Reinhart's Whole Grain Anadama Bread

Ages ago, when I first acquired The Bread Baker's Apprentice, I made the Anadama Bread. I was recently reminded of this as I was going through old blog posts and adding recipes that I hadn't posted then. I remembered that Reinhart included a whole grain version of this delicious bread in his Whole Grain Breads and I decided that since I had all of the ingredients on hand, this would be the second bread made this week. Since I own the book but wont have access to it until next week, I searched for it online and found it. Of course, I didnt read that the recipe listed only yielded one loaf. I thought it would yield two, so I halved it, thus making a quarter of the recipe, which in the end turned out to be plenty for one person and the freezer. I was wondering why all the quantities seemed non existent- I guess I was half brained that day. Oh well. That's what you get when you try to put two breads together at the same time. Anyway, this recipe used his epoxy method which involves a soaker and a starter, both easy to assemble the night before. In this bread, I really like that he uses a soaker because it really brings out the corn flavor. It is the starring flavor in the resulting bread, in such a good way! I really enjoyed it and the whole grain aspect made the rolls hearty and sturdy. I actually preferred these to the challot. Once the soaker and starter are made, everything else is standard procedure and quite easy. The dough handles beautifully and rises like a dream. It is possible that I let them overproof slightly so watch them carefully.

Whole Grain Anadama Bread (or rolls)

from Whole Grain Breads- this recipe will yield one loaf

Soaker:

4 ounces cornmeal

2 ounces whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

5 ounces water

Starter:

8 ounces whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp yeast

6 ounces water, room temperature

Final Dough:

Soaker

Biga

4.5 ounces whole wheat flour

5/8 tsp salt

2 1/4 tsp yeast

3 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp oil

The night before baking, assemble the soaker and starter.

Place all the soaker ingredients in a bowl.
Stir to make a uniform mixture. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

Place the ingredients for the biga in a bowl.
Mix to form a shaggy mixture. Knead to form a smooth dough. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, take the biga out of the fridge to dechill. This is how mine looked.
Tear up the starter and place in a bowl along with the remaining bread ingredients.
Stir to make a shaggy dough and turn it out onto a counter to knead.
Knead until a smooth dough forms. Place in a greased bowl and turn the dough to coat. Cover and allow the dough to rise until doubled.
Here is my risen dough. Turn it out again and deflate.
Shape your dough into a loaf or rolls. Place in a greased loaf pan or pan of your choice.
Allow to proof. Towards the end of proofing, preheat your oven to 425. Place the breads in the oven and lower to 350.
Bake for about twenty- twenty five minutes for the rolls, probably double for the loaf. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then turn them out to cool completely on a wire rack.