The Fresh Loaf

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Tried another 100% whole wheat bread - so soft!

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

Tried another 100% whole wheat bread - so soft!

Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book truly is a gem. Our bread caught mold, so I went searching for a recipe using what ingredients I had on hand. I bought some buttermilk this week found this recipe for whole wheat buttermilk bread. I freshly milled the wheat. It's also the first time I used a dutch oven AND another big roasting pot to make the bread. It is so weird to put a lid on things and then have it hidden for most of the bake.

I think this bread is supposed to be baked in a tin/pan, but it worked OK in bannetons. Only thing is that it irritates my tongue. Too tart? (I have a sensitive tongue to vinegar and such.) I'll be curious to see how it will be for breakfast.

suminandi's picture
suminandi

That looks like a delicious bread and it must taste great with the fresh grain. 

Not sure you were looking for advice on this, but sourdough bread is incredibly mold resistant. I leave it out all week (in a plastic bag) and it doesn’t mold. It does turn stale around day 4 or so, but is fine toasted for a few more days. 

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

Thanks...

I've been trying to grow a sourdough for a month or longer. It just never grows! But I should just try it!

suminandi's picture
suminandi

Berry,

i was just reading another thread in which you ponder why your starter isn’t doubling. You say you feed it 1/4 cup each flour and water. I could be missing something in your description, but it seems like you are feeding that to a big jar of starter.  I’m wondering if you realize you must use just a small amount of starter - comparable or less than the amount of flour you’re adding. Most people discard the balance of the starter when they do this feeding. Then there’s typically doubling in 4-12 hrs, depending on how much the feeding was compared to the ‘seed’ and how warm the environment is. Pardon me if I misunderstood. 

Final thing, water is about twice as dense as flour, so the typical ‘100%’ which means equal parts flour and water by weight should have about twice the volume of flour added as water ( so 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup water). You won’t be sorry if you buy a kitchen scale. 

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

No, I'm probably being ridiculous about it. I don't dump out a portion every time, but probably every couple of times if I'm feeding it on the counter (which I am doing now to try to figure out why it's not growing). Like tonight I dumped all but half a cup before feeding it. When it's in the fridge (which it has been for a month), I mix it up, dump out all but a quarter cup and add a quarter cup of spring water and 1/4 cup of flour, let it sit for a couple of hours and return the starter back to the fridge. 

suminandi's picture
suminandi

Advice from Debra Wink on making and keeping starter

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44723/sourdough-starter-care-and-use

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

Thanks so much for this. I have a book that has a pretty bad explanation. 

ifs201's picture
ifs201

if you feel like you are wasting flour and that's why you don't like throwing out the starter when you refresh, you can use much much smaller amounts. I only do about 1 tablespoon of starter and then 25g water and 25g flour. That way when I refresh I am just throwing out a tiny amount! Then just build it up as needed for a recipe. 

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

Yes, what I have now (1/4 cup) adds up fast!

thebest41or2's picture
thebest41or2

This looks to be delicious. The crumb looks so nice and airy unusual for %100 Whole Wheat (at least with me)...

Did you sieve out the bran of the whole wheat flour before mixing?

My whole wheat flour comes with rather large flaky bran that usually cause the bread to lose strength in proofing and eventually come out rather dense in texture. That's why i had to sieve out the bran, which helps maintaining volume of the end product.

berryblondeboys's picture
berryblondeboys

I don't sift out any of the bran. I just think that this author really understands freshly ground grains and working with whole grains. Nearly everything I've tried from it (with some learning that happens with each loaf). I wonder if they were to make this book again (update it) if they would have the same techniques. Like, the bread is usually baked in a pan. I did it in a banneton and just crossed my fingers. And a lot of the recipes use commercial yeast.

Next time I do this bread, I will let the grains soak longer. I rush though that as I just try to get a finished product (especially in this case as my bread had gone moldy and we were breadless).