1st try: Peter Reinhart's "Struan"
For a change, i decided to lay a side my beloved "BREAD" by Hamelman, and go back to my first baking companion: "Peter Reinhart's" Whole GRain BReads.
I always wanted to bake the Struan, but the laborious and tedious preparation for this bread deterred me. Yesterday, i took a deep breath and gave it a try.
The Recipe (750 g loaf) calls for butter, sweetner, and cooked and uncooked soaked grains. This is a 100% wholewheat bread.
I deviated in two places: 1) folded the dough once after the first 30 minutes of the total 1 hour bulk fermentation. 2) I did not add the extra flour, so the dough was wetter than suggested by Reinhart.
Now that i did Baked it, i realized that i should have either added the extra flour called for, or shortened the final 1 hour final proofing time to 30 minutes max. The Loaf was overproofed.
The taste of the bread is absolutely superb, sweet soft interior with chewy soft grains, and wheaty after taste.
Highly recommended!!
Comments
Hello, Khalid
I am interested in the book.Eric has mentioned about Reinhert's book " Whole Grain Bread" on the other blog, as I remember. I am sorry if I am wrong, Eric.
Your bread looks great! Nice moist, absolutely yummy crumb! I don't know about the overproof thing because I am a totally bigginer. It just looks perfect for me.
I will check the book when I go for a ride.
Best wishes,
Akiko
Hey, Akiko!
The Book is worth owning, every cent. and yes, the bread is YUMMY! it was worth all the time spent. Good thing about all wholegrain breads is that thought they initially need effort to creat them, but the reward is satisfiying, tummy filling, and long lasting.
Looking at the oven spring that you got, I doubt that you were overproofed. The crumb structure and ovenspring look good for whole grain bread.
Hi Khalid,
I agree with jeb about the crumb structure being fine, but I can see where you think it's a wee bit overproofed because of the spread. A good looking loaf regardless, and I bet it tastes marvelous. Nice work!
Franko
That looks terrific! I have shied away from that recipe as well in spite of being a big fan of WGB, but this is pretty inspirational. Thanks for posting it.
Marcus
Hi, Khalid,
The struan is also one of my favorites. With the poppy seed topping it looks especially attractive (also to my customers).
I always reduce the amount of honey (I don't like it that sweet) and found that 6 g instant yeast is quite sufficient (instead of 8 g).
Did you use sourdough or biga? What grain mix did you put in?
Karin
That is encouraging, jeb, thanks!
Thank you too, Franko! It does taste marvelous, but as noted by Karin (haneseta), it is noteably sweet, so its no good binging on this particular bread ;)
Thanks Marcus! It sure is a royal pain in the ##, but the rewards in terms of taste and nutrition is long lasting.
Thank you, Karin. Iam totally with you. There is too much honey at 3T, and Yeast at 2.25 T. I'll reduce those in my next attempt. The grain mix i used is :
Flax seeds, Cracked whlole wheat and oats, buckwheat, and sunflower seeds, all soacked in initially boiled water for 20 hours.
Khalid, I use 19 g honey per bread, I think that's absolutely sufficient. The only bread in WGB where I did not cut down on the sweetener is the whole wheat pita, I tried adding less than 28 g and it didn't taste as good.
This is the grain mix I use: 3 g wheat bran, 10 g millet, 10 g sesame, 10 g flax seed, 20 g cornmeal and 117 of a 5-grain mix of cracked rye, cracked wheat, cracked barley, cracked corn and flax seed.
I do not use boiling water in the soaker, but I refrigerate my final dough overnight, so that the grains soak basically 24 hrs. The millet I do not cook (as P. R. recommends) because I like the crunchiness it adds.
It's fun to make the struan, because you can use whatever grains you have - or like best. I also bake the transitional version, with a a poppy seed, sesame and rolled oats topping (looks very nice, too).
Karin
Transitional struan with rolled oats, poppy seed and sesame topping
Wow, Karin
Your bread also looks great, too!! I should definitely get the book! Thank you for showing us such gorgeous loaves, Khalid and Karin. I am glad to know the amount of honey and yeast that are too much before baking, too. I will consider it.
Best wishes,
Akiko
Mouthwatering Mix of grains and seeds, Karin! Lovely! And your pic is beautiful!
I just finished couple of slices, Oh my...! this bread is turning to be one of my favourites!
The rolled oates on top is also great, Karin. I'll sure revisit this bread in the near future.
Khalid
Thanks, Khalid - it's definitely worth it!
Karin
Those loaves look great. I've made this once as I'm bouncing through the book making this and that. I love the biga/soaker method. It removes much of what I've previously experienced with whole grain breads.
FF
Your Straun looks delicious and I don't think you overproofed it as was stated earlier. It would work better placed in a loaf pan for P.R. recipe IMHO. Check out Floyd's recipe list, he has a photo using P.R. recipe.
Sylvia
I baked nearly every bread from the WGB, except for the crackers and a few other specialties I am not too interested in.
I love this book, the technique with the pre-doughs works very well for my schedule, and there were only a few breads I didn't care for (Whole Wheat Santa Lucia Buns and Whole Wheat Mash Bread).
My book is full of scribbled notes and suggestions for variations, and those I like best, I bake regularly and sell.
Karin
His bagel recipes are excellent and a big hit with the family and folks at work. I do not shape them his way, preferring to stretch to shape versus trying to seal two ends of a loop.
FF
Thanks, FF! WW Soakers Sure make all the difference.
True, Sylvia! The dough was wet, and had to be supported laterally. Thanks for the Tip!
Nice Mamabear! Show us your winner bread... try to show us a crumb shot :)
khalid
Hi, Khalid
I made the bread today. I decreased the sugar amount down to 7.3%, and also decreased only 1g yeast. I didn't have wild rice so I used white rice that was left over.
I better use wild rice next time. My neighbor's children and my daughter devoured the bread without a word. They are very healthy,and good texture,Thank you for your post, Khalid!!
Akiko
Great Loaves Akiko!! lovely crust and crumb. Your shaping skills are also great! Sure, this bread will be devoured in no time. Iam glad you made it.
Mamabear, that is one beautiful batard..! Judging from the crumb shot, you may improve your crumb texture by either:
- Developing your gluten by kneading until it bearly passes window pane test.
- Stretch and fold half way through fermentation.
Khalid,
Thank you for your advices that are right. I should knead it more. I really appreciate it, Khalid.
Oh yes, Next day, This bread tastes great! I though it was little sweet when I had a slice of these after they were cooled.( after 6 hours) That is awesome bread that is 100% whole wheat flour. I will make it again. My husband has been suffered from hypoglycemia, He never liked 100% whole wheat bread, but now he really likes this bread. I am thinking about using barley malted powder instead of honey, next time. What do you think about it? Thank you, Khalid.
P.S You have great taste.
Akiko
Thanks, Akiko. I don't know about malter barley flour, havn't used it. It has to be non diastatic though (the type used as sweetners), if it is active, it will make your dough over active, and will result in gummy bread.
You have great taste too akiko, what type of oven do you use?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, Khalid. I appreciate it! I will keep your comment in my bread diary book.
My oven is GE combo electric oven ( Top-microwave Lower-oven) that is past 9 years old.
I am looking forward to seeing your next recommendation, khalid.
Akiko