Recipe: Oat bran bread (1 medium loaf)
Ingredients:
Dough with delayed fermentation
- 2 cups KAF bread flour
- 1 cup oat bran
- 1 cup + 2 TB 1% milk
- 1+1/4 tp salt
- 1 tp active dry yeast
- 1 TB olive oil
Final dough
- dough from delayed fermentation
- 1/2 cup KAF bread flour
- 1 tp active dry yeast
- about 1/2 cup water
- 2 TB olive oil
Procedure:
1. Soak oat bran and yeast in 3/4 cup milk for about 15 minutes.
2. Sieve flour with salt. Then add the soaked oat bran, with liquid into the flour.
3. Mix and knead for a few minutes, adding milk 2 TB at a time, until a moist strong dough is formed.
4. Add 1 TB olive oil, rubbing in.
5. Allow to chill overnight.
6. Allow dough to rise to room temperature. Then adjust hydration with additional water, and flour, and add an extra 1 tp of proofed yeast.
7. Allow to rise until double.
8. Bake at 350F. After the top is golden (about 15 minutes), cover with foil and bake until internal temperature reaches 190F.
9. Cool before slicing.
Result:
Day 1
Day 1, 5:55pm, ingredients:
Day 1, 5:57pm, 1 cup oat bran and 1 tp yeast soaked in 3/4 cup milk and placed in fridge for 15 minutes:
Day 1, 6:01pm, bread flour sieved with salt:
Day 1, 6:10pm, soaked oat bran and yeast:
Day 1, 6:11pm, mixing half the soaked bran with flour:
Day 1, 6:13pm, mixing all of the bran with flour:
Day 1, 6:22pm, 1/4 cup milk added to mixture, preparing to add another 1/4 cup more:
Day 1, 6:23pm, uneven texture of the dough in the midst of mixing:
Day 1, 6:36pm, final dough before adding oil:
Day 1, 6:42pm, rubbing in 1 TB of olive oil:
Day 1, 6:43pm, texture of dough with oil:
Day 1, 6:48pm, dough ready to chill:
Day 1, 6:48pm, dough's height before chilling overnight:
Day 2
Day 2, 2:22pm, dough after overnight fermentation:
Day 2, 2:32pm, bottom of the dough when flipped:
Day 2, 2:37pm, additional 1 tp yeast and 1/2 cup bread flour used to adjust the hydration and the texture of teh dough:
Day 2, 2:38pm, tearing fermented dough into small pieces to mix with flour:
Day 2, 2:39pm, texture of dough when torn apart, apparently sign of insufficient gluten:
Day 2, 2:45pm, dough, proofed yeast and flour in a mixture:
Day 2, 3:06pm, dough after being worked on for 20 minutes, with vigorous kneading and generous hydration; observe the stickiness of dough on hand:
Day 2, 3:18pm, dough vigorously kneaded and stretched for another 10 minutes, and ready to oil:
Day 2, 3:25pm, dough being vigorously kneaded after oiling:
Day 2, 3:25pm, dough's height before resting:
Day 2, 4:09pm, dough rested in warm oven for 50 minutes:
Day 2, 4:09pm, dough's height after resting 50 minutes:
Day 2, 4:09pm, dough's texture after rest:
Day 2, 4:10pm, dough's exceptional softness and pliability after rest:
Day 2, 4:12pm, dough easily and neatly shaped:
Day 2, 4:13pm, dough placed in greased pan to proof:
Day 2, 4:13pm, dough's height before proofing:
Day 2, 4:14pm, dough's surface tension before proofing:
Day 2, 4:45pm, dough proofed 30 minutes in warm oven:
Day 2, 4:45m, dough's height after proofing 30 minutes:
Day 2, 4:47pm, loaf started baking from a slightly warmed oven:
Day 2, 4:47pm, oven started heating up to 350F:
Day 2, 5:10pm, loaf baked 15 minutes:
Day 2, 5:10pm, loaf's internal temperature at 15 minutes:
Day 2, 5:11pm, thermometer coming out sticky at 15 minutes:
Day 2, 5:11pm, loaf covered and resumed baking:
Day 2, 5:35pm, loaf baked 50 minutes in total:
Day 2, 5:35pm, thermometer coming out almost clean at 50 minutes:
Day 2, 5:36pm, loaf's top while in pan:
Day 2, 5:36pm, loaf's baked height:
Day 2, 5:38pm, loaf's heel:
Day 2, 5:38pm, loaf's two sides:
Day 2, 5:39pm, loaf's bottom in 3 views:
Day 2, 5:40pm, loaf's top when fresh:
Day 2, 5:41pm, loaf's crack:
Day 2, 9:05pm, loaf cooled, with only minimal wrinkling:
Day 2, 9:09pm, loaf cleanly sliced, yielding 14 thick slices:
Day 2, 9:09pm, crust and crumb:
Day 2, 9:10pm, the distinctively bubbly layer underneath crust:
Day 2, 9:10pm, a center slice with a scar from the thermometer:
Day 2, 9:10pm, a heel slice:
Day 2, 9:11pm, a bite:
Observations:
1. In this experiment, I want to test out delayed fermentation. After working on the dough for a while, I've come to realize that the ratio of bran to bread flour (1:2) is probably too high. In my previous experiments, this ratio result in breads that are very dense, and are pleasant to eat only when there is some extra ingredients, such as pineapple, or cheese.
2. Milk tend to disintegrate when left too long. This limits the length of delay I can afford for fermentation.
3. Apparently, oat bran absorbs so much water that the dough remains really tough even after adding ample water.
4. This loaf turns out pleasant in color and aroma. There is no additional sugar in the loaf. The taste is plainly salty, but with a rather rich flavor of oat. It's pleasantly simple. I like it.
5. The challenge in this loaf is its denseness. The crumb is heavy. The holes in the loaf simply aren't big. It might do better if the hydration level is a little higher, but I am not sure about that.
6. Soaking the bran before use seems to improve the texture of the loaf. The crumb feels softer.
