The Fresh Loaf

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PR's WGB - Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

hydestone's picture
hydestone

PR's WGB - Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I am making PR's Transitional Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread and am wondering if the soaker is hydrated enough to work.  I used plain greek style yogurt instead of milk and it seems very dry.  I was able to work it into a ball of dough but it took a little bit of work as it was very dry.  I had to scoop up the last few tablespoons of flour from the bottom of the bowl and tuck them into the middle of the ball then continue kneading.  Will the soaker work properly in this condition?

 

Also, total formula weight is 32.6 ounces.  Is this 1 or 2 sandwich loaves?

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, hydestone.

What a coincidence. I just took a loaf of this bread out of the oven, and I made it with Greek-style yogurt in the soaker.

As I understand it, what makes yoghurt "Greek-style" is that it is drained so that some of the water is taken out. Thus, compared to the alternatives (buttermilk, etc.), you are adding more solids and less water for a given weight of ingredient. 

What I did was to use about 125 g of Greek-style yoghurt and 50 g of water. The soaker was still crumbly, but I also used very coarsely ground WW flour - almost like chops. 

I'm not concerned about this, but we'll see how it slices and chews in another hour or so.

Regarding your second question: I assume you are making pan loaves. How much dough your pan holds depends on it's size. A standard 8 1/2 " pan generally holds 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. the 9" pans hold 1 1/2 to 2 lbs, I think. (These are for "standard" American loaf pans.) I'm not 100% sure of those weights, so I hope some one with more experience than I with pan breads will respond.

David

hydestone's picture
hydestone

Wow, that is quite a coincidence!  I am trying to transition my 3 and 5 year old girls to a bread with more fiber and figured the yogurt would give it a pleasant texture and taste they would enjoy.

I thought about adding some additional liquid but decided to leave it alone.  It seems to dry to breakdown the wheat flour overnight.  I am making a double batch so for the soaker I used 396 g of yogurt with KA 100% Whole Wheat and salt.

The final dough doesn't have much additional moisture, other that the water from the biga.  I use agave nectar for the sweetener which will help the moisture a little bit.

I am thinking of adding some additional water to the soaker tonight.  Do you think 75g-100g would be too much?  I could adjust tomorrow as necessary if final dough seems too wet.

I thought 32 ounces seemed like a lot for a single 8-1/2" loaf pan.  It probably loses 10+ ounces during the bake.

I hope yours turns out well!

Edit at 10:30 pm:  I just opened the soaker and added 50g of water.  I am not sure it really needed it after all.  It seemed a bit more hydrated after it had been sealed up for a few hours.

John

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

"I used plain greek style yogurt instead of milk and it seems very dry."

Pretty much says it all right there. In comparing equal amounts by weight, greek yogurt contains significantly less liquid than milk. Greek yogurt is essentially (cultured)milk with much of the liquid drained off, in addition to additional solids often being added. In short, you probably used far less liquid that the recipe called for.

As far as loaf size and quantity, I don't have the book, but seeing as how his BBA light wheat recipe, which is mostly white bread flour, makes about 31 ounces, all to be baked in a single 8.5 x 4.5 loaf pan, I would guess that your recipe would probably call for the same.