Yield: 4 ‘9×5’ pan loaves

Approx. loaf weight: 925g

INGREDIENTS

Levain

• 174g Trailblazer T85 high-extraction flour (you can source from Cairnspring Mills)
• 174g water
• 10g starter

Final dough

• • 695g Trailblazer T85 high-extraction flour
  • 695g Whole grain flour (use Expresso or Buck Pronto, also available from Cairnspring Mills)
  • 1000g water
  • 32g salt (Kosher or fine sea salt)
  • 7g instant yeast
  • 110g honey or molasses
  • 80g olive oil
  • 358g levain (from above)

• Porridge

• • 244g rolled oats
  • 484g water

METHOD

The night before

• Twelve hours before you want to mix your dough, weigh flour, water, starter (should be active–meaning it doubles in volume within 4-6 hours after being fed with fresh flour). Mix together in a bowl and cover. Leave to sit on counter overnight; it will double in 12 hours.

Before mixing, make porridge

• Combine water and oatmeal, microwave 5-6 minutes (or cook on stovetop).
• When cooked, remove from heat and stir. Add oil and honey/molasses, stir. (The oil and sweetener prevent the porridge from clumping.) Set aside to cool.

Autolyze

•  Mix flour, water & levain, by hand just until incorporated. Autolyze for 30 minutes up to 1 hour. (If you’ll be using a stand mixer in the next step, you can autolyze in the stand mixer bowl.)

Mix

• Add remaining ingredients, salt, yeast and the cooled (about room temperature) porridge to the mixing bowl.
• Mix by hand using a gentle motion or by machine (lowest speed) until incorporated and gluten starting to develop – about 5 minutes. (This is a sticky dough.)
• Shift to medium speed (2nd speed on Kitchen Aid) and mix for another 8-10 minutes. Or by hand, slap-and-fold on the kitchen counter for 15-18 more minutes. Length and time of the manual slap-and-fold can vary by energy level of the baker. Gluten will develop but dough may be tacky and produces only slight window pane. Desired dough temperature is 74-80 ℉.

Bulk fermentation

• Bulk ferment for one hour with one fold 30 minutes in. (View simple fold technique.)

Divide and pre-shape

• Flour your work surface, since this is a sticky dough. Prepare a small bowl with water for dipping your fingers in for the same reason.
• Divide the dough into roughly equal pieces, a scale is valuable.
• Pre-shape and let “bench” rest, covered on the counter, for 20 minutes.

Shape and proof

• Lightly grease 9″ x 5″ pans
• Shape loaf
• Garnish top with oatmeal by rolling top of shaped loaf on a damp dish towel then rolling on a plate of oats. (Alternatively, spritz top of loaf with water and sprinkle oatmeal on top, pressing down lightly to help it adhere.)
• Proof, covered with dish towel, 60 minutes (60 minutes is often enough time, sometimes shorter. If kitchen really cool, could go longer.)
• Preheat oven to 425℉

Bake

• When ready to bake, place in preheated oven and immediately reduce temperature to 375℉.
• Check in 30 minutes – if browning too quickly, lower temp and tent with aluminum foil. 
• Bake for 40-45 minutes total.
• When loaves are done, you can remove one loaf from pan and give it a thump on the bottom and listen for a hollow sound, remove from oven and place on rack to cool.
• When cool enough to handle, remove from pan and let bread continue to cool on the rack. 
• Allow to cool completely (up to a few hours), then package in plastic bags or plastic wrap, and freeze, eat, or donate!