Crushed Buckwheat Groats Sourdough Bread

I made up a preferment for this recipe with the starter, water and some whole wheat and bread flour. Next morning it was nice smelling and bubbly.

 I decided to do something unusual so I got some Buckwheat Groats with the hulls still intact and ground them up coarsely, which I used in the dough.

Bulk ferment was 5.5 hours with good activity. I then shaped the loaves into two bannetons and one boule:

Proofing took 2.5 hours. I put one of the loaves in the refrigerator for a while and one in the cool pantry for a while to help stagger the loaves so they would not all be ready to bake at the same time. I then slashed and baked:

Here is the first loaf:

Here is the second loaf:

Here is the boule:

Here are all three loaves:

Here is the crumb :

The bread is wonderful, full flavored and the crumb is moist and soft. This bread is a real winner, super with toast and sandwiches. We were eating it freshly sliced with cream cheese… so good! I will be posting this recipe in the Special Recipes folder.