Wild Yeast

This is how I used my sprouted wheat. The bread is easily adapted to any taste by including your favorite dried fruits and nuts. I chose blueberries, plums, walnuts, and orange zest. Try apricots, raisins, cherries, figs, almonds, pecans, or whatever else strikes you, or omit the fruit altogether for a more savory bread.

Date molasses is available in Middle Eastern grocery markets. If you don’t have it, substitute thawed fruit juice concentrate. Wheat gluten can be found in the baking section of many markets, or ordered online.

This submission for BreadBakingDay #11, bread with sprouts. This one-year anniversary edition is hosted this month by BBD’s founder, Zorra (1x umrühren bitte). I have loved seeing all the breads everyone comes up with each month and I’m sure this month will be no exception!

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Last year I took a workshop on whole grain breads at SFBI, in which we sprouted some wheat berries and used them in two breads. I loved those breads so much that afterwards at home I promptly got some wheat berries of my own, set them to sprouting, ground them up, and put them in the refrigerator with the intention of baking with them within a few days.

Well… one thing and another kept me from getting to that sprouted wheat for quite some time… and when I finally opened up the container I got a nose full of fumes that left no doubt as to what “grain alcohol” is all about. So consider yourself warned: sprouted wheat does not keep forever in the refrigerator; it will, given enough time, ferment itself into oblivion. If you’re going to go to the trouble of sprouting it, make sure you have a plan for using it.

That batch was destined for the compost pile, but I did better this time. If you guessed that this is a batch of ground sprouted wheat berries that I prepared for my BreadBakingDay #11 (bread with sprouts) offering, you were absolutely right.

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This week, yeast was spotted in:

• Sourdough Loaves:
• Buckwheat Sourdough ~ Brown Interior
• Rosemary Olive Oil Sourdough ~ Madam Chow’s Kitchen

• Baker’s Yeast Loaves and Rolls:
• Gruyere-Stuffed Crusty Loaves ~ Phemomenon
• Pretzel Bread Baguettes ~ Warm Olives
• Whole Grain Anadama Bread ~ Apple Pie, Patis, & Paté
• Seeduction Bread ~ Caviar and Codfish
• Seven Heavens Challah ~ The Jew & The Carrot
• Hamburger Rolls ~ Wild Yeast

• Flatbreads:
• Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza ~ bitchincamero
• Grilled Pizza with Honey Whole-Wheat Crust ~ Life’s Too Short for Mediocre Chocolate
• Schiacciata di Uva ~ Grain Power
• Pita ~ The Way The Cookie Crumbles
• Kaesestangen ~ i shot the chef
• Barbecue Chicken Pizza ~ Dianne’s Dishes
  

• Sweet Breads and Pastries:
  
• Chocolate Prune Bread ~ Andrea’s Recipes
• Beignets ~ real bagels are boiled
• Fruit-n-Nut Ring ~ Kitchen Unplugged
• Cinnamon Rolls ~ Honigmilch’s Weblog
• Chocolate Almond Swirl Bread ~ Seitan Is My Motor
• Croissants ~ Dhanggit’s Kitchen

And bread made an appearance in:

• Sauces and Soups:
• Seafood Salad with Romesco Sauce ~ Stir the Pots
  



• Bread Soup ~ Twin Tables
• French Onion Soup ~ 101 Things Every Cook Should Cook

• Noshes:
• Eggplant Caponata Bruschetta ~ The Culinary Sherpas

• Salads:
  
• Spring Panzanella ~ 101 Cookbooks
• Fresh Favas With Eggs and Croutons ~ Superspark
  

For more bread inspiration, and information on how to be spotted, visit the YeastSpotting archive.

Do you know what this is?

Here’s a closer look; now do you know?

Last weekend, we grilled the first hamburgers from our newly-joined meat CSA. They were most excellent accompanied by a little lettuce, tomato, and red onion on these rolls. I made everyone wait while I took a photo before we could eat. (This is just one of the ways I endlessly embarrass my daughter, who is convinced I lie awake at night plotting new ways to do this.)

The rolls are quite a bit more substantial than the squishy cottony ones that seem, unfortunately, to be standard cookout fare. With about 40% whole wheat flour, the crust is chewy-tender, the crumb soft but still hearty and flavorful. And they’re not just for burgers; they work for just about any sandwich. Sized a little smaller, they would also make fine dinner rolls.

The preferment in this recipe is prefermented dough (AKA “pâte fermentée” or “old dough”). This is essentially a simple white bread dough that has already undergone its first fermentation. You can make it from scratch, as described here, but if you have some extra dough left over from making French bread or pizza, go ahead and use that. Or, in a pinch, you can use store-bought dough (Trader Joes’ isn’t bad).

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Need some yeasty inspiration? Try these from the past week’s food blog offerings:

• Whole Wheat Challah at Jugalbandi
• Strawberry-Rhubarb Calzones at Food Blogga
• Müesli Bread (and Minneolo Marmalade) at vegan visitor
• Jim Lahey’s Potato Pizza at smitten kitchen
• Pane Casalingo at Rosa’s Yummy Yums
• Deep-Dish Sausage and Tomato Pizza at Vicarious Foodie
• Leek and Onion Tart at Sunday Nite Dinner
• Easy Brioche at pete bakes
• Bretzel Rolls (Bavarian Pretzel Sandwich Rolls) at The Teacher Learns to Cook
• Sticky Buns at tastytype

If that’s not enough, check out the BreadBakingDay #10 Roundup at Baking a Sweet Life for 54 breakfast breads!

And if you’re tired of eating your bread straight-up:

• Savory Mushroom Bread Pudding at off the (meat)hook
• North African Pitta Bread Salad at cooking up a storm
• Bread and Butter Pudding at e’s joie

For more bread inspiration, and information on how to be spotted, visit the YeastSpotting archive.