Koji Bread #1

Our friend gave us some Koji and it's been languishing in the fridge for years. I finally made Shio Koji with it, then made bread from that -- it wouldn't be a costly if it didn't turn out. But it turned out beautifully, dark color, nice crust, a flavor with a slight sourdough-like edge.

Bread cooling on rack

Koji is rice inoculated with the Aspergillus oryzae (koji kin). It has a transformative power which is used to make Soy, Miso, and is now being used by chefs in some crazy non-traditional preparations.  I made Shio Koji with ours by adding an equal weight of water, and 5% of total weight in Salt; I whizzed it, and let it ride unrefrigerated for 10 days. After a while it developed an acetone smell that dissipated a bit with a daily stir. Disgusting? Dangerous? Lethal? How bad could it be? I tried a taste and the cream-like liquid had a flavor like creamy blue cheese without the blue. I figured if I made bread with it and it turned out badly, it wouldn't be too expensive a mistake. So I made it with my usual long-rise technique, and covered hot bake. 

1000 g All Purpose Flour
 400 g Koji
 450 g Water
  20 g Salt

Combine the ingredients in a stand mixer, then knead 10 minutes.

I started with 350 g Water and kept adding it until the texture seemed right.

Put in a covered 3L Cambro container and let rise in the fridge 3 days; it rose from 1L to 2L.

Take out, let warm up several hours, and rise to 3L.

Shape into a ball and let rise in a parchment lined bowl, covered with cling film.

Shaped and final rise

Preheat oven with a large cast iron pot and cover to 550F convection.

When hot, lift the bread on its parchment and lower into the screaming hot pot.

Cover, cook 20 minutes.

Drop temperature to 450F, cook 15 minutes.

Drop temperature to 350F, uncover, bake 30 more minutes.

Carefully remove from pot by grabbing the parchment, let cool on a rack before cutting.

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