Whole Emmer Sourdough Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Mix the dough ingredients together in a large bowl and cover.
• After a 20-30 minute rest, stretch and fold the dough with damp fingertips. You can transfer the dough to a straight-walled container at this point if you want. Cover, let the dough rest another 20-30 minutes.
• Do two more rounds of stretching and folding with a 20-30 minute rest in between.
• Let the dough bulk ferment until it has almost doubled in size. At warm temps (low 80s) my dough needed about 5 hours to double. In colder temperatures or with weaker starter, the dough will need more time.
• Shaping and Final Proof
• If desired, flake emmer berries for the bread's crust.
• Flour your work surface and scrape your dough out of your bowl or bucket.
• Shape the dough into a boule, batard, or oblong loaf to suit your proofing basket and baking vessel.
• Evenly spread the optional emmer flakes on your work surface in the shape of the dough (round, oval, oblong). Brush or spray water on the top of your dough and flip it onto the flakes to coat the dough surface.
• Place the dough flake-side down in your proofing basket. Scoop up some of the extra flakes and "drizzle" them down the edges of the dough to further coat it and prevent sticking.
• Cover and let the dough rise again for about 30 minutes at room temperature and then refrigerate it overnight (8-16 hours). You can also leave the dough at room temperature for longer (1-2 hours) and bake it without the refrigeration stage. My dough bulk-fermented past doubling, so I refrigerated it immediately after shaping and baked about 8 hours later to compensate.
• Baking
• Preheat your oven and baking vessel to 500F for at least 30 minutes.
• Flip the dough out of the proofing basket and onto a sheet of parchment paper or onto the base of your hot baking vessel. Score or scissor cut the dough, then cover and return the vessel to the oven.
• If your baking vessel is a ceramic cloche, bake at:
• 500°F for 20 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 5 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid off
• If your baking vessel is cast iron, bake at:
• 500°F for 15 minutes, lid on. At the 15-minute mark, place a baking sheet directly under the cast iron on the same shelf. This will prevent the base of the bread from burning.
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid on
• 450°F for 10 minutes, lid off
• When baking is complete, the bread should have an internal temperature of at least 205F and it should sound hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf.
• Let the bread cool for a couple of hours before you slice it.