Whole grain and multi-grain breads
I have been making bread by following Chad Robertson after getting frustrated Peter Reinhart's Whole grain Breads. Not that its a great book, it's just that I don't bake frequently enough to follow his terms like preferment,poolish,soaker and what ever.
If two recipes are both about 75% hydration--one has buttermilk, the other doesn't--why would the buttermilk recipe be beautiful and perfect, while the other is a sloppy mess on my counter? I am counting the water and the buttermilk as 1 g per ml (figuring the buttermilk is close enough), and I am counting honey as .5 g of water content per ml. Are my figures off? Different flours? Is it that I'm not measuring by weight, so I can't really compare? (Can't wait to get a baker's scale--hint-hint for Mother's Day)
Should a 75% hydration dough be sloppy like that?
I am a pseudo newbie. I have been making bread with a bread machine for years but am just now braving Reinhart's BBA and doing it by hand. I was looking at his whole wheat bread recipe and he specified high protien whole wheat flour. I use King Arthur whole wheat flour and I know from experience with bread machines that I have to add vital wheat gluten to make it rise. Will adding vital wheat gluten be a substitute for the specified high protient whole wheat flour?
I've been going around in circles on this topic for a few months. I prefer to bake once a week (it's easiest to schedule), and this requires about 3 8x4 loaves, or 2 9x5 loaves. I've been making the whole wheat and oatmeal bread out of Laurel's kitchen as our standard sandwich loaf. I make a batch and a half of dough. This is about 1300 gm of whole grain flours and 900 gm of water. It also includes 6 TBSP of oil and 4.5 TBSP of honey.
I made a loaf the other day and it was...ok. Resulting loaf was about a pound, and seems very dense to me.
The finished dough may have risen about 1.5 times, did not spread much when proofing. I certainly did not get the over spring that PR got in those lovely pictures and . It's hard to tell from the directions how soft the dough should be after BIGA and SOAKER combined. The dough is not very hydrated, and I usually bake with 75% hydration, which results in softer dough. So I am kind of lost tryng to figure out the best way to work with this reecipe.
I am making Reinharts whole wheat bread for the first time using the master formula. I made the soaker last night using yogurt instead of milk or soy which is an option in his recipe. Covered bowl with plastic wrap, but didn't refrigerate since recipe says no need to. This morning, I noticed a small red spot and a green spot on the dough that looks like small particles of mold.
Is this batch OK to use, or should I pitch it and start over?
I recently purchased a book off Amazon that I'm really enjoying. It's called Home Baked by Hanne Risgaard. Although I've had to change my timing a bit for the whole rye ( mine rises much too fast), I really love the recipe. It is %100 whole rye, has a dark beer, rye chops and is loaded with flavor!
My 100% whole wheat bread often tears on the sides after shaping into loaf pans. I have oiled the sides of the loaf pans but still get tears. My last batch tore on the top upon baking. My research suggested that the seam could have been touching the sides of pan and caused that top tear. Does tearing come from not kneading long enough? I use a bosch mixer on the "2" setting with dough hook for 8 minutes with a recipe for three loaves.
My whole wheat bread rises, but not as much as I'd like. I use vital wheat gluten to help, how long should I be letting is rise in the pans?
I just made Peter Reinhart's Whole Wheat Sandwich bread last evening and it tasts good but it is a heavy type bread in my opinion but I hmay have done something wrong with making or baking.
I was hoping it would be soft and airy like the Sara Lee honey whole wheat we typically buy at the store.
Is there another recipe like his that will proocude bread like I am thinking. I prefer lighter crumb style breads not very heavy.
