The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Reinhart's Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf

varda's picture
varda

Reinhart's Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf

Frequently when I ask my friends if they would like some bread, they say something like, oh I can't eat that - I'm off bread.   This makes me sad, so I decided to change my tack.   So lately I've been asking would you like some 100% whole wheat sandwich bread, and the responses have been much more positive.   Only one problem - I really don't know how to bake with 100% whole wheat.   So I finally took Janetcook's advice and got Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart.  

Here is a shot at his master formula - enriched whole wheat loaf.    This tastes pretty darn good for 100% whole wheat.   Most of the flour is either in an overnight soaker or an overnight biga, so it comes out pretty soft.    The enrichment produces a smooth soft crumb.   And much more edible than my attempts at unenriched 100% whole wheats thus far.  

I used the approach of really knocking the dough around in the mixer to get adequate dough development.   Since I have a Bosch Compact and Franko warned me that despite the advertised 5 lb capacity, one is better off mixing under 1Kg or less than half that, I mixed up the 1.4Kg dough by hand, blended the ingredients for a few minutes in the compact, then cut the dough in half and did development half at a time for around 15 minutes each on speed 2.   I was able to get a semi-fragile window pane - in other words I could get it quite thin, but it was a hair away from breaking.   Based on the results I think I should probably have gone a bit longer.   

The resulting bread is great for the calorie conscious consumer (say that 5 times) as it can be cut quite thin.

I suspect a lot of people on TFL make this loaf, so would be interested in any insights, observations, and so forth. 

The best thing about it though was I pulled off one of the three pieces and handed it to a friend who was happy to have it.   We'll see how she feels after she and her family get to it.  

 

 

Comments

ananda's picture
ananda

Beautiful baking Varda,

I take it the flour you used is not the locally-sourced grain you have been working with of late?

Best wishes

Andy

varda's picture
varda

Yes, I meant to say that I decided to bake this with King Arthur whole wheat.    My friend wants to learn how to bake this type of bread, so I figured in trying to find a good recipe for her, I would use the same type of flour she is likely to use.   I note much less bran in this flour than what I get if I do a fine grind of my local wheat.   So I am starting to suspect that King Arthur whole wheat is more like King Arthur 97% extraction.   Thanks for commenting.  -Varda

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

example of a tall and proud whole wheat!  Beautiful sandwich crumb too.  I like that you can cut it thin and it doesn't fall apart.  My wife would like this in thin slices for her daily sandwiches and hopefully like it better than Oroweat!  I'll have to show it to her.

Nice baking Varda!

varda's picture
varda

Hi DA.   Thanks so much for your comments.   You could make a loaf like this - simple - only 7 ingredients rather than your usual 20 - for your wife.   You just have to tie one hand behind your back, and say no bits, no malt, no seeds, no barley corn........over and over again to yourself.    ;>)  -Varda

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is a Sara Lee brand of breads sold in grocery stores all around the country that is baked by Bimbo  Bakeries in Horsham, PA - can't make that up and might explain why the ladies of this household it in such high regard.  My wife and daughter like their 100% whole wheat.

And today's bake only had 7 different kinds of flours .......but it did have a bunch of other stuff  that was hardly necessary........but no soaker or sprouts.  Nearly killed my poor apprentice to cut back that drastically on her formula.  She's beginning to think you don't like dogs  :-)

Even Oroweat's 100% Whole Wheat has 21 ingredients but some of them are odd and difficult to pronounce  - even for gifted apprentices.

Happy Baking Varda!

weavershouse's picture
weavershouse

A beautiful loaf and looks delicious. What size pan did you use? That's a high and mighty loaf.

varda's picture
varda

I used a 9x4x4 (inch) Pullman without the top.    I pretty much maxed out on the amount of dough I could fit into it at 1450g.   Yes, high and mighty, but also I photographed it like it was an approaching train to emphasize its massiveness.   My little joke to myself.   Thanks so much for your comments.  -Varda

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Thanks for the loaf, and the laugh :^)
(it really is a gorgeous bread)
:^) breadsong

varda's picture
varda

Breadsong.   -Varda

linder's picture
linder

Your bread looks great! Beautiful tall loaf with an amazing even and delectable crumb!  I can hardly wait to get my hands on the Whole Grains Baking book(it's on my hold list with the local library when it becomes available).  Do you know if the formula is the same as the one in his Bread Baker's Apprentice book?

Thanks for sharing a slice with us,

Linda

 

varda's picture
varda

Hi Linda,  I've always had something of an unexplained bias against Reinhart so I never got BBA even when everyone and his or her aunts and uncles were posting beautiful breads from it.    Janet's cheerful insistence helped me overcome that enough to buy WGB.   So far I'm quite impressed with the book and think I'll learn a lot from it.   Hope you enjoy it too.  Thanks for your comments.  -Varda

dfurlong's picture
dfurlong

I have the Whole Grain book and the Bread Baker's Apprentice, they are not the same recipes. I just baked the 50/50 loaf out of the Whole Grain and it came out so soft and amazing. My husband has decided it's his new favorite. Amazing flavor and depth due to the soaker and the biga.

 

Varda, gorgeous loaf.

varda's picture
varda

Thanks so much.  -Varda

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Varda,

This is beautiful!!! I am very impressed by how well you were able to develop the dough by hand!!!  I use the good old DLX when doing the sandwich loaves for the same reason you did by hand....Compact doesn't like that much to knock around :-( and I don't want to hurt him.

