Hello, just a quick question which I don't think I've seen addressed here, but are there any Bread cook books that are targeted for those of us who mill our own flour at home?

Thanks,

Dennis

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In my area of northern California, I can choose from plenty of whole wheat breads and plenty of sourdough breads, but virtually no combinations thereof.  Any ideas why not?

I have attempted to make a whole rye loaf similar to what my German wife enjoyed eating back home.  I have not been successful using the formula from Dan Leader's "Local Breads" book.  I used that recipe because it called for (finely ground) whole rye flour and rye berries, both of which I can find in Atlanta.  I finally decided to try Hamelman's version which calls for rye meal and rye chops.  I ground my own rye meal and chops using a small electric chopper.  Not the most efficient way I know, but I thought I'd give it a shot.  I sifted the contents through a regular kitchen strainer.  What came through the strainer I used as the "meal".  What was strained out I used as the "chops".  Working with these ingredients felt more "right" to me as I followed Hamelman's instructions.  I baked it in a loaf pan with no cover, just sprinkled some meal over top.  It looked real nice when I took it out of the oven 90 minutes later.  I let it cool for a couple hours on a rack and then wrapped it with a kitchen towel and left it on the counter overnight.  My wife eagerly tried it this morning (about 14 hours after it came out of the oven) and e-mailed me at work to say it was very hard still, but tasted good.  Will the crust soften as it continues to cool?  I know Hamelman recommends 24-48 hrs before slicing.  I thought this was more about the crumb stabilizing than the crust softening.  Is there any reason why the crust would come out this way and how can I get a better crust in the future?  Sorry for the long-winded post and thanks for any replies.

Mike

I've never attempted any kind of whole wheat -- but am loving what cloches do with white breads.

Can I use a cloche for whole wheat?  Adviseable?

~ Best to All!

~ Broc

In the interest of buying and eating local food, I just bought 50 kilograms of local stone ground organic whole wheat (red fife) and "fine sifted" wheat flour, which is pretty much like whole wheat but a little lighter with less bran. I was assured it was very good quality and high in protein for bread baking. I'm keeping it refrigerated so I know it's fresh.  I thought I'd just keep experimenting till I got it working well. 

But alas, I'm having the same problems others have expressed around here with stone ground whole wheat: it just refuses to develop into a strong dough.  Today's experiment (jmonkey's buttermilk and honey whole wheat) started with a biga so some of the wheat had time to soften first.  I did everything right (I have made the same bread with different flour with great results), kneading about 40 minutes and adding some unbleached white along the way since it was extremely sticky. The dough eventually felt quite nice but would tear at the slightest stretch. (Actually, half the dough I folded to see if a different treatment would make a difference; it stayed so sticky and unmanageable, I ultimately opted not to shape it into a sandwich loaf and baked it in the scorching cast iron pot a la NYT; the texture was about the same as the loaf I baked in a pan).

I'd love to hear from anyone who has successfully turned stone-ground organic whole wheat into a great loaf.  Is it possible??  While there have been lots of suggestions about what should work, I'd specifically like to hear from someone who has solved the problems to their satisfaction.

The most important thing I've learned so far is that slices of even the most disappointing loaf taste pretty great spread with Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread).  I'm thinking of getting the large size next grocery trip.

*Disclaimer*  I am VERY new to ww bread baking and am the only ww bread baker I know so you guys are the only ones who can answer my novice questions :)

I have been making the Loaf for Learning from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, and while I absolutely love the taste and texture of the loaf, my husband complains that the individual slices are too small for a good hearty sandwich.  Is there a trick to using the same recipe to get a higher-rising loaf?  Can I simply do 1 1/2 times the recipe and put it in the same pan for a larger bread?  I know Peter R. has a whole grain bread book with good sandwich loaf recipes, but I wanted to know how to trouble shoot this problem for future reference.  Thanks!

I just got home to two way over-proofed Whole Wheat loaves from the BBA.  I was hoping to add some flour and water to revive it, but reading back over the recipe, it seems more complicated since the wet ingredients were honey, veg. oil and egg.  Can I save it or is it bound for the garbage?

Thank you!

I'm pretty new to bread baking.  I've done lots of reading which I find interesting and have baked a few white flour loaves.  They turned out fine.  I baked the whole wheat sourdough recipe from Laurel's Kitchen yesterday and encountered a problem.  This recipe is entirely whole wheat except for the sourdough starter. The first two rises were fine, but the third rise, in the pan, was a flop.  It rose maybe 50% in 4 hours!  I did bake it and it tasted fine.  I'm wondering if the yeast got too hot during the third rise.  With all rises I put it in the oven after turning the oven on and off for 30 secs.  The 3rd rising period was in the oven for 30 minutes and on a heating pad for the other 3+ hours!  I had the pad on low at first and then bumped it up after an hour or so.  I had a towel on the pad and a plastic container over the top of the bread. 

Her recipe states the 3rd rise will take half as long as the 2nd which would have been about an hour.  I would have expected to see some rising within 30 minutes which I barely saw. 

What most perpexes me is that if it rose fine the first two times why not the 3rd, unless as I said, maybe I got it too warm.

Thanks

Ginny

Has anyone tried the whole wheat challah in Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread book? I am new to this forum, but not new to bread baking. I recently received Reinhart's book as a gift and have loved all of the bread I have tried from it. But I am only familiar with challah using white flour. I would appreciate any opinions on this bread. Thanks!

Yesterday, I made a loaf of 100% whole wheat per the Bread Becker's slightly sweet 100% whole wheat recipe. It was perfect...soft, beautiful rise, the real deal.

Today I made the bread and it took almost another 50% flour to get it to even come off of the sides of the bowl of my KA. Yesterday the pre-bake weight was a little over 2#. Today it was 3# on the dot.

Weather isn't really an issue here: it is dry, there is no storming going on. The only difference was yesterday I used canola oil, and today I used olive oil. Same liquid amount. Could this account for the difference?

I am also noticing that today it is rising about twice as quickly as it did yesterday.

Insight?