Cracked wheat bread: the recipe

At a glance

• Method: Preferment, without autolyse
• Preferment: Leftover dough — 28% of the flour
• Mixing: Stand mixer

• Number of pieces: 2
• Weight per piece: 680 g
• Preferment weight: 314 g
• Dough weight: 1041 g
• Total dough weight: 1360 g

Want to change the number of pieces, their weight or anything else? The calculator redoes the quantities. Open the calculator

Ingredients

Quantities for 2 pieces of 680 g, kitchen at 21 °C

Want to change the ingredients or use your own flour? The calculator redoes quantities and timing. Open the calculator

Method

1. Prepare the grains (see notes)
2. Pasta di riporto: make it and let it ferment (at room temperature) (14 hours)

   • Weigh the ingredients
   • Make a mix with 1 ice cube and 102 g of water at room temperature (to get it to 18 °C)
   • Dissolve the yeast in the water
   • Mix until you get a smooth dough
   • Seal it airtight (a lid, or plastic wrap pressed onto the surface)
3. Weigh the ingredients and knead (30 min)

   • Use water at 23 °C

   • Add the pâte fermentée, then the soaked cracked wheat last of all.
   • Soakers absorb water unevenly: If the dough seems too dry, don't hesitate to add more water.
4. End of mixing, start of bulk rise (at room temperature) (2 hours)

   Fold the dough once, after the first hour of bulk fermentation.
5. Reinforcement fold 1 of 3
6. Reinforcement fold 2 of 3
7. Reinforcement fold 3 of 3
8. Divide/shape: weigh and form the pieces (5 min)

   • Divide into 680 g (1.5 lb) pieces, preshape lightly into rounds and place on a lightly floured work surface, covered with plastic.
   • When the dough has relaxed sufficiently (10 to 15 minutes), shape into round or oval loaves and place them into floured bannetons or between the folds of a floured linen couche, covered with plastic.
   • It can also be put in loaf pans or shaped into rolls.
9. Start of proofing (at room temperature) (1 h 8 min)

   About 1 to 1h15 at 24 °C.
10. Ready to cook

    Slash the loaves as desired before loading the oven.

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Baking

1. • conventional oven, with steam
   • Overall temperature: 240 °C
   • Time: 40 minutes
   • Double steam (before loading and again right after). Once the loaves have taken on colour, open the vent to finish the bake drier; lower the temperature by about 5 °C if the malt syrup is making the bread colour too fast.

The calculator adapts baking times to the weight of your pieces. Open the calculator

Preparation notes

Soaker

1. Crack the wheat and put it in a bowl. Pour the boiling water over it, stir to incorporate and cover with plastic wrap.
2. Make it together with the pâte fermentée: It only needs 4 hours before mixing, but it can sit for as long as the pâte fermentée matures without issues. In hot weather, you can put part of the recipe's salt in the soaker: It slows down the enzymatic activity of the raw wheat.
3. For a finer crumb, crack the wheat as fine as you can in a spice grinder or food processor, then pour the water over it.

Bassinage

If mixing with a stand mixer or spiral mixer, pour in the last 20% of the water gradually, in a thin stream, only after the gluten network has formed.