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Flaxseed Meal Sourdough Bread
Flaxseed meal sourdough bread is new to me and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, and also how much the dough smells like a bowl of Cheerios cereal. This bread was an experiment in making a tasty and extra heart-healthy bread. I developed the recipe as part of an Instagram challenge to get people to bake outside their comfort zones, using ingredients and scoring styles they’ve never used before. I have actually baked with whole and coarsely ground flaxseeds, e.g. in this Danish Rugbrød, but I’ve never used ground flaxseed meal.
If you have whole flaxseeds, you can mill them with a coffee grinder, blender or food processor. Otherwise, use pre-milled flaxseed meal, keeping an eye on the expiration date and storing the bag in the freezer. Flaxseeds can also be milled in a Mockmill but only at a coarse setting, and then followed by a milling of uncooked rice to clean the stones.
Flaxseeds have a high percentage of omega-3 fatty acids, which benefit cardiovascular and brain health, and I love their flavor, so I wanted to use a noticeable amount. They’re comprised of a lot of fat (42%), which I knew would impact the fermentation of the dough.
In baker’s percentage, whole flaxseed meal is at 25% in this recipe. If you use coarsely ground flaxseeds, you’ll want to use less water in the dough because your flaxseed meal will absorb less water. The water in the recipe is given as a range and should be added slowly and only until the ingredients are fully hydrated. The dough lends itself to coil folding with two hands as in the video below. Note that the first round of coil folding is a bit messier than subsequent rounds.
As I suspected, this dough needs a long rise. The first time I made it, the bulk fermentation was 16 hours, half at 68F and half at 58F. The second time I made this recipe, the bulk fermentation was about 12 hours at 65F.
The fermentation is more webby than bubbly, and the oven spring isn’t large. This means you can do an intricate score on the dough without any large cuts to absorb spring. Check out the photo gallery after the recipe to see how to do this scoring pattern.
Flaxseed Meal Sourdough Bread
Flaxseed meal adds an aromatic and delicious nuttiness to this bread, while also transforming the texture into something a little moist and spongy that begs for olive oil and tomatoes, or butter and jam. Flax seeds are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which contribute to cardiovascular health.
Ingredients
Instructions
Mixing and Gluten Development
Pre-Shape, Bench Rest and Shape
Final Proof
Scoring and Baking
Shopping List
Flaxseed Meal Sourdough Bread