Sourdough with 20% Barley Flour

I'm always on the lookout for new flour to bake bread with, newly milled flour of course is always a winner, but the other day I came across some barley flour and I thought I would give it a go. As a rule I don't add more than 20% of any flour to my strong white bread flour unless I already know how well it is going to perform. From the feel of the dough I would say that 20% was about right in this instance, any more and the texture would be compromised by this low gluten flour. Add more if you wish more of the nutty flavour but expect a denser loaf.

You will need:
For the ferment,
100g of starter from the fridge
200g of strong white flour
200g of water

For the main dough'
All of the ferment
1,000g of Strong White flour
300g of Barley flour
700g of water
100g of malt extract
20g of salt.


 Begin by making up the ferment, mix all the ingredients and set aside covered in a 1 litre bowl. It's winter here in Norfolk and the first snow has fallen, the house is cold and so this ferment took 26 hours before it was showing really good signs of vigorous growth, bubbles bursting regularly and the surface caving in on itself in creases.
Add the main dough ingredients, omitting the salt and malt. Mix to thoroughly combine and leave covered overnight. In the morning add the salt and the malt and continue mixing for a couple of minutes to ensure even distribution.
Transfer the dough to a Tupperware type container, large enough to allow it to nearly double in volume. The dough needs to rise for at least 4 hours with a stretch and fold every hour. You should notice the dough becoming stronger with the gluten development at each stretch and fold. Finally divide the dough into 3 and on a well floured surface, form each piece into an oval loaf shape before placing with the seam side up in a well floured banneton proving basket to rise. Leave the dough to rise, in my case for 3 hours at around 12C before baking in a hot oven 220C for 30 to 35 minutes.
The addition of barley flour in this bread, produces not only a delicious flavoured crumb but an extra chewy crust, which for me is always welcome. The more you chew the crust on a good loaf of bread the deeper the flavour

Notes:

Increasingly I find people putting bread recipes on the internet which sound more and more complicated and inaccessible. It's almost as though an elite of modern bread bakers is being created. My main goal is to have more people baking their own daily bread, whether it's a simple white loaf made with commercial yeast to something more substantial made with wild yeast that has taken a couple of days to produce. Baking bread should not be difficult, the number of ingredients is very low. The experience of baking bread brings with it, its own tutorials so long as you keep trying and asking why things turn out the way they do.The biggest thing I need to manage in order to bake bread is my time. Bread, especially good bread  cannot be rushed, so organising when I can be around to move dough on from one stage to the next sometimes takes planning. Ive been baking bread now for 50 years and I am still finding clues to perfect the art. The results bring me pleasure on so many levels, but what they don't do is place me in some elite group. I'm the first to admit I don't write recipes in a manner that spells out the finest detail, but if you fancy having a go at one of my recipes, do try and if you run into difficulties, get in touch and I will try to help, happy baking.