Cecilia's Two Black Emmer Loaves
Black Emmer is the most beautiful old-fashioned bread flour imaginable. In fact I think it is my new favorite. It is truly ancient. Digestible and delicious. It will give you a darker richer loaf of super bread.
My first recipe is for a blended medium crumb loaf. I like the Italian Pizza Flour for my ‘bread flour’ portion here because it is 70% extraction and run through a finely sifting screen. I think this works nicely with the Black Emmer that is 100% extraction with more obvious bran. But you can use the High Protein bread flour for an even lighter loaf.
- 250g Janie’s Mill Black Emmer Flour
- 250 Italian Style Pizza Flour (or High Protein or Sifted Artisan Bread Flour)
- around 375g water
- 1 teaspoon Instant Yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt.
I know the above image is not a pretty picture but we can’t all be pretty and I do like to hydrate the yeast (even when it is instant) AND the salt. And I am ALWAYS making and baking bread around my other work in the mill so I shortcut stuff all the time. Plus I HATE dishes. With this little method I can hydrate the salt and the yeast all in one bowl.
Measure your flour into the bowl. Whisk the flour together. Make a well. Pour the water into the well and a little water into the moat. Yeast into the well. Salt into the moat. Sit for 5 - 10 minutes. Then stir it up.
Mix until fully incorporated (about one minute) then stretch and fold three times every twenty minutes. Cover and rise for another hour in the bowl until almost doubled and you see the beginnings of bubbles on the surface. In the winter this proofing time will be a bit longer. In high summer with high humidity have that oven on before you think you will need it because your proofing time will be shorter. So keep an eye on your dough.
When it is almost fully proofed turn it out onto the counter and prepare your boule in your favorite way. (We all construct our boule differently). For this loaf I then rolled the top of my boule in flaked oats. Let the boule sit either on the counter or in your proofing basket for 10 - 15 minutes to puff up again.
Have a Dutch Oven heating in a 450F oven, (I use a three quart Dutch Oven when I am baking a single loaf), tighten and score your boule and drop it into the Dutch Oven (or Challenger Bread Pan with a little ice), bake twenty minutes with the lid on and 25 minutes with the lid off.
Now, how about a loaf made with 100% Black Emmer Flour. This will be a hearty loaf and it will feel sticky and almost jelly-like during your folds so use wet hands, and watch the proofing time because even though Black Emmer only has an 11% protein level the gluten strands seem to align and rise fast. On the day I baked the loaf below; after three folds (across one hour) the bread was ready to bake 40 minutes after that.
So if you like a heartier loaf (and we do), here are my proportions for a loaf of 100% Black Emmer.
Black Emmer Bread
- 500g Janie’s Mill Black Emmer flour
- around 380g water (be prepared to add little teaspoons of water as you fold, if necessary)
- 1 tsp Instant Yeast
- 1 tsp salt
Mix until fully incorporated (about one minute) then stretch and fold three times every twenty minutes. Cover and rise for about an hour in the bowl until almost doubled and you see the beginnings of bubbles on the surface.
When it is almost fully proofed turn it out onto the counter and prepare your boule in your favorite way. Let the boule sit either on the counter or in your proofing basket for 10 - 15 minutes to puff up again.
Have a Dutch Oven heating in a 450F oven, (I use a three quart cast iron Dutch oven when I am baking a single loaf), tighten and score your boule and drop it into the Dutch Oven (or Challenger Bread Pan with a little ice) bake twenty minutes with the lid on and 25 with the lid off.
If you want to place this either of these doughs in the refrigerator for an overnight ferment (which will further enhance the taste and digestibility) reduce the yeast to 2g.
More Information
Black Emmer has a curious ability to straddle our baking expectations -- it bakes into bread AND sweet goods. So as well as a wonderful loaf of bread we have made great muffins, banana bread and cookies.
Posted on October 18 2019