GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
Try it with only 1/4 whole wheat next time. It really weighs the dough down. Looks delicious though. Will make great toast. Or even better, bread pudding!
Homemade Bread Thread
- Thread starter Knucklehead
- Start date
If I really want fluffy, then all white bread is easy. My store-boughten sandwich bread is 100% whole wheat. So there is some way to do it. I'll just consider this as rolling my very first sourdough whole wheat cigar. I'm not very good at it.
Bob
Bob
MadFarmer
Well-Known Member
My first attempt yielded a wide, flat, cookie-shaped loaf as my starter didn't have enough rise. This week after making sourdough biscuits and feeding again the starter doubled, so I made a second pass at bread. It's the recipe in the King Arthur Flour cookbook, I missed the step of brushing the loaf with water just before baking.
The starter is just whole wheat flour and water.
The starter is just whole wheat flour and water.
I had not heard of brushing with water. I just instinctively misted the top of the loaf with water. I still ended up with a pretty crusty crust. I'll have to try again next week.
Yesterday, I ate at least three thick slices of my gluten bomb. No abdominal distress overnight. Yay!
Bob
Yesterday, I ate at least three thick slices of my gluten bomb. No abdominal distress overnight. Yay!
Bob
Moth
Well-Known Member
In my experience, a home baked pure wholewheat loaf won't resemble store brought whole wheat bread. By store brought, I mean a light, pre sliced shelf stable, mass produced bread, rather than "artisan" bakery bread.
Mass produced bread has an interesting process that takes a few hours from flour to loaf, with centrifuges and pressure differentials to make a light, fluffy risen dough from, traditionally sub standard wheat (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process)
Mass produced bread also has "flour treatment agents" that help, among other things, for dough to keep a risen shape when there's insufficient gluten ,improve shelf life etc (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flour_treatment_agent)
An interesting one is L-cysteine, purportedly made from human hair (althouhj realistically animal fur and feather byproducts of meat industries) so soften the dough.
I'm not sure what food labelling laws are like where everyone is, although, all mass produced bread has it.
I guess what I'm rambling on about is your bread looked kinda how I'd expect a home baked 100% wholewheat loaf to resemble. Some bakers add wheat gluten to wholewheat dough , or dough improver, or a mix of white, to get more of a rise. I think if you'd used bakers yeast with the quicker rise, you'd have got a bigger loaf.
Looks delicious.
I think bread should be substantial and filling. Modern mass produced bread is anything but that
My whole wheat bread was 50% white bread flour. But it was unquestionably substantial (like a 1955 Chevy sedan in a junk yard car crusher) and filling--yup. Definitely filling. What it truly lacked was patience. I should have allow the second rise to continue much longer.
Bob
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
So, is percentage whole wheat measured as a baker's percent or as an actual percent?
Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 tsp salt
6 TBSP Crisco shortening, or butter, or lard
1 cup buttermilk
Heat oven to 450F
Whisk in the dry ingredients
Add Crisco shortening
Cut in the Crisco with fork or fingers. Stop when the flour mixture and fat are about the size of a BB or slightly smaller.
Add buttermilk. Mix with handle of a wooden spoon JUST until combined. Don't overwork the dough. Do not knead. Do not roll out with roller. Treat the dough like it could bruise. Leaving it roughly mixed is what makes them flaky. Overworking, over combining makes for hard dry biscuits.
Dump the dough on a floured cutting board.
Pat it out about an inch thick. Sprinkle dry flour on it and fold it over. Pat it out, fold it over. Do this about six times. This makes layered biscuits.
I don't use a cutter. You can. I just gently pinch off and pat into a small burger size patty and put it in the skillet. This makes about eight big biscuits. When all the patties are in I pat them down gently with the back of my fingers.
Bake at 450F until light golden on top.
Light, fluffy, airy, flaky, with layers.
2 cups all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 tsp salt
6 TBSP Crisco shortening, or butter, or lard
1 cup buttermilk
Heat oven to 450F
Whisk in the dry ingredients
Add Crisco shortening
Cut in the Crisco with fork or fingers. Stop when the flour mixture and fat are about the size of a BB or slightly smaller.
Add buttermilk. Mix with handle of a wooden spoon JUST until combined. Don't overwork the dough. Do not knead. Do not roll out with roller. Treat the dough like it could bruise. Leaving it roughly mixed is what makes them flaky. Overworking, over combining makes for hard dry biscuits.
