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I tried a new recipe, "Buckwheat-Barley Bread," from The Baking Sheet (Winter 2000), p. 18. I followed the recipe (ingredient list below) exactly, except for substituting in 1/4 cup buttermilk for some of the 1 and 1/4 cups of water. It was designed for a bread machine with no manual instructions, but I used the bread machine just for kneading. The first rise was only 40 minutes (maybe 30 minutes would have been better). The second rise was 30 minutes, and I could have cut that about 5 minutes shorter. [I'm wondering if buckwheat and barley have shorter rising times, or if it's just the amount of yeast KAF puts into bread, especially those designed for bread machines. I do know not to expect it to rise as high with these flours.] I baked it for 35 minutes in a 350F oven in an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch pan. I had some for breakfast the next morning. It does not have much flavor to it. I'm wondering if less yeast and a slower rise would improve it, or perhaps baking it at 375F? It is good with homemade jam, but that is likely the jam talking.
Here is the ingredient list:
1 1/4 cups water (I substituted in 1/4 cup buttermilk for 1/4 cup water)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Tbs. canola oil
2 Tbs. sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. Baker's special dried milk (probably could have omitted since I used buttermilk)
3/4 cup buckwheat flour (hm, it says "white buckwheat")
1/2 cup whole barley flour
2 1/2 cups unbleached, AP (used KAF) flour
2 tsp. instant yeast (I used active and proofed it)I bake with whole grains for health, but I also want the products to be tasty. The headnote said "It's a soft-textured but hearty bread," and that its "light color is a nice contrast to the dark soup" that it is paired with. Hmm--maybe when a recipe author talks about color and texture and not taste, I should pay attention?
After I mixed it in the bread machine, it was pretty sticky, but I used wet hands to move it to a greased bowl to rise, and it was a soft dough but not too sticky when I turned it out and shaped it by rolling it up. It was probably around 78=80F in my kitchen during those quick rises.
The finished bread has tiny air holes all over the outside--unusual but nice. The texture is great. What is missing is taste. In the past, when people gave me bread machine loaves, it was the lack of taste that struck me--just as in the standard commercial bread loaf. Maybe I should look for a wholegrain recipe that is not for a bread machine, since I think they invariably require too much yeast due to the machine's requirements.
Please share your thoughts or point me in the direction of other recipes that use barley and/or buckwheat. I've used buckwheat before (in waffles, pancakes, and flat bread), so I know it has an assertive taste. I've also been experimenting with barley (cookie recipe, scones, and brownies, and barley flakes in some cookies and bread). Maybe it's as simple as not combining the two?
Buckwheat doesn't seem to me to have a lot of flavor, but I wonder if the bread also needed to be baked longer to let more of the Maillard process occur and generate flavor notes?
I should take some photos of my buckwheat crop, though, I've been postponing tilling it under because the flowers are pretty. Readers may remember that we put buckwheat and alfalfa in as a cover crop in the area we normally use for tomatoes. I'm not sure, but I think the buckwheat may have pretty much crowded out the alfalfa.
I look forward to seeing pictures if the buckwheat field!
I will try this recipe again, but not for a while, as we will be heading back to Texas next week. I will try baking it longer. I may also try an overnight rise in the refrigerator for the first rise. I'll also look through my wholegrain baking books at home and see if I can pick up additional insights.
Note Added: Toasting it does give more flavor, but it is still not that dynamic.
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