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100% Whole Wheat Dough: Windowpane test and Proofing

alonewitheverybody's picture
alonewitheverybody

100% Whole Wheat Dough: Windowpane test and Proofing

Hi all, I'm currently working on to perfect my skills in baking a 100% whole wheat bread based on the book "The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book". However there are 2 persisting problems that I'm unable to resolve. Hope there is someone who can enlighten me.

1) I used a Kitchenaid Artisan series mixer to knead the dough. In the book or in most of the recipes that I came across, the kneading time should take around 10 mins for the dough to pass the windowpane test. In my case, the machine has kneaded the dough for almost an hour (most of the time I stopped the machine to 'adjust' the dough) until the dough is smooth and springy but I have yet to pass the test. Is there any steps that I have done wrong here?

2) The first and second rising, I can see my dough doubled in size but after shaping, the dough seem to have loses stream during the proofing stage though the bread did rise above the pan. I'm not sure it was because too much time was spent at the beginning. In total, I took nearly 4 hours before the actual baking begins. 

Please help and I'm desperate. Thanks.

 

 

lepainSamidien's picture
lepainSamidien

Often the recipes found in a book will leave the home baker disappointed, as they cannot take into account local variations and often rely on ideas of the progress of a dough that are achievable in professional settings, but unrealistic in the home environment.

1. The windowpane test really kills me. I don't think I have EVER kneaded a bread -- in a mixer or by hand -- that has achieved a windowpane like one gets in a big-scale bakery. Ordinary home equipment just doesn't have the power to get that high of a level of gluten development. You can get close by beating the hell out of the dough for a while in a home mixer, but don't break your head about getting something that stretches for miles before tearing (helpful information here : http://www.thefreshloaf.com//node/20669/sourdough-pan-de-mie-how-make-quotshreddablyquot-soft-bread). Additionally, 100% whole wheat bread will almost NEVER achieve the windowpane gluten development that one gets with white bread flour. You're not doing anything wrong, it may just be that your flour has sharper pieces of bran that tear the gluten or is maybe less or more absorbent than the flour that Laurel is using and thus yielding a different texture. In any case, follow the instructions that I left in the link above and plunge yourself in txfarmer's blog -- a gold mine of info. ALSO: soak the whole wheat flour ahead of time to soften all of the hard bits, that way the gluten will have an easier time of forming (basically, you mix all of the flour and water -- NO YEAST -- about 4 - 8 hours in advance, and then add the salt and yeast and begin the regular kneading). 

2. If the dough seems to be losing steam, it's not abnormal. What you can do is to shorten the "second" rise that you're doing by about half and go straight to shaping. That way, the yeast will have enough food to make it to the oven to give you a good oven spring.

Sorry if my advice is a little all over the place, but whatever you do don't lose hope ! We've all had our fair share of loaves that don't behave like we want them to but it will all sort itself out with a little bit (translation : A LOT) of practice.

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Have you tried autolyse, I use 100 %whole wheat and can get a window pane in an Assistant mixer in under 10 minutes

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

deleted double post

clazar123's picture
clazar123

Does the recipe contain these amounts?

6c WW bread flour

2 1/4 water + 1/2 c water to dissolve yeast

On the "Good Whole Wheat Bread" spectrum (I made that up), this may make a loaf of bread but it will always crumble10-24 hours after being baked. Makes great bread crumbs or cereal, though.

WW is a totally different animal when it comes to making a good loaf of bread. Think about what WW flour is and what AP flour is. AP has all the chaff and bran removed so it is just the finally ground,starchy center. AP flour absorbs water quickly and easily to make gravy thicker and wallpaper paste sticky. WW flour has all the bran and non-absorbant parts of the see ground as well as the starchy interior.

Try a little experiment. 

Put 1 tbsp. AP flour in a bowl with 2 tbsp. water and let it sit 10 minutes after stirring, you will have a great,smooth paste.

Now try it with WW flour. In 10 minutes, there may be a little paste but there will also be a lot of branny, gritty bits that are the reason it is called WHOLE wheat flour. All the sticks/twigs (bran) part of the grain have been ground up with the starchy seed center. It takes TIME for the branny bits to absorb water and become waterlogged and that is what you want to happen to have a soft crumb that doesn't become crumbly. If the branny bits are dry and sharp, they not only make it hard for the starchy gel to form a windowpane but after the loaf is baked they continue to absorb moisture from the crumb of the bread and make it crumbly.

SO-it is required that WW flour be given more water than a  dough made with AP flour but also the time to absorb it. ALL the WW flour in the recipe needs the soak. 30 minutes is minimal (and not always successful) but I have often made my dough up at 9PM in the K5 mixer, put it in a greased,covered container and thrown it in the refrig overnight.(a cold retard). The next morning, it is usually close to fully risen and ready for shaping after a minor warmup time on the counter.It goes into the refrig as a slightly sticky mass-meaning if I touch it with a dry finger, I get a little dough on my finger when I pull away- to a dryer,tacky dough that is easy to handle.

So the recipe you are using (if it is the one with the ingredients cited-I don't have the book), then add a little more water, mix a few minutes in the mixer, let it sit covered for 30 minutes and then mix to window pane. For a soft loaf, retard in the refrigerator for several hours, shape,proof and bake.

Words to search: autolyze, cold retard, epoxy method, window pane, soft whole wheat,clazar123 (I've written a LOT about this). And read Txfarmer's post that is referenced above. Excellent posts.

Have delicious fun!

 

alonewitheverybody's picture
alonewitheverybody

I have tweaked the recipe from "The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book". For every cup of wholewheat flour, I replaced 1 tablespoon of vita wheat gluten and I have added 1/2 a tablespoon of squeezed lemon juice. I mixed everything except salt and yeast into a dough ball and let it rest for 2 hours. Then I placed it back to the mixer and started adding the salt and the yeast with the remaining 1/4 cup of water. The dough was very wet and it took a while before it lost its stickiness. Then I engaged the intensive kneading using my Kitchenaid as suggested by txfarmer for around 10mins. I have achieved the long waiting windowpane test, I think!. I'm not sure if this is the rightful windowpane should look like but I think this is the best I go so far. The cranberries walnut chocolate chips flax seed bread turn out softer and less dense than before though I would not say it is fluffy but at least its easier to swallow. But as a novice baker, I'm not sure if the bread is good enough. Please see pictures below. Love to read your comments, good or bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

clazar123's picture
clazar123

So good to hear. Wasn't that interesting how the stickiness disappeared and tackiness replaced it! That was because the branny bits and the starchy gel had time to absorb the water off the surface.

The windowpane has arrived! Good! Remember that what you are seeing is like a bubble on a bubble wand. The gluten strands hold the starchy gel (bubble) in place and the gel is abundant enough to span the space between the gluten strands. Because you have Vital wheat Gluten added, you have extra strands to make a finer net. You can achieve windowpane without VWG but you have to work harder to develop the starchy gel. And there are ways to do that. I won't leave you in suspense-key words to search-tangzhong. Here are 2 posts with info about tangzhong:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/39107/hokkaido-milk-bread-tangzhong

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44602/tangzhong-question

Vital wheat gluten (VWG) is another tool in the bakers tool chest but it is not essential for this recipe. It will tend to make bread a bit chewier as gluten is really a tough netting that forms. It forms a gluten network faster than just working with the gluten in the flour.  The WW flour has adequate gluten for making a loaf of bread, it just requires a bit more time on autolyze and kneading and maybe a little more water.

Keep going! Excellent progress! Enjoy this loaf and make another. Learn a bit from every loaf. It is such a pleasurable journey.