Buckwheat Porridge vs Buckwheat Flour in Bread
This delicious whole grain sourdough bread contains a combination of buckwheat and hard white spring wheat. The buckwheat can be incorporated into the dough as a porridge partway through the first rise, or as flour in the initial dough mix. You choose whether you want to taste and see the different elements more distinctly (porridge) or in a more blended way (flour).
- Prep time
- 1 hr
- Cook time
- 50 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- PORRIDGE VERSION
- Porridge
- 105 grams buckwheat groats (2/3 cup)
- 200 grams water (3/4 cup + 1 1/2 Tbsp)
- Dough
- 415 grams hard white spring whole grain flour (3 1/4 cups)
- 300 grams water (1 1/4 cups)
- 80 grams sourdough starter (1/4 cup)
- 10 grams salt (1 3/4 tsp)
- all of the cooked buckwheat from above, loose liquid should be absorbed or evaporated out, 250-300 grams
- Porridge Version Baker's Percentages
- 100% hard white spring wheat flour
- 75% water
- 19% sourdough starter
- 2.4% salt
- ~60-72% cooked buckwheat, weight may vary, aim for minimal loose liquid
- FLOUR VERSION
- 415 grams hard white spring whole grain flour (3 1/4 cups)
- 105 grams buckwheat flour (~ 3/4 cup)
- 400 grams water (1 2/3 cups)
- 80 grams sourdough starter (1/4 cup)
- 10 grams salt (1 3/4 tsp)
- Flour Version Baker's Percentages
- 80% hard white spring wheat
- 20% buckwheat flour
- 77% water
- 15% starter
- 1.9% salt
Instructions
- 1
This recipe is scaled for a medium USA loaf pan 9x5x2.75 inches. To scale the recipe to fit a different pan, see this FAQ.
- 2
In a warm 78°F kitchen and using ripe sourdough starter, the first rise took about 4 hours from the initial mix. The final proof was a little over an hour. With cooler temperatures, you can expect this timeframe to be significantly longer.
- 3
Buckwheat Cooking (porridge version only)
- 4
There are many ways to cook buckwheat groats and it's not particularly important how you do it as long as they are fluffy and cooked through with minimal extra water. I boiled the water, poured it over the groats in a glass bowl, then covered the bowl with a plate for about 20 minutes. After that I microwaved the groats in 30-second intervals until they puffed up and most of the water had evaporated.
- 5
Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
- 6
Mix the dough ingredients together in a large bowl, not including the cooked buckwheat if that is the version you're making.
- 7
Transfer the dough to a straight-walled container if you have one and cover. Mark the level of the dough if you're making the flour version.
- 8
Let the dough rest about 20 minutes, then stretch and fold or coil fold the dough.
- 9
After another 20-30 minute rest, laminate the dough, adding in the buckwheat porridge if making that version. This video shows how to do this with olives and walnuts, but the method is the same. You can also see a photo from the process in the gallery. If you're making the flour version, you can laminate the dough without additions or do a different form of gluten development if you prefer.
- 10
Return the dough to the bucket/bowl, cover, (mark the level if needed), and let the dough rest another 20-30 minutes.
- 11
Do a final round of stretching and folding or coil folding to further strengthen the dough and better distribute the cooked buckwheat if making that version.
- 12
Let the dough continue to rise until it has expanded by 40-50%. This was a little more than four hours after mixing in a hot kitchen. After over-fermenting an early test dough into a sticky soup, I wanted to undershoot if possible.
- 13
Pre-Shape, Shaping, Final Proof
- 14
Lightly grease-oil your loaf pan.
- 15
Place the fermented dough on a floured work surface and pre-shape it into a ball. The flour version of the dough is a bit hard to manage and especially benefits from this pre-shape. Rest the dough only about 10 minutes so it doesn't loosen up to much, then shape it into a loaf: Pat the dough into an 8x10 inch rectangle. Starting at one of the 8-inch edges, roll the dough into a tube. Place in the pan, seam side down.
- 16
Cover and let rise until about 1/2 inch from the top of the pan. This was a little over an hour in a hot kitchen. See photo gallery for approximate expansion.
- 17
Baking
- 18
Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- 19
Brush water on the top of the dough. Before placing it in the oven, you might consider scoring because the sides of my loaves had some tearing. You could also proof the dough a bit farther than I did.
- 20
Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread is over 190°F. The porridge version may take a little longer because of the moisture locked in the groats.
- 21
Let the bread cool on a rack about 5 minutes before removing from the pan to cool for several hours more.