[Sca-cooks] kasha/groats bread from estrella siege

Terry Decker t.d.decker at att.net
Tue Feb 24 18:31:38 PST 2009


> Now, the things that I would change.  First I have contemplated soaking 
> the buckwheat first before grinding, since i have never worked with 
> buckwheat I am not sure how this would work.  But I would try.

Were you using groats or kasha?  Groats are usually raw, while kasha has 
been toasted in oil.  The toasting process will reduce the bitterness of the 
groats and should render the grinding easier.  Soaking might make crushing 
the groats easier, but I would experiment with the process to see if I got a 
reasonable texture.

Second, the bread rise
> was not what I expected, I think the gluten was low in what we had and as 
> I add the salt later in the recipe, I don't think it reacted well with the 
> yeast as needed to form a good rise.  I would have prefered a larger rise.

Maslin loaves don't usually rise as well as loaves completely from wheat 
flour, so that is a potential problem.  The amount of salt should have 
produced a small moderating effect on the yeast.  That you didn't get the 
rise you expected suggests that the yeast was old and/or had not been 
properly stored.  Another possibility is the flour provided was one of the 
lower gluten brands available.  To ameliorate some of these problems, I 
would add a couple tablespoons of diamalt to the flour.  It helps feed the 
yeast and sweeten the loaf.

> Also, the brick oven I used, the temperature is not something you can 
> control easily, so I started the baking around 400 degrees and as the 
> temperature loss occured, I rotated the bread and even moved it to the 
> front to give it a longer bake time.  So basically, I played in the oven 
> for awhile.  And the cumin, for me it was a little too much, but others 
> thought it was good.
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him 
> through temporary periods of joy."
> W. B. Yeats
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Kathleen Roberts

Sounds as if the oven may have been a little cold.  You may not have gotten 
a good ovenspring.  Not much you can do about that except bake it a longer 
and hope for the best.

I am going to try the recipe next month.

Bear 




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