Roasted flour bread

While baking my last batch of baking I placed a baking tray in the oven containing 200g of Prior's flour. I left it in at 220 degrees C for roughly 10 minutes, checking frequently to make sure the flour didn't become too dark. All flours are going to vary in water content so each will need to be watched as the colour turns from a creamy white to a milky coffee colour. You may find you need to take the tray out and stir the flour a little to ensure even baking. The end result is flour which you can sieve and keep to use in baking a batch of roasted flour bread.

You will need:
For activating the starter,
100g of starter from the fridge
100g of Strong white bread flour, I used Prior's organic white for this batch
100g of water.

For the ferment,
All of the activated starter
200g of Strong white bread flour
200g of water

For the main dough,
All of the ferment
800g of Strong white bread flour
200g of roasted white bread flour
450g of water
20g of salt


Activate the starter by mixing all the ingredients together are leaving, covered until you begin to see bubbles appearing on the surface.

Take the activated starter and add the ferment ingredients, stir well and leave covered until the surface shows a healthy amount of activity See fig 1. Add all the main dough ingredients except the salt and if using an electric mixer mix on a medium speed for 3-4 minutes. Leave the dough covered for a minimum of 8 hours. At this point I go to bed.

After the bulk rising time, add the salt and mix again on a medium speed for 4-5 minutes to develop the gluten.

Leave the dough, covered, to rise for and hour. Stretch and fold the dough to further develop the gluten. Repeat the stretching and folding two more times at 1 hourly intervals.


Divide and shape the dough into 3 oval loaves and place seam side up on a well floured linen cloth to rise for 2-3 hours until nearly doubled in size.

Slash the loaves and bake in a hot oven 220 degrees C for 30 - 35 minutes. I transfer my loaves onto a pre-heated cast iron flat griddle and bake them one at a time, moving the loaf onto a different shelf in the oven after 15 minutes in order to re-use the griddle, a pizza stone will serve the same purpose.

 Notes:
The choice of shape for your finsihed loaf is up to you of course,  I lean towards battard or oval more than boules because I have more even sized slices when it comes to eating them.

It's entirely possible to take care not to disturb the large holes formed during the rising, stretching and folding process, simply avoid knocking the dough back too much. Whereas I too think the large holes are attractive and often a sign that a natural ferment has been used, when it comes to buttering toast, large holes are just that bit too impractical and so I knead my dough a little more when it comes to shaping.