The Bitsa
Spelt, barley, rye, gluten, and psyllium
A considerably more successful multi-flour (as opposed to multi-grain) experiment with spelt, barley, rye, gluten, and psyllium. It started with a spelt-only poolish.
Ingredients
Poolish
250g white spelt flour
250g warm water
1.5g active dried yeast
Remainder
250g white spelt flour
270g barley flour
135g rye flour
90g gluten flour
5g psyllium husk
400g warm water
10g salt
The mix was 65% hydration, me thinking that the psyllium would swallow some of it. Famous last words.
The poolish fermented for about 3 hours. Then I diluted the poolish with the rest of the water and mixed in the remaining flours and salt. The second proofing was about 2 hours and left me with a very wet dough that I could barely control and ended up mostly schlopping into the buttered bread tin. I did try to stretch and fold either side of the second proofing but there wasn’t much structure discovered. After about 40 minutes I baked at 210 degrees C for about 45 minutes.
I’m quite surprised that it came out as well as it did. I was even more surprised, having taken half a loaf down to my church’s monthly congregational dinner, to have people telling me how good it was.
If you have been able to use or adapt this recipe, please consider donating to my favourite charity: Nireekshana Orphanage, Andhra Pradesh, India. Alternatively, assist with the goal of making the orphanage electrically self-sufficient. The cost of electricity is rising everywhere, including India.