Buckwheat and Honey Levain
Tags: Buckwheat, Cooking, Recipes For Cooking, Bread, Baking

Dean Jones — Buckwheat Honey Sourdough

Buckwheat and Honey Levain, the bread you want -but did not know it existed!

I did not grow up with Buckwheat but always heard about the exotic-sounding, Buckwheat Pancakes. I did not much see it used often until I was an adult and would often see Kasha (buckwheat groats) sold in the Grocery Store. I would learn to cook Kasha and it became a mainstay in our household.

By Indigostock — /buckwheat-hulls.html, CC BY-SA 3.0

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds. Buckwheat is a pseudo-cereal — neither grass nor grain — and has nothing to do with wheat. (Although it’s commonly used in baked goods like Pancakes and Waffles.) Gluten- and grain-free, buckwheat flour has more protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins than an equal amount of whole wheat flour.

The name “buckwheat” is also used for a number of other species. Buckwheat is more closely related to rhubarb. You may have seen it referred to as “Kasha” which is essentially the toasted Buckwheat groats. (The main ingredient in one of my favorite Dishes “Kasha Varniskes” This is a dish with Buckwheat groats, Pasta, and onions.) If you have eaten Japanese “Soba” noodles you have eaten Buckwheat.

I wanted to work more with Buckwheat and although I’ve used it in quick bread and muffins, I never really used it much in bread. I had to give it a few tries as the flour texture is very unusual to work with. Buckwheat takes on liquid like a vacuum. I had to re-calibrate the regular to Buckwheat flour ratio and re-examine the levels of various flours to liquid in the rising process. As a result, the beginning dough is very wet. I would caution against adding too much extra flour in this as it may dry out needlessly.

I wish I had not been so overly cautious about using Buckwheat flour as it is delicious in bread, and paired very well with Sourdough. The 12 hour autolyze period breaks down the structure of the flour and incorporates it well with the wheat flour to make a very lovely textured loaf that did not have the hard overly chewiness that Sourdough sometimes has. I really love this loaf (as does my family, who can all be quite picky)with butter and jam, but I would also recommend Cream or another soft cheese with this toast.

I used generic “Clover” Honey with this, but I would love to experiment with a “Buckwheat Honey” for this as it might be interesting.

By Roger McLassus — Photo taken and uploaded by Roger McLassus., CC BY-SA 3.0,

Buckwheat and Honey Levain

Ingredients

For the Levain:

1 cup Bread Flour

1 cup Water

1/4 cup active(well-fed, not dormant) sourdough culture

For the Buckwheat Scald:

1/2 cup Buckwheat Flour

1 1/2 cups boiling water *1

For the final dough:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup stone-ground whole wheat flour

3 cups water Water (room temperature)

1 cup honey

1 tbs sea salt

Method

Mix the levain ingredients and let stand at warm room temperature for 12 hours in a plastic container that will allow for expansion. There should be a lot of extra headroom or it will overflow. This should have a 50% increase in volume. You will prepare the buckwheat for the recipe by combining the buckwheat flour and hot water. Stir vigorously to prevent clumps from forming. It is important that the water is at least boiling in order to properly gelatinize the starch of the buckwheat. Let this mixture cool to room temperature. It should be fairly wet, and it will solidify more after a few minutes. One hour before the final mix, combine the flour and water of the final dough until fully incorporated with no dry bits left. Cover the dough and allow to rest for one hour. Add the pre-prepared levain and salt to the flour/water mixture and hand mix to incorporate. Mix the scalded buckwheat/water in with the remaining ingredients and levain/flour-water mixture. Incorporate all until homogenous. Slap and fold the dough for another 2 minutes or until you have completely incorporated the buckwheat. Mix this dough, using a fold-over method to incorporate the ingredients. The dough should be moist and elastic. Let the dough rise in a large container until it’s doubled in size. It’s important that before you move forward that the dough is doubled and very elastic. Divide the dough into two halves and preshape them into rounds. Allow the dough to rest on a floured board for 30 minutes. Shape the loaves into Boules and let rise in an individual proofing basket each. You can prevent sticking by dusting the baskets (Bannetons) with rice flour. If you don’t have proofing baskets, place a dishtowel in a bowl and you can use that just fine. Proof for at least 2 hours at warm room temperature until the boules have doubled its volume. Preheat the oven to 500˚F with two dutch ovens inside for at least 30minutes. Turn the dough out onto a piece of lightly floured parchment or a floured peel. Spray the boules with a mister on top and score with a razor or sharp knife(lame), and place both in preheated dutch ovens with their lids on. Reduce the oven temperature to 450˚F. I like to score with a square shape on top as this is a very moist bread that will release a lot of steam and split if not scored well. Remove the lids after 30 minutes and continue baking 15-20 minutes until deep brown. (But not overly brown or burnt.) *2 Cool the loaf on a wire rack or breadboard fully before cutting (at least one hour). This portion is crucial. If the loaf is cut while it is still hot, it may end up with an undercooked interior. Cutting into a warm loaf (as tempting as it may be) can cause a compression of the gluten and will make this so that it’s not as good a loaf as if it were allowed to completely finish cooking on the inside. The cut loaf will last for one week in a sealed ziplock bag.

Note *1 — The amount of water for the scalded buckwheat flour should be watched. Make sure that the Buckwheat flour mixture is not too thick or too thin.

Note *2 — Every oven is different. Check this that it does not get so brown that it is burnt. You want this to brown to a dark crust, but not so dark that it burns and ruins the loaves. Keep an eye out and use your sense of smell for an indication of done-ness.

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Dean Jones is a Librarian, Cookbook Reviewer, and writer. Originally from San Diego and having lived his teen years in the Pacific Northwest, Dean has lived for over 20 years in the wonderful but barely affordable San Francisco Bay Area. Dean has graduated with an MLIS from the University of North Texas and has a BA in Liberal Studies from JFK University in the Bay Area. Dean is the Library Director for Hurwich Library in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dean can be seen at Book Festivals, Library field trips with the BayNet Libraries Group of which he the Vice President. He can also be seen haunting farmers’ markets, bookstores, and local restaurants. Dean lives in the SF Bay Area with his lovely wife (also a Librarian) their six kids and a whole lot of books. Dean has been a contributor for to “One Table One World” and newly “The Cookbook for All” — Contact Dean at wellseasonedlibrarian@gmail.com