Your 3 piecing is great too.  Did you use a long Pullman with that amount of dough?  I generally use the smaller Pullman (9x4) and if I try to fit that much dough into it the 2 end rolls get smushed during the proof and bake.  Yours looks like all pieces rose evenly - no sibling rivalry for space.

I bet  your friends will be back after eating this loaf :-)

Just in case you get more takers for your ww loaves I purchased mini pans HERE for people who want a smaller loaf. ( A lot of the people I bake for are older with no children at home anymore so a big loaf is simply too much for them to eat in a timely manner and most don't want to freeze left overs.)  

Thanks so much for posting this loaf.  I am glad to hear that your foray into ww is producing tasty results for you and others.  You are a talented baker.  I love how you will try just about anything.  I imagine you have a wide variety of formulas by now.

Take Care,

Janet

varda's picture
varda

Hey Janet,  I only did the initial mix by hand - actually by spoon as I don't like to get honey on my hands.    Then  a quick mix in the BC to blend, then cut it in half and did dough development on each piece in the BC.    This seemed to work fine.   

I did find it a bit difficult to fit the three pieces in the pan (9x4x4)  but just jammed them in there as best I could.   I think 1450g is on the outer limit of what will fit.   If I want to use the lid, 1350 seems to be the limit depending of course on the dough.   I had to run out unexpectedly right after I shaped and put them in the pan, but didn't think I'd be gone that long, so I left them out on the counter.   When I got back they had sproinged up and I thought were on the verge of collapsing so I got them in the oven as fast as I could and just in time as they didn't expand more than a tiny bit  during the bake.  

Thanks for the link to the mini pans.   It may come up.   And thanks so much for your kind words.   I love all kinds of bread, and that drives me to bake all kinds of bread.   I know you make a lot of variety too, and don't even eat it.  

-Varda

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Oh, but I do love the aroma.  Seems like since I can't eat certain foods my sense of smell has increased so I get a lot of pleasure out of the aroma wafting out of the oven as my breads bake and then how it makes the whole house smell once it out and cooling. Sheer delight :-)

I am shocked that your pan is the size of mine and yet your pieces all rose evenly!!!  If I go over 900g I run into trouble. Did you roll them as txfarmer pictured how she rolls her pieces or did you simply roll the dough out one time like for a regular sandwich loaf?

Janet

varda's picture
varda

you enjoy the giving as well.   One of  the greatest pleasures.  

I was in a big rush when I did the shaping as I had to run and pick up my son unexpectedly.   So I just took each piece, pressed into a long rectangle and rolled it up from the short side.   The dough was very well behaved so shaped very easily.   The hard part was getting it all into the pan.   I don't know why they raised pretty evenly as I didn't do anything special. 

Varda

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Well, whatever you did worked beautifully.  Isn't that always the way it is with something and then when we try to repeat.....

I will give your shaping method a try next time I make a loaf for 3 piecing.

Janet

 

Faith in Virginia's picture
Faith in Virginia

Wow, that is gorgeous bread.  I tend to slip in and out of taste with whole wheat bread.  At times I can't get enough and other times I would rather eat dirt.  As you could guess at this point I'm on a "rye thing" trying to take note of all my faults for our class.  But that loaf looks so beautiful I think I'll do one this weekend.  Thanks for the inspiration.

That thin slice of bread reminded me of a TV commercial for knives.  The guy sliced the bread super thin and held it up.  Then he looked at the audience and said ...this is how you get your in laws to go home...you starve them.

Faith

varda's picture
varda

Faith, I totally get the dirt thing.   The only reason I made this today despite the fact I'm this close to od'ing on whole wheat is I had a couple people I wanted to give it too.   I ended up giving away two of the pieces and kept one.     But with that endorsement, you should really try this.    It's very tasty. 

I don't remember that TV commercial, but it sounds like a doozer.   

Thanks so much for commenting.  

-Varda

bakingbadly's picture
bakingbadly

What a loaf to marvel at....

Hmm, you know what? It's been a while since I baked anything with whole wheat... and your lofty loaf has inspired me to bake something up with whole wheat flour. 

Thanks for posting, Varda!

Zita

 

varda's picture
varda

we can marvel at each other's loaves Zita.   This seems like a winter loaf to me, and I don't think you get winter where you are.   But who cares about that.   Hope you make something wonderful with whole wheat.   Thanks for commenting.  -Varda

Franko's picture
Franko

Hi Varda,

This is such an exquisite looking example of a tinned WW loaf, I could easily see it being used in a baking textbook. The shape is lovely, as is the crumb and I'm sure it has a flavour to match it's good looks as well. Normally I'm not a fan of 100% WW flavour but I'd sure be tempted to try this loaf of yours. Very nice Varda!

Franko

varda's picture
varda

As you can see, your comments about how to use the Bosch have been extremely helpful.   When I'm in doubt as to whether the dough is being developed enough, I cut in half, and that works great.   I wish I had understood this before I bought the machine but I still like it as it's compact and does a great job when used properly.  

Thanks so much for your comments on the bread.   This was my best 100% whole wheat loaf so far, but since I have been totally od'ing on whole wheat, I gave away two of the three pieces, so only had a bit of it.    Now I want more.   It really tastes great, and that's not handicapped for whole wheat.   I have yet to bake a 100% whole wheat that I liked without enrichment (I think it can be done) but the enrichment and method (soaker and biga) make the difference. -Varda