to flog a dead horse

yes. yes i know. my last post involved olive bread. but just hear me out, because i know you're a tough crowd. my last loaf was a spelt olive bread, and it didn't have olive oil, yeah. this is a rye olive loaf and it has a whopping two tabes of olive oil, so technically it's not the same (smarty pants).

listen, before you judge me for being monotonous and just plain dull, just know that i wasn't even going to post this loaf. my last olive was so good i just wanted to make another, you know, to have around, because olive bread is da bomb. but, see, here's the thing, as soon as i had my first slice (i couldn't even wait a whole hour to let it cool, the aroma was that heady) the first thing i thought was oh, yeah, i need to pass this along.

dude. you sort of need this formula. it is, to date, the absolute best olive bread that i have ever made (or eaten. ever.), and i want it to be the best olive bread that YOU have ever made too.

see? share. i like sharing, especially the most fabulous things, because then i'm not the only one who's happy, you're happy too. and isn't the world so much sweeter when we are all happy, or at least striving to be?

here's the verdict:

CRUMB: the crumb of this loaf was ineffable. it was tender, like butter or a baby's backside, or something like that. CRUST: and the crust was so shattery and ethereal that it was like eating glass. ok, maybe not that deleterious, but you get what i'm saying. FLAVOR: the flavor was rich, so rich, and olivey to the tenth power.

i'm telling you, if this does not make it to your top ten then you are a tough crowd, because frankly, it has succeeded in crowning mine.

the best olive bread in the whole wide world

THE FORMULA

* just a note on rye flours. in this formula, i use 'to your health' rye flour here, which is incredibly thirsty, astonishingly so, actually. if you don't have 'to your health' flour, and decide to use another flour, say, bob's red mill dark rye, then you will have to adjust the hydration accordingly or you are going to end up with an overly hydrated dough. i would, for instance, if using bobs red mill dark rye, begin with about 325g of h2o for the dough. 375g will likely be way too high.

please notice the difference between the 'thirst quality' of to your health sprouted rye flour and bobs red mill, exhibited here in these two levains. the top photo is one of a levain using the same ratio of rye flour, starter and h2o and uses to your health sprouted rye flour as the bottom photo, which bob's red mill rye flour. they were both fermented for 8 hours. as you can see, 'to your health' makes a pretty stalwart mass of levain, even after full fermentation compared to the bob's red mill.

so again, adjust your hydration to account for this. i am aware that 'to your health' is rather obscure, and you probably cannot get it in other countries. given my experience, i would suggest starting with 325g of h2o if using bob's red mill (or another brand), adding small measures more until you reach proper hydration if necessary.

 to your health 100% hydration starter, fermented for 8 hours, notice how stiff it is

 bob's red mill 100% hydration starter, fermented for 8 hours, notice how loose it is, compared to the one above

now, onto the formula!

YOU WILL NEED:

135g rye levain (formula following)
90g sprouted TYH rye flour
100g KA bread flour
310g KA A/P
375g h2o
190g pitted kalamata olives, drained well
90g pitted black oil cured olives
2 TB good, fruity olive oil
8g salt

THE NIGHT BEFORE THE DOUGH

make a levain:

35g 100% whole rye, 100% hydration starter
50g TYH sprouted rye
50g h2o

mix this together, cover, and ferment for about 8 hours, but please determine the health and viability of your levain using your own discretion. mine fermented in 6.5 hours, but yours may need more time than that. this is one of those areas of bread making where if you manage your powers of perception skillfully, you will make consistently lovely loaves of bread. if you over or under ferment your levain, your dough will be imbalanced.

DOUGH DAY

dissolve the levain in the 375g water, mix in the rye, A/P, and bread flours until you reach a shaggy mass. autolyse for 1 hour.

after autolyse, squish the salt into the dough, and when you're done squishing, squish the olives and the olive oil into the dough as well.

BULK FERMENTATION TIME

for the first two hours you will perform a series of turns every half hour (for a total of four series), this is accomplished at room temperature. after the series of turns, pop the dough into the fridge and ferment for another 2 hours.

BENCH

after the dough has sufficiently fermented, turn out onto a work table that has been dusted with brown rice flour, cover with a bowl, and let it rest for 30 minutes. after the rest, shape the dough into a boule, dust a linen with brown rice flour, line a bowl with it, then in goes the dough. cover and refrigerate for 15 hours.

BAKE DAY

one full hour before bake time, get a bread stone and both parts of your combo cooker into the oven. preheat to 550.

after the preheat, pull the dough out of the fridge, cut a square of parchment and place it over the mouth of the bowl; now place a peel atop this and flip the peel and the bowl over in one deft movement. remove the bowl and the linen.

score your beauty and slide it into the shallow end of the combo cooker. pop the fatty end of the combo cooker on top, slide it all into the oven. turn the blasted thing down to 475 degrees and steam the loaf for 30 minutes.

after the steam, remove the fatty end of the combo cooker, slide the boule back into the oven and finish baking. mine took exactly 30 more minutes.

try to cool for at least an hour, but i tore into mine after 45 minutes.

to the staff of life!


