Buckwheat is a fruit seed, related to sorrel and rhubarb. Gluten free, it is often mixed with other flours in baking, like the infamous galettes in Brittany. I bought a bag of buckwheat and have been meaning to use it to bake some bread. First I considered Dan Leaders formula, but used an alternative recipe for chestnut bread, converting it to levain, using buckwheat instead.

 I fiddled with the recipe and came up with this formula. You might need some tweaking, but I really liked the outcome. Was a great foil for a tartine of goat cheese, tomatoes, avocado, red onion…

Buckwheat, rye, almond levain

Total flour 537g

Weight of one loaf 1170g or just about 2.5lbs

Bread flour       320g                     47%

Buckwheat      135g                       25%

Rye                  80                         15%

Almond meal   68g                        13%

Water            217g                        57%

salt                 10g                         2%

levain                                          35% ( of dough weight)

Levain build was all wheat flour.

I considered adding some of the buckwheat as part of the build, and may try it next time with a pre-gelatinization for a different texture or taste. Maybe I'll incorporate beer.

It's a slow rising bread. I'm not sure why. I didn't autolyse or do anything particularily interesting, just mixed all the ingredients by hand. It came together quite fast with only a fold in the bulk ferment. The amount of bread flour contributed to a good gluten development and a tight crumb. I may have waited a bit more for final ferment, but it seemed to get a nice oven spring. I covered the loaf pan with another pan, after scoring the bread. I baked it in a 465 F oven for 20 minutes with the other loaf top covering the bread, then uncovered it for another 15 minutes to get a nice crusty loaf.