Essential: Wheat Berry Bread

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* Exported from MasterCook *

 

Wheat Berry Bread

 

Recipe By : The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook by Diana Shaw, page 400

Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : Breads

 

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

1 cup wheat berries

2 teaspoons dry active yeast

2 cups warm water -- (98 to 115F.)

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour -- approximately

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons barley-malt syrup or brown sugar

1 tablespoon salt

Cornmeal -- for dusting

 

Makes 2 loaves, serves 16

 

TOTAL TIME: about 16 hours, 30 minutes, including time to soak the berries

and for the dough to rise.

TIME TO PREPARE: about 40 minutes

COOKING TIME: 50 minutes

EQUIPMENT: baking stone, baker's peel (optional)

REFRIGERATION/FREEZING: do not refrigerate. Freeze Up to 6 months

 

There were eight boulangeries on our street in Paris, and while all offered

a similar selection of breads, each was best at only one kind. There was

one for whole wheat (pain complete), another for seven grain (sept cereal),

another for baguettes, another for organic wheat (ble biologique), and

another whose pain au levain (sourdough) has been made every day for three

hundred years in the same wood-burning oven.

 

If I were to open a shop, in Paris or anywhere else, I'd want to he known

for this bread, studded with chewy wheat berries and lightly sweetened with

barley malt.

 

At least 8 hours before you plan to make the dough, place the wheat berries

in a small bowl. Add water to cover. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

 

At the same time, make the sponge for the bread, combine 1 teaspoon of the

yeast and 1 cup of the warm water in a large bowl. Stir in 1 cup of the

all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup of the wheat flour and beat until you have a

stretchy batter that pulls away from the sides of the bowl in thick

strands. (You'll stir about 100 strokes to reach this stage.) Cover with

plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel, and set aside in a warm place, away

from drafts, to ferment.

 

Eight to twelve hours later, drain the wheat berries. By now the sponge

should be very bubbly and smell of yeast. Stir into it the remaining yeast

and warm water, the barley- malt syrup or brown sugar, salt, the remaining

whole wheat flour, and wheat berries. Add additional all-purpose flour

until you have a dough that is firm enough to handle.

 

If you're using a Mixmaster to make the dough, after you've added the

remaining ingredients up to the whole wheat flour and berries to the

sponge, use the paddle at low speed to combine them. Switch to the dough

hook, and add the all-purpose flour 1 cup at a time, mixing at medium speed

until the dough forms a ball around the hook.

 

Whether you've mixed the dough by hand or machine, lightly flour your hands

and a work surface, and turn the dough out onto the surface to knead until

smooth and springy, about 15 minutes. (Pinch the dough and pull it

back. When it springs into place, it's ready.) Shape into a firm ball.

 

Lightly grease a bowl and place the dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap

and a towel and set aside in a draft-free place to rise until doubled,

about 1 1/2 hours.

 

Press down the dough in the center, and deflate it. Turn it out onto a

lightly floured surface and knead it briefly, just to squeeze out the air.

 

Divide the dough into 2 pieces. Cupping one piece between your hands,

rotate it while tucking the dough under to form a perfect round. Repeat

with the other piece. Dust the center of 2 clean dish towels with about

1/4 cup flour each, and rub the flour into them. Place each towel, floured

side up, in a soup bowl about 8 inches in diameter. Place the rounds of

dough upside down in the bowls. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set

aside in a draft-free place to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

 

Forty-five minutes before you plan to bake the bread, place the baking

stone on the center rack of the oven, and heat to 450F.

 

Sprinkle a baking sheet or baker's peel with cornmeal. Using a dish towel

to assist you, carefully turn the dough out of the bowls onto the baking

sheet or peel so their top sides are down. If it deflates a bit, try to

pat the rounds gently back into shape. Using a serrated knife, quickly

score the top of each loaf with 3 slashes or an X and put the loaves in the

oven, either on the baking sheet or by sliding them off the peel onto the

baking stone.

 

Close the oven door for about 15 seconds. Open the oven and squirt inside

with water to make steam, using a water pistol or a spritzer bottle. If

you don't have either, simply splash a bit of water from a cup onto the

oven floor. (Make sure you don't hit the hot lightbulb with the water.)

Close the door for 30 seconds, then repeat.

 

Bake until the loaves are golden brown and, when tapped on the bottom,

sound as if they're hollow inside, about 40 minutes. If the bread is

browning but doesn't sound hollow, cover the loaves loosely with foil,

lower the heat to 400F., and continue baking until they're done, checking

every 5 minutes.

 

Transfer the loaves to a wire rack and let them cool completely before slicing.

 

PER SERVING: calories 216, protein 6.9 g, carbohydrate 45.9 g, fat 0 g

cholesterol 0, mg sodium 402 mg, 3% calories from fat.

 

BREAD MACHINE OPTION: Place all of the ingredients in your breadmaker,

according to the manufacturer's instructions. Once the dough has risen,

take it out of the machine, shape it as directed in the recipe, and

continue to follow the recipe from that point.

 

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