Korni Bread

Yaey look at my pretty BBB badge!

I remember when Lynn first joined the Bread Baking Babes (a group that bakes the chosen bread every month). I admired her and her bread baking skills, and part of me wanted to join in because it's always fun to be a part of those bake along groups, but the other part of me was so scared of kneading. But now that I've gotten over that fear, I couldn't wait for Lynn to post the next BBB bread so I could bake it and join them! Silly me, I left it until the last day, so I won't get to taste the bread until tomorrow. But it looks good and I love how it's so full of all different grains and things like rye flour, whole wheat flour, flax seeds, millet (at least I think I added millet - hard to tell between amaranth and millet in my unlabeled jars!) and roasted soy beans. The only thing I didn't do was put the milk/egg glaze. As nice as that glaze is, I hate using up an egg for it so I usually just brush water on. I can't wait to find out what the next months' bread is!

Update: I thought yesterday was the 29th (the last day to post about the bread) but that's today! Oops. Anyway this morning I put the bread out to take photos and left the room for a minute. Then I came back to Abby licking the bread! Cat approved. The bread is really yummy and I'm in love with the chewy and dense yet soft texture. I wish I hadn't flattened the loaf so much though as now I have these really long slices and I'm not sure what container I can put them in!

Korni
Adapted from Joe Ortiz' The Village Baker

(makes 1 round 3 1/2 pound loaf)

Korni means corn or grain. It is made from a combination of grains that go well together for flavor, crunchiness, and good nutrition.

Soy bean mixture
1/2 cup organic (dried) soy beans
1 cup boiling water

Poolish
1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons; 1/4 oz) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup organic rye flour
1 cup organic whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups organic unbleached white (or all-purpose) flour

Dough
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
All of the starter from the previous step
3 cups organic, unbleached white (or all-purpose) flour
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ground caraway seeds*
1/4 cup organic flax seeds
1/2 cup organic millet
All of the soy mixture

Prepare the soy beans:
Place them in a small bowl, cover them with the boiling water, and let them soak for 10 minutes. Drain the beans and let them cool. Process the beans in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until they roughly chopped.

Place the beans on a cookie sheet and roast them in a preheated 350°F oven between 15 and 20 minutes, until they are completely dried out. Set them aside.

Prepare the sponge/poolish:
First proof the yeast, in a large bowl, in 1 cup of the warm water. When it is creamy, mix in 1 1/4 cups warm water and slowly add the rye flour, whole wheat flour, and 1½ cups of white flour by handfuls while stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon.
Set the batter aside, in a large bowl, covered with a dish towel, for between 8 and 10 hours or overnight.

Make the dough:
Proof the yeast in the warm water, add it to the risen sponge, and mix the two together. Start adding the flour, handful by handful, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. After all but 1 cup of the flour has been added (this will take about 10 minutes), turn the dough out onto your worktable, sprinkle the salt and the ground caraway over the dough, and incorporate them by kneading the dough for about 5 minutes while adding the last of the flour. The dough should be very moist.

Add the flax seeds, millet, and roasted soy beans and knead the dough to incorporate them.
Set the dough aside, covered, to rise for 1 hour, until it has doubled in size.

Flatten out the dough again and then shape it into a round loaf. This loaf is best proofed in a canvas-lined basket (I used a large bowl sprayed with baking spray) and then baked on a baking stone in the oven. It can also be placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let the loaf rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

Glaze the loaf with water and bake it in a preheated 425°F oven for between 30 and 35 minutes.

Let the loaf cool on a wire rack.

*(to make your own, grind a few tablespoons of whole caraway seed in a mortar with a pestle until you have a fine powder. If your powder still contains large chunks of seed, sift the mixture and use 1 tablespoon of the sifted powder)