Dump the dough on a floured cutting board.
Pat it out about an inch thick. Sprinkle dry flour on it and fold it over. Pat it out, fold it over. Do this about six times. This makes layered biscuits.
I don't use a cutter. You can. I just gently pinch off and pat into a small burger size patty and put it in the skillet. This makes about eight big biscuits. When all the patties are in I pat them down gently with the back of my fingers.
Bake at 450F until light golden on top.
Light, fluffy, airy, flaky, with layers.
Last edited:
I am a biscuit basket case. Many times I've tried. Many times I've failed. Most of my home-made biscuits have ended up pried open, resting in the bottom of a bowl, beneath a soupy concoction of tuna or chicken. Then they can be chewed and swallowed.
Bob
Bob
GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
I use butter which I grate into the flour, then shear between my hands. Also add some grated sharp cheddar cheese. If you leave a small percentage of butter pieces larger than the others the biscuits will weep some of the butter out in the first minute of cooking which then fries the surface of the biscuit. YUM!
smallwanderings
Well-Known Member
My Victoria grain mill and the casserole I bake my bread in.
2 cups fresh ground whole wheat
1 cup other grain (such as rye, or brown basmati rice and quinoa)
1 - ¼ oz package of fast rising instant yeast
½+/- teaspoon himalayan salt
optional: various herbs for flavor
1½ cups of water
bake at 475-500°F for approximately 30 minutes, then 425° for 15 minutes. I mist the loaf with water when I put it in the oven, and then again once or twice. My loaves are not pretty, but tasty (to me), and I eat ¼ to ⅓ of the loaf with butter while it's still warm.
I use the basic no-knead method from breadtopia.
If you have dentures you might want to take a hard pass on this bread. I thought I had saved photos of this out of the oven, apparently not. This is all that is left.
I'm doing an oven trick to increase the denture busting crunchiness of the loaves beyond what they normally would come out of the oven with.
If you know how to work in Bakers percentages here is my formula for hearth bread. My flour is standard strong bread flour when I do hearth bread.
I'm doing an oven trick to increase the denture busting crunchiness of the loaves beyond what they normally would come out of the oven with.
If you know how to work in Bakers percentages here is my formula for hearth bread. My flour is standard strong bread flour when I do hearth bread.
@Knucklehead Looks like an old sachet of yeast from my experience with my old sachets of yeast and how the resulting bread came out when I was caught during the pandemic with yeast sold out everywhere and all I had was the older packets from pre-pandemic shopping trips. But lets assay your yeast to know for sure using the redstar method. If you have packet yeast and like most folk just chuck it in the cupboard you will get about 5-6 months of stellar performance then around 12-16 months noticeable drop off. I buy my yeast in 2 pound vaccuum sealed bricks, transferred upon opening to mason jars and those are immediately stored in the freezer, the yeast I am currently using for baking is stored in a smaller jar and that jar is always stored in the refrigerator. I no longer store yeast in the cupboard.
The only other factor with a contribution to rising (more so crumb/air bubbles) is the moisture level within the dough itself. Low hydration dough results in small dense air pockets during the rise and have a denser and tighter crumb after baking. High hydration dough in contrast has large gas pockets during the rise and a lighter more airy crumb after baking. Panne de Casa and other home or peasant or farm breads tend to the high hydration large air pockets and a nice crusty outside you can tear into and enjoy. I also have my dough rise in a glass bowl as I can see the rise action and see the gas bubble development through the glass but this is not necessary once you have your method down.
Redstar proofing method (you can do this before every recipe if you want to monitor the health of your stored yeast and catch it just as its declining so you can toss it and replace with fresh so you don't waste your flour on dud yeast):
EDIT: If this is the no kneading recipe, that is a *very* high hydration dough, highest hydration I ever use. If you are stopping at the dry stage or rags stage from prior bread making experience, push on through past that to very high hydration.
The only other factor with a contribution to rising (more so crumb/air bubbles) is the moisture level within the dough itself. Low hydration dough results in small dense air pockets during the rise and have a denser and tighter crumb after baking. High hydration dough in contrast has large gas pockets during the rise and a lighter more airy crumb after baking. Panne de Casa and other home or peasant or farm breads tend to the high hydration large air pockets and a nice crusty outside you can tear into and enjoy. I also have my dough rise in a glass bowl as I can see the rise action and see the gas bubble development through the glass but this is not necessary once you have your method down.
