Red Cargo!

Some time ago I found black rice at the local supermarket. It milled well, and 'Emperor's Batard' was the result. Since then I have found red rice, grown in Thailand, in the same supermarket. This time the rice was not so easy to mill - well that is an understatement! It was quite a problem. Instead of flour I ended up with a mix of cracked rice grains and fairly coarse flour. I borrowed a hand mill, and after carefully cleaning the mill and running some other seed (millet) through it, I tried the red rice. This time I managed a super-fine flour, like talcum powder.

So, with the coarse mill I made a prefement, based on a millet starter. The red rice hydrated and fermented quite well. When I made the dough I included some of the fine red rice flour, as well as some very fine red sorghum flour.

The result was quite satisfactory. good oven spring. Unfortunately I got distracted and left it in the oven a little long - but that provided a really crunchy crust!

The crumb has a grainy texture from the cracked grains of rice, but as it was well hydrated, it is smooth and easy on the palate. The fine flours brought it all together into quite a pleasant bread. Flavour is interesting - it is reminiscent of Russian Caravan tea, with light, earthy smoky overtones. Quite a satisfactory and unique gluten free sourdough.