Kernza Sandwich Bread
Soft sandwich bread is a wonderful staple of most kitchens, and using some fresh milled Kernza perennial grain adds a delicious nutty herbal flavor and caramel color to the crumb.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 50 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- For a Small Pullman Pan or Medium Loaf Pan
- 365 g bread flour (2 3/4 + 1 Tbsp)
- 65 g home-milled Kernza perennial grain (1/2 cup flour)
- 180 g water (3/4 cup)
- 100 g milk (1/3 cup)
- 80 g sourdough starter (1/4 cup)
- 40 g light olive oil or avocado oil or softened unsalted butter (2 1/2 - 3 Tbsp)
- 20 g sugar (scant 2 Tbsp)
- 8 g salt (1 1/2 tsp)
- Baker's Percentages
- 100 % flour (85% bread flour, 15% Kernza)
- 65 % liquid (42% water, 23% milk)
- 19 % starter
- 9 % oil or softened unsalted butter
- 5 % sugar
- 1.9 % salt
Instructions
- 1
Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
- 2
Combine the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and let the dough sit for 15-20 minutes, then stretch and fold the dough and form it into a ball. Do 1-2 more rounds of stretching and folding of the dough with 20-30 minute rests in between.
- 3
Cover the dough and let it rise until it has almost doubled in size. At warm temps with just-ripened starter, this may take 4 hours from mixing, while at cooler temps with starter that was refrigerated after ripening days, this may be 8 hours or longer.
- 4
Shaping
- 5
Grease a medium loaf pan or Pullman pan. Flour your work surface, and place the dough on the flour. Shape it into a simple sandwich loaf, a lobed sandwich loaf, or a braid if desired.
- 6
Simple loaf: Pat the dough into a square and roll it into a loose tube. Pat the tube down, this time into a rectangle with an 8" short edge. Starting at a short edge, roll the dough again so you have a neat 8-9" long tube. Place it in the pan, seam side down.
- 7
Lobed loaf: Divide the dough in four pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. If the dough is tight, let it rest 5-10 minutes. Then flatten each piece into an oblong shape about 3 x 6 inches. Then roll each oblong into a tube starting at a short edge. Place the four tubes in the loaf pan seam side down, alternating the direction of the swirls to encourage upward rise of the dough.
- 8
Final Proof
- 9
Cover and let the dough rise again until it has doubled in height. The final proof can take place at room temperature for several hours, or with a combination of time at room temperature and in the refrigerator. If refrigerating the dough, do so before it has doubled in case it keeps expanding in the cold. If the dough hasn't doubled by morning, take it out of the refrigerator and let it keep rising.
- 10
Baking
- 11
Preheat your oven to 375°F for about 15 minutes with a shelf one level up from the bottom.
- 12
Brush the top of the dough with milk or water. If you have a Pullman pan lid, you can use it. Place the pan in the oven.
- 13
Bake for 50 minutes. To firm up the loaf, take it out of the pan and bake it directly on the oven shelf for the last 5-10 minutes.
- 14
When baking is complete, the bread should have an internal temperature of at least 190°F.
- 15
Brush the still-warm crust with butter or oil to keep it softer if you want.
- 16
Let the bread cool for about 2 hours before slicing. Store the bread in a beeswax bag, plastic bag, bread box, or under a bowl on a cutting board.