The Fresh Loaf

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My new method: A very easy Wholewheat bread!

Mebake's picture
Mebake

My new method: A very easy Wholewheat bread!

A very easy to make whole wheat bread:

This is a method I came up with, that marries two good techniques: Delayed fermentation, and the no knead technique.

 The method goes like this: Add tiny yeast (or active starter) to flour and water, give them a mix to barely incorporate them and put the dough in the fridge for upto 48 hours. Remove from the fridge when you want to bake, cut the dough into quarters and sprinkle salt on top, and mix briefly to form a dough and leave to rest on a floured work surface. An hour later, Shape the dough into a log/batard/boule, and insert it into a pan/brotform. An hour to an hour and a half later bake the dough in a preheated oven for 35 minutes. (Even without any enrichments, this dough takes color fast, due to the saltless retardation).

I have baked a 50% whole wheat bread using this method, and it was extremely tasty and easy to make.

Recipe:

(Makes 1kg dough)

Whole Wheat flour: 287  g

Bread flour: 287 g

Water: 414 g

Instant yeast: ¼ tsp

Salt: ¾ Tbl

Total: 1000 g

 

-Khalid

 

 

Comments

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I have never tried no-knead with whole wheat. Something new to try, I guess! Thanks for the idea and for sharing your formula.

Floyd

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Well, it came out of necessity, Floyd. I wanted wholewheat bread on short notice but didn't want to sacrifice flavor, so i put what i learned here and from the books ( that i learned about here) to practice.

-Khalid

evonlim's picture
evonlim

great idea.. especially for those who have minimum time to spare at home. will recommend this method to my friends.

evon

Mebake's picture
Mebake

This is one bread in a real hurry, and quite decent too.

Thanks,

- Khalid

breadforfun's picture
breadforfun

It proves once again that less is more.

-Brad

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Yeah, less is more when you learn the rules. 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

technique Khalid,  The bread came out perfectly so it has to taste good too.  Does salt usually make bread brown less or slower? 

If using a SD levain, since there is only 2.5 hours of counter proofing and 1.5 hours of that coming out of the fridge cold, what would you suggest for the levain amount ....200 g? and how much longer would you recommend for the two counter proof - 3 to 4  hours each? 

Nice baking Khalid. 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

I read that salt helps in giving color to the crust.

Yes, 200g starter should be a good equivalent to the yeast i used. I didn't understand the 2nd part of ur question.

- Khalid

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

since SD takes somuch longer to ferment and proof than cmmercial yeast, what would you add to your counbter times for SD? 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

I's say 1 more hour after pulling it out of the fridge, that should be sufficient.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The bread looks wonderful! And the method is intriguing. I might give this a try. It should work as well with other additions such as a multi-grain soaker and some honey, I suppose.

David

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Please do try different variations, though i suggest you make necessary adjustments. For instance, enrichments or soakers weigh down the crumb, so you may want to mix well after the loaf is taken out of the refrigerator. Also, the bread browns fast enough as it is, so any honey would just darken the crust too fast.

-Khalid

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I appreciate your points.

My inclination would be to include a soaker in the initial mix and mix a few minutes longer to get some gluten development. I wouldn't want to make the procedure less easy, which would defeat your purpose: simplicity. If honey were added, a reduction in oven temperature might be needed, as Hamelman suggests for his Whole Wheat Multigrain bread, which has 3% honey.

BTW, you didn't indicate your baking temperature.

In fact, I might just try Hamelman's formula but do a bulk retardation. I need to think about when to add the salt. Holding it back as you did allows for faster fermentation prior to dough cooling. If it were added before retarding the dough, a longer time for fermentation the next day might compensate.

Many variations are possible.

David

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Nice, if you want some soaker in there, but i wanted to avoid using the mixer or kneading more by hand.

I baked this bread for 450F for 15 minutes, and then i tented the pan with an aluminium foil to shield it as it was taking color fast, and then reduced the temp. to 370F for the remainder 20 minutes.

True, so many vatriations David.

Thanks!

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Hi Khalid,

I love it!  What a great way to adapt the no knead method to ww flours!!!  You are a genius.  What I like even more is that it is so simple to do!  

I have a friend who is toying with baking with ww but all she has read seems too complicated for her.  I will have to send her your method and see what she thinks of it.

Thanks so much for sharing your discovery :-)

Take Care,

Janet

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Isn't it great, Janet? Sticking a barely developed dough into the refrigerator and have it ready any time within 48 hours!

It is no discovery, hehe... merely an educated guess.

Thanks again!

Syd's picture
Syd

Hi Khalid, this looks great and I can see from the fine blistering on the crust that this is a very tasty loaf.  Am definitely going to have to give this a try.  I like the fact that it requires so little time.  I haven't had much trime for bread baking lately!  

All the best,

Syd

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thanks Syd! the final preshaping and shaping have to be quite firm, though.

- Khalid

Jerrywatts's picture
Jerrywatts

sounds like a good method and the bread looks nice . will try soon and thank you for sharing! 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

I hope you try it.

rossnroller's picture
rossnroller

You're obviously on a winner there, Khalid. Very satisfying, no doubt, to apply knowledge and experience and come up with a wholewheat bread like that. Terrif even, open crumb. Bet it was delish.

Cheers!
Ross

Mebake's picture
Mebake

It was decent enough for a bread with no enrichments whatsoever.

Pls. try it Ross,

-Khalid

varda's picture
varda

And simple too.  Will have to try.  -Varda

 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thank you Varda!

Your absolutely beautiful pugliese crumb blew me away.

sunhana's picture
sunhana

Never try no knead as i thought if no kneading is done, then the bread will not be springy. So is this bread very soft and moist?

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thanks, Sunhana!

It is moist , but has a bite to it. It is soft, nontheless.

I'll have to try this recipe again.

-khalid