I want to start making dense, chewy, nutritious bread.

My brother took up the hobby of baking years ago and made bread for us when he came home for christmas.  It was fantastic, and I clocked it as really good adventuring bread. Ofc, I may have to slice and fully dehydrate the finished bread if I want to take it on "long voyages" (aka camping/bushcraft/multiday LARP events and possibly buggin' out if I have to) but dehydrating things is already in my skillset.

I'm planning on growing amaranth this year, I hope I can get a decent crop going (in my backyard, not a field) so that I can process the grains, or attempt to, for bread. It won't be all of the mix, I want to see if I can use a rye/amaranth blend.  I don't know what I'll be expecting, so I'll expect nothing and see how it goes.  And then write the results down. But mostly, I want to make a nice dense loaf that's got some oomph to it, and of course I should start practicing soon if I'm going to have the exp to not waste the harvest if it's good.

Can anybody give me a good explanation of hydration levels and what it does?   Also how many fold/turns would I need for that dense heartiness I'm looking for? I don't care /too/ much about how the crust turns out, as long as it's not rock hard I'll be ok. End goal is a bread that doesn't immediately go moldy and is filling and maybe slightly chewy.  thanks!

That is a good project!

I just made a loaf of chickpea egg bread yesterday (I have been avoiding grains) and it turned out good and similar in texture to what you are describing.

My tendency is to make a batter, butter or oil a skillet, and then pour the batter into the skillet and let it rise before baking. I think the bread made by this method tends to be of a better quality (not rock hard crust, better shaped, doesn’t turn into a pancake). The chickpea bread was unleavened so it was naturally dense. I believe less water generally leads to a denser bread.

M Ljin wrote:I just made a loaf of chickpea egg bread yesterday (I have been avoiding grains) and it turned out good and similar in texture to what you are describing.  

Nice! I try to stay pretty low carb and avoid grains as well, so I basically avoid bread all together. Even the "keto friendly" bread that actually isn't keto friendly.. I'll occasionally cheat and eat sourdough bread though because I can't resist.

Would you mind sharing the chickpea egg bread recipe?

Certainly I can share!

I soaked chickpeas until I could bite through (~36hr?) and then threw them into a food processor with olive oil and some water (all quantities eyeballed). I also added some salt. When they were turned into a batter-like consistency I added some toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds (others should be good too—for a little variety) and an egg, and ground that again until the egg was all incorporated. This made it into a thick batter consistency. I then transferred to a buttered cast iron skillet and baked at 400 degrees.

I also set aside some of the dough and made some chickpea cakes on the stove with butter which were likewise delicious.

I wrote down my "guidelines" for german style rye sourdough bread. Maybe that's something for you to start from. You could easily add your quinoa to the soaking grain part.
https://permies.com/t/40/66366/vollkornbrot#2435437

Benjamin Dinkel wrote:I wrote down my "guidelines" for german style rye sourdough bread. Maybe that's something for you to start from. You could easily add your quinoa to the soaking grain part.
https://permies.com/t/40/66366/vollkornbrot#2435437

when it says use a wild yeast, would it be beneficial to put redcedar berries and pine needles in for a little time and of course take them out to kickstart it?  I know just enough about wild yeasts to know they're on those and the reason the redcedar berries are coated in a cloudy bloom early in their development.

Amanda Barteck wrote:would it be beneficial to put redcedar berries and pine needles in for a little time

When I want to do that, I collect likely yeast sources such as those described, and put them in a sugar-water and stir them up twice a day until it gets foamy and then use that in my bread (or soda, or wine, or vinegar).

Hey Amanda,
I have no experience with adding anything to the flour. So far organic whole grain flour and water (make sure it’s not too clorinated) worked for me every time.
When in doubt, stir the mix more than once a day.

Do you plan to slice the bread before dehydrating it?

Then store the sliced loaf or store the slices?

I do not know about hydration levels or how to keep dehydrated bread chewy.

Here is a thread that folks might find interesting:

https://permies.com/t/184469/Dehydrate-extra-bread

Speaking of nutritious bread, I read that the Pepperidge Farm brand bread was created when a mother was looking for a nutritious brad for her child.

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Amanda Barteck wrote:would it be beneficial to put redcedar berries and pine needles in for a little time

When I want to do that, I collect likely yeast sources such as those described, and put them in a sugar-water and stir them up twice a day until it gets foamy and then use that in my bread (or soda, or wine, or vinegar).

Aye that's useful information!  Thanks!