475 until the boule is baked to desired darkness. I baked mine to an internal temp of 210 degrees.

Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.

To the staff of life!