bake - December 2019 - 43

"The power of fermentation
is strong in this one."
Nicky Giusto of Central Milling

hours on this soaker. But if you're going to let it go for 16 hours,
you might want to use cooler water."
The buttermilk is pasteurized, so Giusto thinks that "most of
the inoculation is coming from the spelt itself. I want the spelt
berry to be hydrated naturally. It does the work for you."
By the next morning, the soaker had lots of bubbles and had
increased in size by about a third.
"The power of fermentation is strong in this one," he said. "The
sunﬂower seeds are dancing with the pumpkin seeds. All this
activity is pretty cool."
Next, salt was added, dissolved in water so it could move around
the dough. "Watch this turn into a real strong dough. Water is
a highway. The more highways you have, the faster the yeast is

GRAINS WILL GUIDE THE WAY
Grains gotta be grains. This was among the insightful messages delivered at the International
Symposium on Bread, held earlier this year at the
Johnson & Wales University campus in Charlotte,
North Carolina. The secret to successfully unlocking
the code and producing amazing, flavorful breads
lies in understanding the baker's role in the process and why variables can be helpful rather than
harmful. You can't control every step of the process.
Embrace the variables and learn how to bring out the
full flavor potential locked inside grains.
"The flour will guide the way," said Harry Peemoeller,
senior instructor for Johnson & Wales University in
Charlotte, N.C.

going to travel around your network. I put yeast in the second
stage because it's quick to action - just enough yeast (0.3%
instant yeast) to give me some volume to blast out of the pan."
Spelt requires a very short incorporation time, so Giusto
mixed this stage by hand. "Look at it come together with just
a few rotations. After an hour, you have a wet, soupy mixture.
I cut this wet, with no ﬂour. For the third step, this is your

Peemoeller demonstrated a formula for Poly-batta,
which contained winter poly-crop elements including
Brittany buckwheat, Huguenot black oats, Sea Island
white rice peas, Scots Bere barley, White Lammas
wheat, African red grain sorghum, Sea Island benne,
camelina, Sea Island guinea flint corn, and Nostrale rice.

chance."
Giusto demonstrated the ﬂip-and-ﬂop technique (smack down,
stretch, and ﬂop) to build dough strength. "The stretching and
folding are developing strength in a very short time with a minimal amount of movement."
The ﬁnal proof was 1 hour and, as the dough proofed, a lot
of bubbles developed. "Then you know it's time to go," Gi-

Glenn Roberts, the founder of Anson Mills in
Charleston, South Carolina, discussed how landrace
grains don't follow the rules; they adapt to the specific environment where they are grown. "Everything
we do is based on flavor, impact, truth and future
security," Roberts said. "There are a lot of things to
play with that are of antiquity. Take what you don't
know and turn it into fabulous food."

usto said. "I bake these in a falling oven, starting at 500°F and
dropping down to 440°F or 450°F. This bread needs to be in a
fairly hot oven for a signiﬁcant amount of time (45 minutes to
an hour). Ideally, you want to bake in a falling oven. That gives
you awesome caramelization on top. Vollkorn-style breads
taste better with some time. The ﬂavors become more intense."

In addition, Peemoeller demonstrated a new way to
bake rye bread in a box. Why? "You can bake it longer
and get more depth of flavor. There is no crust, so you
don't have to cut off the crust," he explained. "We used
a whiskey barrel to make the boards to impart flavor."

bake - December 2019

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