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Yecora Rojo Sourdough Breads (No Knead Version too)
Yecora rojo is a hard red spring wheat that was developed by the International Maize & Wheat Improvement Center in cooperation with the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture in the early 1970s. It has lately become very popular among west coast artisan bread bakers due to its pleasant earthy flavor profile and great bread baking performance.
I baked a couple of loaves of bread with home-milled yecora rojo wheat flour to evaluate its hydration needs, dough handling, and flavor. The breads came out beautifully and tasted nutty, malty and delicious. I found yecora rojo surprisingly easy to handle. I had no trouble developing a strong dough for an artisan style bread in either of the formulas I tested: one with all whole grain yecora rojo flour and one with 50:50 yecora rojo and white bread flour.
Update: Since my initial write-up of these recipes, I tested the 50:50 dough formula as a totally hands-off no knead bread. It turned out wonderfully, and I wanted to share the results so that bakers looking for a low-key process can make this bread too. I’ve added notes to the printable recipe and a no knead photo gallery after the original active gluten development photo gallery. I haven’t tried the 100% yecora rojo formula with a no knead process yet, but I believe it would work well too.
The crumb, oven spring and bloom of the score were all bigger on the 50% whole grain yecora rojo bread, but as you can see in the photos below, the 100% yecora rojo loaf was also relatively open, tall and possessing of an ear.
100% whole grain yecora rojo on left; 50% whole grain yecora rojo on right
No Knead 50% yecora rojo
A Note on Hydration
In the recipes below, I tried to adjust the water amount to achieve roughly the same dough feel. Still, the 100% whole grain dough with 88% hydration felt a little dryer than the 50:50 dough with 84% hydration. In a future bake, I wouldn’t hesitate to go up several percentage points on the all whole grain dough, maybe to 92% hydration (460g water).
Additionally, when I laminated the active gluten development dough (as opposed to the hands-off no knead version), I introduced more water from the wet countertop, probably about 20g of water.
Yecora Rojo Sourdough Bread (No Knead Version too)
Yecora rojo is a nutty, malty wheat that tastes delicious and makes a gorgeous artisan style bread. Here are two recipes and two processes. One recipe uses only whole grain yecora rojo wheat flour and the other is 50:50 yecora rojo and bread flour. One process is no knead and the other process involves an autolyse and active gluten development. Enjoy exploring all the possibilities.
Ingredients
100% Yecora Rojo Bread
50% Yecora Rojo Bread
Instructions
NO KNEAD PROCESS
ACTIVE GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Autolyse
Bulk Fermentation
Preshape and Bench Rest
Shape
Final Proof
Bake
Active Gluten Development Photo Gallery
No Knead Photo Gallery
Shopping List
Yecora Rojo Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries
Yecora Rojo Whole Grain Flour
Mockmill 100 Grain Mill
Sourdough Starter (Live)
Breadtopia’s Choice Kitchen Scale
$18.00Danish Dough Whisk — Large
Dr. Oetker Dough Scraper Successor
Bowl Covers (5 pcs)
Oval Rattan Proofing Basket
Oval Proofing Basket Liner
Bread Lame
Yecora Rojo Sourdough Breads (No Knead Version too)