“Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast” by Ken Forkish guided the development of our Flour from the Front blends.
Starting with the Overnight Country Brown recipe on page 173, using no commercial yeast, we inversed the amount of white flour and whole grain flour in the final dough to make beautiful loaves.
Our original sourdough starter (levain) was maintained with approximately 1/3 Big Sky Rye Flour and 2/3 unbleached white flour. We have found that a drier–less soupy–starter to be complimentary to the flavor of whole grains. In time, our levain became 2/3 Big Sky Rye Flour and 1/3 white flour with happy results.
“Overnight Country Rye” Final Dough:
- 280 g white flour
- 604 g Big Sky Rye Flour (or Bucking the Sun Pizza Flour, without caraway seeds)
- 684 g water
- 22 g sea salt
- 285 g sourdough starter (levain)
- 27 g caraway seed
“Overnight Country Wheatsome” Final Dough:
The same recipe works nicely with High Wide & Wheatsome Flour for a full-flavored, grain-sweet sourdough.
- 122 g white flour
- 758 g Wheatsome Flour
- 684 g water
- 22 g sea salt
- 285 g levain
“All Old & Ancient” Final Dough:
Later, when test-baking our Old & Ancient flour–a blend of spelt and Kamut, we aimed for a 100% whole grain, low gluten bread. It worked! Because spelt and Kamut have weaker gluten structures, be gentle with your dough. The flour is slow to absorb water so expect the dough to be sticky, but do not add extra flour. Limit folding the dough to twice. Refrigerate overnight before the final shaping. This has become our favorite everyday bread.
- 880 g Old & Ancient Flour
- 684 g water
- 22 g sea salt
- 285 g levain*
*Note: If using 1/3 Big Sky Rye and 2/3 unbleached white to maintain a levain it will result in a final dough for “All Old & Ancient Dough” that is about 18% white flour.
Find more recipes at www.conservationgrains.com