100% whole wheat sandwich loaf

So amidst my Baguette a l'Ancienne and Sourdough Boule baking frenzy I began feeling a little wheaty. I decided to bake again, 3rd time, Peter Reinhart's Whole Wheat recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

First two attempts were...eh...not so good. Basically negative rise accompanied by an Adamantium-like density. So being a little discourage I did what anyone would do, I tried again. Forgive me for switching back and forth between ounces and gram, but I have no second decimal for ounces.

Results weren't half bad...

Le Pain

And ze crumb...

and...

The Way I Baked:

• Soaker
• 120g Bob Red Mills 10 Grain Cereal (No 10 Grain flour)
• 6 oz. Water (Room Temp)
• Set for 23 hr
• Poolish
• 191g Gold Medal Whole Wheat
• 6oz Water (Room Temp)
• 1/2 t Instant Yeast
• Sat out for 41/2, then in the fridge for 21hr 40min. Sat out for hour to take off chill.
• Dough
• 9oz Gold Medal Whole Wheat
• .33oz Sea Salt
• 1t Instant yeast
• 1,5oz Honey
• .5oz Vegetable Oil
• 1 Large Egg
• Poolish & Soaker

Notes:

Dough temp was at 78.1F after kneading. Bulk fermented for 75 mins, shaped into sandwich loaf via Khalid's method, then final proof for 45 min. Preheated to 400F, then placed loaf in (9x5 loaf pan) oven and reduced to 350F for 30min, rotated 180 degrees, bake for another 15min. Cooled for approx. 2 hrs. Turned out great in my opinion. No grassy after taste and soft inside.

Anybody want to critique feel free please!

So my friend and I, who also bakes at home, decide to have this big bake fest. Happening this weekend. Setting up friday night and baking all day saturday.  I happened into this 20qt Hobart mixer a while back.  So the loaf total kind of turned into "we can process this much dough, so why not?".  Could be a disaster.  Pitched the idea of cutting the loaf total in half- not considered.  Have to admit kind of pumped at the challenge.  On paper this thing looks a little out of hand.  A spreadsheet has been produced to break it all down accounting for 'warming, prepping, rising, baking".  50 plus loaves proposed.  Why? Why not?  Might make great friends up and down the street when we dole it out.  Will let you know what really happens.  We'll see if we wimp out.  

Happy baking....

It's my first time baking 100% whole wheat bread. The recipe comes from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread book.

I find the method to be interesting, by soaking all whole wheat flour used in the recipe in soaker & biga. I'm quite happy with the result. The crumb is rather open and soft, which is quite extraodinary for 100% whole wheat. From my past bakings, I find a high-percentage whole wheat flour loaf to have a rather tight crumb (and this loaf is 100% whole wheat). I'm now thinking of experimenting soaking the whole wheat flour for my next sourdough whole wheat loaf, probably with our favourite Hamelman's multigrain whole wheat sourdough:)

Most importantly, the bread tastes quite nice, and is a healthy option.

Here are some pics, for recipe and more photos, you can follow this link http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com/2010/10/100-wholewheat-sandwich-bread-peter.html

This is a sourdough version of Peter Reinhart's 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf from his book: Whole grain breads. I spiked it by 2.25 Teaspoons of instant yeast.

The crust was soft due to the presence of Milk, and butter, but the crumb was light soft, and even textured.

I used only Waitrose Organic Strong bread flour with 13.9g of protein. I also baked this bread under a pyrex cover in a grill oven, 30 min. covered, and 15 minutes uncovered.

The taste, well, it was somewhat salty (I HAVE TO STOP USEING SEA SALT! i can't figure out how much is enough in a formula(in this bread it was somewhat salty coz i doubled the amount of salt, knowing that sea salt isn't as efficient as refined salt.) It had a faint acidic taste from the levain (50% of the total dough weight), but was pleasant overall.

I learned something very important here: Always increase hydration with PR's wholegrain breads recipes, from 70% to 75%, as peter apparently prefers tighter crumbed wholegrain breads.

Another thing: Never take shortcuts with wholegrains, as this will adversely effect the resulting flavor. I didn't prepare a soaker with a pinch of salt (spong), so no sweetness to there to counteract the excess salt or the sourdough acid.

Here is the bread:

Mebake