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.
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