10% Buckwheat Flour Trial

The bag of buckwheat flour in the cupboard finally caught my attention for a long enough time that I had to try my hand at baking a new style of loaf. I don't recall eating buckwheat breads or pancakes before but since it's been around for so long, I couldn't go too far wrong that I couldn't use it for bread crumbs for the birds in the backyard.

As my title suggests, I used 10% buckwheat flour in the formula. Once again I used my Heartland Mill AP flour but I think bread flour would've been the better choice here for oven spring. The problem may also be due to insufficient kneading in the mixer. Buckwheat has no gluten. It also looks like my hydration was to high at about 73%, the dough didn't keep its shape in the oven and flattened out. I need better shaping skills to get a loaf this wet to stand up after loading.

150g starter at 90% hydration

60g white whole wheat
60g water at room temperature

40g buckwheat flour
40g water at room temperature

Both soakers rested for 4 hours before mixing

All of starter
All of soakers
300g AP flour
166 water at 92F
9g kosher salt

While the ingredients seem to be good, my procedures for handling the dough need to be improved. I like the flavor and suspect that more buckwheat flour is possible without obnoxious results. There's work to be done on this one.

Since I don't type as much as I stab at the keyboard, I've been writing down some recipes on a legal pad lately. I been reading and borrowing as much as I can learn from Leader's "Local Breads" and Clayton's "Breads of France". Clayton's book was written in the late 1970's. The copy I have was loaned by the public library in McPherson, KS and appears to have been printed way back then. I have it for another couple weeks and may look for a used paperback copy. The recipes use volume measurements rather than weights. Clayton makes only passing remarks about levains so rewriting the recipes into sourdough formulas will be a project best left for days when the winter weather is atrocious. There's still enough dry yeast in my downstairs freezer so I could try a recipe or two. The Galette Persane flatbread recipe looks reasonably easy to do with a mixer.
Leader's formulas dictate a different procedure than what I'm used to seeing. Everything up the bulk fermentation is familiar but Leader doesn't call for any stretch and folds to strengthen the gluten and feed the yeast. I haven't tried his techniques so I don't know how well they work. The only complaints I've read about the book have been in regard to some careless editing so he may have something going on that I've yet to learn the how and why about.

The usual suspects around the bird feeders have started to return after an absence of about 10 days. Chickadees and a woodpecker have fed infrequently until today. There's a weather front coming in the next 24 hours but without rain, it doesn't appear to have any significant changes for weather. This has been a mild winter by all accounts and a dry winter as well. In any case, the birds are a welcome sight when around and are always good for a chuckle with their antics.

Comments, humor, and questions are welcome.