Experiments in Cooking

Seeded bread with pre-ferment

I have been experimenting with my Seeded Bread recipe to get more depth of flavor as well as weights on the flour instead of volume measurements. I made this recipe using a sponge. The sponge had 250 g flour, 220g of water, and 1/8 tsp of instant yeast. After giving the sponge 6 hours to rise, I added the rest of the ingredients and let my bread machine run the Quick Bread cycle with Dark Crust. The flavor was deeper and more rounded. I will continue experimenting with this recipe till it hits the taste profile of the loaf I’m trying to recreate!

Made with the Zojirushi bread machine, my loaves now have the traditional horizontal shape.

The bread had a pleasing crumb, but not significantly airy despite the sponge.

It rose nice & tall in the bread machine and didn’t collapse in.

Perfect accompaniment to my morning coffee.

Quantities for flour & water in grams: total, sponge & remaining bread.

  • Bread Flour (g): 234 / 234 / 0
  • Wheat Flour (g): 234 / 16 / 218
  • Water (g) : 295 / 195 / 100
  • Instant Yeast (tsp): 2 / 1/8 / 1 & 7/8 (measure out 2 & remove 1/8 for ease)

Rest of the quantities are the same as in the basic Seeded Bread recipe.