(ps, you don't even have to wonder if i ate the olives off of the side of the bread while waiting for it to cool, 'cause you know i did.)

THE MUG SHOTS

this post was shared on wild yeast blog's yeast spotting.

epiphanic spelt: three loaves, one epiphany

do not mistake vulnerability for weakness, for it is a quiet form of  strength. vulnerability is humility in its most raw state. and humility is fundamentally zen. it is a glimpse into the human side of you, the one that is still filled with awe and connected to a purpose, perhaps forgotten, perhaps not quite understood. you, the one who has become hardened by the confusions of this here breath, this here life, there still exists in you a light and a power which never fails you, even if its voice seems so, very, very, small. this light meets your awakening and tucks you in at night, no matter your spoils or those lacking, no matter your mistakes, those hideous, and even worse still. vulnerability is the sign of your light, and no matter how much money you have, no matter how adept at skullduggery you may be, it is the voice that brings you back to your core. it is the part of you that has not become destitute in your search for your essence. for even the most failed holds this light in her breast, and his breast, and theirs too.

spelt country

this week whilst making bread, I reached the apex of an epiphany. to be sure, an epiphany is not had without some many months and years of inward observation, so upon its arrival, the tears that it impels are for reasons that are usually not obvious. the obvious assumption is that they must be tears of joy, elation, perhaps freedom from some long, indefatigable bondage. but they might also be tears of sorrow, or a mix of bitterness and anger: why did it take so long, why does it seem so small, this step toward illumination and this bit of growth. it is a dangerous thing to set one's sights on the outcome of self-realization, for the unfolding is rarely the way we have long envisioned it to be. we often see our lives through our ego's eyes. but these eyes are blind. the only eyes that can see that what is real are those of the spirit.

spelt country in rosemary

i am human. i follow a buddhist path. unwittingly mostly. i just arrived here, i know it sounds strange. i didn't know it until i had been walking this path for some years. that was a small epiphany, i remember, when having a late night conversation with a friend, sharing our beliefs, our thoughts. i didn't know you were buddhist, said she. i answered, truthfully, neither did i. when i went to bed that night, i looked at the ceiling and declared, a bit dumbfounded, admittedly, i am buddhist, and it was like my world had changed in the blink of an eye. the spirit eye. when that eye has opened, it can never again be closed. and that what is observed by the eyes of the ego grows dim.

spelt olive

i never talk about religion, mostly because i don't think that i am immersed in one despite. i think of buddhism as a way, a path, an awakening, a purpose. buddhism puts my life into perspective because its very nature is one rooted in common sense. there are no deities, there is only the self. the only mew is that of our own creation, and by virtue of our humanness there is no condemnation dispensed because we were put here to flounder around in this skin that has forgotten its purpose, its divinity, and the expectation is that you will make a multitude of mistakes along the way. even better than that, it is our very mistakes that lend to illumination. without them, there is no fundamental growth. buddhism is a gentle way, though fiercely pragmatic. you cannot kiss a row of beads and hope that your 'sins' will be atoned for. for one thing, there are no sins, only lessons, for another, there is only the self to whom you have to answer, because you are of the divine, all of us are, for better or worse, how we choose to view it is dependent upon where we stand, and this changes and grows as do we along our path. buddhism is an aspiration and a reminder, it is the watchful eye of the knowing self because we are all knowing, and we are all installed with this light, yes, even those of us who are not so kind. remember what the venerable Thich Nhat Hanh reminds: when another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. he does not need punishment, he needs help. that is the message he is sending.

i didn't think that my post today had anything to do with bread, aside from the fact that these were the things that i was thinking as i baked my loaves. but then i tossed this over in my mind: perhaps it is the bread that has inspired this moment inward. every time i bake bread i find myself in the mood to reflect. oftentimes i crave the effort of bread when there is a problem that i need to work out in my life. something about intuiting my way through the creation of the dough is analogous to intuiting my way through my life, or at least some part of it that requires a momentary reflection. bread then, when seen in this light, continues for me to be part of my path, and one inextricably so.

three loaves. two formulae. a little closer to home.

epiphanic country loaf, in spelt

for the olive spelt loaf, i used equal weights bob's red mill light spelt and king arthur bread flour. for the rosemary and country loaves, i used a combination of to your health sprouted whole spelt, vitaspelt white spelt and king arthur bread flour. all loaves were made with my 100% hydration, 100% sprouted rye flour starter fed twice a day leading up to levain day.

