Walnut Levain from Runner & Stone, Brooklyn, NYC (Credit: Mayumi Kasuga)
[This article first appeared on BonAppetit.com on April 8th.]
No one really knows why celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that's caused by eating gluten, and gluten sensitivities are on the rise. But celiac disease researchers and plant geneticists have some solid theories, one of which is the abbreviated fermentation times used at industrial bakeries.
"Most of the plastic-wrap bread you find at grocery stores is made very quickly with yeast—it goes from flour to plastic-wrap in three hours or less," says Stephen Jones, a wheat breeder who is the director of the Washington State University Research Center at Mount Vernon.
What that means is that gluten proteins don't have time to break down as they would in a bread made by traditional methods, where fermentation takes place over 18 to 25 hours, and that makes it harder to digest. It's possible, celiac experts theorize, that after years of eating highly processed bread, our guts are rejecting it.
Thankfully, there's a resurgence of craft bakeries around the country that make bread the old-fashioned way. All of these bakeries ferment their dough with wild yeasts for at least 12-15 hours—often much longer. This not only improves the digestibility of the bread but also lowers its glycemic index. All of these bakers also use "whole-milled" whole wheat flour—that is, flour that's been milled from its intact state. (To make white flour, industrial mills separate the endosperm from the more nutritious bran and germ. They add them back for whole wheat flour, but some craft bakers speculate that the germ, which goes rancid quickly when removed from the endosperm, is either not added back or is "denatured.") Some of these bakers even mill their own whole wheat flour in-house.
And perhaps most important of all: These breads taste fantastic!
Grand Central Bakery:
This Northwest bakery, with ten locations in Seattle and Portland, ferments loaves for at least 12 hours. Portland head baker Sean Coyne, a Per Se alumnus, just launched a 100 percent whole-grain bread made from whole-milled whole wheat, emmer, spelt, and rye flours. The lighter Goldendale loaf (made with 68 percent whole wheat) is perfect for sandwiches. All the whole grain flours are milled at Camas Country Mill in Eugene, OR.
Ponsford's Place (San Rafael, CA):
Unlike most bakers, Craig Ponsford uses 100 percent whole-wheat flour for all his breads—even the challah, which is made of hard white whole wheat. (His croissants and pain au chocolat are made of a whole-milled whole wheat flour that has 5 percent of the bran sifted off.) All the flour—used for loaves such as American whole wheat, sourdough walnut, and pumpernickel--has been whole-milled at Certified Foods in Woodland, CA.
Runner & Stone (Brooklyn, NY):
This five-month-old restaurant and bakery carries marvelously flavorful loaves such as buckwheat baguettes (made with buckwheat, rye, whole wheat, and white flour) and spelt ciabatta (made with 85 percent spelt and 15 percent white flour). The man behind the magic is baker Peter Endriss, who uses only organic flour, much of it milled at Farmer Ground in Trumansburg, NY. Most loaves here undergo an overnight fermentation and even the brioche and croissants contain some whole wheat flour.
Tabor Bread (Portland, OR):
Like Grand Central Bakery, this six-month-old Portland bakery sources its whole wheat, rye, and spelt from Eugene's Camas Country Mill. Instead of buying it pre-milled, however, baker Cory Mast mills it on-site in an Austrian-made Osttiroler stone mill. (The organic white flour, which is pre-milled, comes from Central Milling in Utah.) The dough ferments for three hours in the morning and then is shaped, put into baskets, and fermented in the walk-in overnight. In the morning, Mast bakes kamut baguettes and enormous boules of red fife (an heirloom whole wheat varietal) in a wood-fire oven. Coming soon: polenta bread made with corn from Ayers Creek Farm.
Tartine Bakery, San Francisco:
Chad Robertson has achieved rock star status for his authentic long-fermented loaves of whole wheat, walnut, sesame, sourdough, and olive. He uses whole-milled organic flour from Central Milling and lets his dough leaven for as long as 30 hours. Ever since his wife, Elizabeth Pruitt, became gluten-intolerant, Robertson has also been experimenting with easier-to-digest ancient grains like einkorn, emmer, kamut, and spelt.
Recipe by Peter Endriss, Runner & Stone, Brooklyn, NYC
INGREDIENTS:
300g white bread flour
100g whole wheat bread flour
300g cold water
1g dry, instant yeast (osmotolerant if possible)
10g kosher salt
150g levain
200g walnuts, raw, untoasted
PREPARATION:
Prepare levain with equal parts water and flour and 25 percent old starter 12 hours before mixing the dough. Leave to ferment at room temperature.
Mix together white bread flour, whole wheat flour, and cold water until combined and let sit for 30 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients except walnuts and mix on low speed until combined, and then medium speed for 1 minute to develop a little strength. Mix walnuts in on low speed just until combined.
Put dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let ferment at room temperature for 1-2 hours (longer if room is cooler, shorter if room is warm). Fold all four corners of the dough into the center and flip over in bowl. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 12 hours, up to 24 hours.
Two hours before you'd like to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature for 1 hour. Divide dough into 2 pieces (about 1 pound each) and shape into boules or batards. Place on floured board or sheet tray, cover and allow to proof for 1 hour. Halfway through the final proof (and 30 minutes before you're ready to bake), preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit with a baking stone on the lowest rack of the oven. Score loaves and place on stone. Throw a few pieces of ice onto the floor of the oven, quickly close the door (be careful for steam!) and bake for 20-30 minutes, to deep golden brown. Cool completely on wire racks before cutting and enjoying.
Note: This recipe has not been tested by the Bon Appétit test kitchen.
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