More fun with spent grains!

This auvergne crown, about 14 inches in diameter, was created using Daniel Leader's recipe with a few changes. His recipe uses 3.25 cups of bread flour. I substituted one cup of spent grains for one of the cups of bread flour. After drying the grains thoroughly, they were ground in the blender to a fine consistency, not quite as fine as flour.

Wort from the beer making process was used instead of the 1.5 cup of water. The wort was heated to about 90 degrees before adding to the flour.



This recipe begins by activating a stiff dough levain with water and flour, it doesn't use any yeast, just this starter. (The starter is created by capturing wild yeast in a flour and water mixture over several days. Daniel Leader's book explains how to do this.) The dough mixes easily in the mixer and the mixer was used to knead the dough. It is a little sticky and kneading with the mixer works very well. The inside of the bread is light in texture, as dark in color as you see in the picture on the outside and is great for sandwiches.

Shaping the crown is easy. Just form a boule and make a hole in the middle. Then insert your fingers to gently open the hole in the dough. Just picking it up in the middle will create a loop that you then place on a piece of parchment to allow the dough to proof. You don't want to degas the dough, handle it as gently and briefly as possible.

Sift a veil of flour over the surface of the crown, cover it and allow it to proof for about 1.5 hours at room temperature. Just before baking, slice the surface with a wet serrated sharp knife.

To compensate for the loss of heat in the oven when opening the door, I preheat to about 50 degrees higher than the recipe calls for. I tend to lose about 50 degrees when inserting the bread and ice cubes to create steam. Once the bread is in the oven I re-set the temperature called for in the recipe. This seems to work well.

Daniel Leader's book, Local Breads, is a great resource if you want to learn about starters and sourdough and other whole-grain bread recipes.