Redstar proofing method (you can do this before every recipe if you want to monitor the health of your stored yeast and catch it just as its declining so you can toss it and replace with fresh so you don't waste your flour on dud yeast):
- Using a one-cup liquid measuring cup, dissolve 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar in 1/2 cup warm (110-115°F) water. Warm water but not hot to the touch.
- Empty one sachet/packet of yeast if using packets or add 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast if using bulk yeast.
- At the three minute mark (four minutes tops) the yeast will have absorbed enough liquid to activate and start to foam.
- At the ten minute mark measure your foamy yeast. The foamy mixture should have risen to the 1-cup mark on the container or higher and have a round top.
- If this is true, your yeast is very active and should immediately be used in your recipe (just remember to deduct 1/2 cup of liquid from any recipe to account for the water used for this test).
- If your yeast did not rise to the 1-cup mark, immediately discard this yeast and get fresh yeast (read the dates on packages in the store and get the newest packaged yeast you can find).
EDIT: If this is the no kneading recipe, that is a *very* high hydration dough, highest hydration I ever use. If you are stopping at the dry stage or rags stage from prior bread making experience, push on through past that to very high hydration.
Laredo
Active Member
I just started trying to make sourdough a few weeks ago. My starter is 50/50 water and whole wheat flour. I was feeding it twice a day and had good activity. It would double in 3 hours and triple in 5 hours. I used that for my first loaf and it hardly had any sourness to it. Now I am still doing 50/50 but only feeding once per day. It is taking about 6 hours to double in size after a feeding. I can smell some acidic notes starting to come through. More like vinegar than yogurt so it is probably mostly acetic bacteria and not lactic.
My bread recipe is pretty simple. Using “baker’s math”…
100% bread flour at 12.7% protein
70% water
10% starter
2% salt
So for a decent sized oval loaf I use 400g flour, 280g water, 40g starter, 8g salt.
For the loaf pictured below, I used 20% of starter (80g) and it doubled in size in 6 hours. That was using the starter that was fed twice a day. I am going to use 10% starter to extend that time and try to get the doubling time closer to 12 hours as I have read that the slower ferment will develop more sourness. It has been fun so far and next week I am going to run out and pick up a 50# sack of 14% protein flour.
To bake the bread, I use a cast iron Dutch oven. I put the Dutch oven in my kitchen oven and preheat to 450F. After 30 minutes or so of heating, I take the Dutch oven out, open the lid, lower the shaped loaf into the Dutch oven with a parchment paper sling, spray the top of the loaf and inside of Dutch oven with some water, put on the lid, put back in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes and then remove the lid of the Dutch oven. Bake until interior temp is above 200F or until desired color has been achieved.
Here is my first loaf:
My bread recipe is pretty simple. Using “baker’s math”…
100% bread flour at 12.7% protein
70% water
10% starter
2% salt
So for a decent sized oval loaf I use 400g flour, 280g water, 40g starter, 8g salt.
For the loaf pictured below, I used 20% of starter (80g) and it doubled in size in 6 hours. That was using the starter that was fed twice a day. I am going to use 10% starter to extend that time and try to get the doubling time closer to 12 hours as I have read that the slower ferment will develop more sourness. It has been fun so far and next week I am going to run out and pick up a 50# sack of 14% protein flour.
To bake the bread, I use a cast iron Dutch oven. I put the Dutch oven in my kitchen oven and preheat to 450F. After 30 minutes or so of heating, I take the Dutch oven out, open the lid, lower the shaped loaf into the Dutch oven with a parchment paper sling, spray the top of the loaf and inside of Dutch oven with some water, put on the lid, put back in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes and then remove the lid of the Dutch oven. Bake until interior temp is above 200F or until desired color has been achieved.
Here is my first loaf:
From 11 OCT 2023:
phys.org
Original article:
Bob
Using different flours for sourdough fosters different bacteria—and flavors
A new study of the microbial ecosystem in sourdough finds that using different types of flour fosters distinct bacterial communities, and that these differences contribute to the variation of sourdough aromas and flavors.
Bob
