Emmer Bread

As a diversion, I baked a whole grain emmer bread for you. Emmer bread has an appetizing dark crumb color and a pleasantly tangy taste.

The addition of a water-roux improves the shelf-life and at the same time increases the water absorption in the main dough. The poolish & sourdough are both made with wholegrain emmer flour. These two pre-doughs improve the dough development and bring about the full expression of the flavor. 

The kneading of the dough plays a big part of the quality in ancient grain breads! Doughs made from emmer flour tend to be easily overkneaded. 

Even the slightest bit of overkneading cannot be compensated for in the following dough production. This results in flat bread that has no heft. It is therefore important to only knead these doughs at a slow speed. Because the dough doesn’t warm up during the slow kneading, the water temperature should be adjusted so that the dough temperature is about 22-24°C at the start of the mixing.  

Recipe

For a dough weight of 1201g

Water-roux:

  • 250g Water
  • 100g Wholegrain emmer flour

Pour boiling water over the wholegrain emmer flour and stir either with a spoon or in the mixer until it is clump-free. Then cover and allow to cool for 2-3 hours. 

Poolish:

  • 100g Wholegrain emmer flour
  • 100g Water 4°C
  •  0,5g Yeast

Dissolve the yeast in water and stir with the wholegrain emmer flour until lump-free. Then allow it to mature for 12-14 hours at room temperature. In the case that the poolish rises too quickly, it can be stored in the refrigerator until ready to proceed. 

Wholegrain emmer sourdough:

  • 100g Wholegrain emmer flour
  • 100g Water
  •     3g Starter from wheat or rye sourdough

Target sourdough temperature: 27°C

Maturity time: 12-15 hours

Main dough:

  • 350g Water-roux
  • 200g Poolish
  • 200g Sourdough
  • 380g Wholegrain emmer flour
  •   50g Water (With finely ground wholegrain emmer flour the water absorption may be higher)
  •   13g Salt
  •     8g Yeast

Production: 

  • Mix all ingredients gently on slow speed. The mixing time for this bread is 9 minutes on slow. 
  • Then let the dough rise for 30 minutes in an oiled dough tub.
  • Shape the dough into a round loaf and place seam-side down in a floured proofing basket. 
  • Once ⅔ proofed, turn the loaf out onto a baking peel and let it rise for another 5-10 minutes. 
  • The loaf is baked in a preheated oven to 250°C with steam. After the desired crust cracking has been reached, release the steam (about 5-7 minutes).
  • After the steam has been released, the baking temperature is reduced to 200°C. 
  • Baking time for a dough size of 1200g/ approx. 55-60 minutes.