SPELT OLIVE BOULE

THE NIGHT BEFORE DOUGH DAY

make your levain. mix the following, cover and ferment overnight.

35g starter
50g h2o
50g sprouted whole spelt flour

DOUGH DAY

365g h2o
250g BRM light spelt
250g KA bread flour
186g kalamata olives, pitted and whole
82g black oil cured olives, coarsely chopped
8g kosher salt

mix the water, flours, and levain, autolyse 40 minutes. after autolyse, squish the salt into the dough with your fingers till thoroughly amalgamated, then add the olives and fold into the dough.

left: pitted kalamatas, right: pitted and chopped black oil cured olives

begin the 4 hour bulk fermentation, the first two hours of which you will perform 1 series of turns every 30 minutes at room temperature. after the first two hours, pop the dough in the fridge and finish fermenting for another 2 hours, unmolested.

olive dough, ready for bulk fermentation

after  the bulk fermentation is done, turn the dough out onto your workspace and rest for 15 minutes. shape into a boule, pop into a bowl lined with a rice flour dusted linen or banneton, pop in the fridge overnight. mine proofed for 12 hours.

BAKE DAY

45 minutes before the bake, preheat the oven outfitted with a pizza stone and both pieces of your cast iron combo cooker at 550 degrees. when the oven is good and hot, cover the bowl with a slip of parchment and turn it out onto a peel. score as desired and slip the dough into your combo cooker, paper and all, cover, turn the oven down to 475 and let the loaf steam for 30 minutes.

perfectly steamed olive spelt loaf

after the loaf is properly steamed, remove the lid of the combo cooker (use a mitt so the released steam does not burn your hand), turn the oven down to 450 degrees and bake till the crust is a good, deep marron. you may need to toggle between 450 and 475 degrees. this is where you must intuit your bread.

SPELT COUNTRY (one with ROSEMARY)

THE NIGHT BEFORE DOUGH DAY

make your levain. mix the following, cover and ferment overnight.

70g starter

100g h2o

100g sprouted whole spelt flour

thoroughly realized levain

DOUGH DAY

700g h2o

150g TYH sprouted whole spelt

350g VS flour

500g KA bread flour

25g kosher salt
rosemary (i forget to weigh it, so i'm not sure how many grams i used, but i did use three good-sized branches)

mix the water, flours, and levain. autolyse 40 minutes. after autolyse, squish the salt into the dough with your fingers till thoroughly amalgamated.

ready for autolyse

begin the 4 hour bulk fermentation, the first two hours of which you will perform 1 series of turns every 30 minutes at room temperature. after the first two hours, pop the dough in the fridge and finish fermenting for another 2 hours, untouched.

after  the bulk fermentation is done, turn the dough out onto your workspace and rest for 15 minutes. shape into a boule, pop into a bowl lined with a rice flour dusted linen or banneton. ** for the rosemary loaf: dust the linen with rice flour as usual, sprinkle the rosemary leaves atop the rice flour, and place the dough on top of the rosemary leaves. the leaves will sink into the dough as it proofs overnight.

pop in the fridge overnight. mine proofed for 11 hours.

BAKE DAY

45 minutes before the bake, preheat the oven outfitted with a pizza stone and both pieces of your cast iron combo cooker at 550 degrees. when the oven is good and hot, cover the bowl with a slip of parchment and turn it out onto a peel.

score as desired and slip the dough into your combo cooker, cover, turn the oven down to 475 and let the loaf steam for 30 minutes.

steamed spelt loaves

after the loaf is properly steamed, remove the lid of the combo cooker, turn the oven down to 450 degrees and bake till the crust is a good, deep marron. you may need to toggle the temp between 450 and 475 to achieve this.

listen up. all three loaves turned out to be FANTASTIC. the crust was shattery, the interior was the perfect texture and the flavor was outstanding. spelt is turning out to be one of my favorite grains. the flavor is really rich and complex, and it's pretty easy to work with. just so you know, it will pancake when its on the bench resting, and it will spread quicker than wheat flour once its scored. but don't freak out, this is normal for spelt because it lacks the elasticity of wheat flour. you can quickly gather it up and shape it into a boule despite.

spelt breads also achieve amazing oven spring every time, even when using higher percentages of whole spelt. it's super healthy, and it's one that you might begin experimenting with because it's and easy addition to your repertoire of breads (spelt is also not as expensive as rye). rye, as you know, is sort of my thang, but this spelt is giving it a run for its money as i bake with it more and more, and as you can see, it makes for a lovely, rustic loaf.

i will keep posting my findings as i work with this flour. let me know how your spelt loaves turn out for you. its been a while since i've made a rye because i'm having so much fun with it.

to the staff of life!

THE HEADSHOTS

this post has been sent to wild yeast blog's yeastspotting.