The Chocolate Cranberry loaf was my first 100% sourdough loaf. I won't say too much about it here, because I posted questions about it in another forum. Here is a link to that conversation.

This loaf was made using my yeasted starter. My wild starter still isn't ready yet, although today's observation (day 6) shows that it increased by about 50% - the most so far!

Today I'm trying Mike's 100% WW Sandwich Bread. It looked pretty basic, and I'd like a basic recipe to use every week to hone my skills on.

My dough is in its first rise right now. It's been sitting, oiled and covered, in a sunny window (cool kitchen) for 1 1/2 hrs. It still hasn't doubled yet. This is the same starter I used yesterday in the Chocolate loaf, and it has been fed twice since then, and I waited until it doubled before stirring it down and measuring it.

The recipe calls for finely milled WW. Here in Greenock, I think I only have 1 option for WW. I need to check at the store again. As of now, I'm using the store brand Strong 100% Stoneground WW. The bran flakes are huge - the same size as in the bag of wheat bran that I bought. I have been reading that the gluten in coarsely-ground flour is not 'available' resulting in shorter gluten strands. This might also account for the hard time I had in kneading. I ended up adding just over 1C of additional flour (oh - I doubled the recipe) and it was still quite sticky.

I'm defining sticky like this - wet enough to leave strings of dough attached to my hands, will clean the countertop, but if I leave it sit long enough to clean my hands off, I have to use a scraper to pick up the ball again.

So... if the gluten is shorter, the dough is stickier, wetter, heavier, harder to rise? Hmm... we'll have to see. With the Chocolate loaf, it didn't quite double on the first rising, bit it 'nearly' doubled on the second rise, and then I got very nice oven spring. The conditions were the same - sunny windowsill. But, the chocolate loaf was made with white flour (WW starter) and this bread is 100% WW - much heavier bread. I did get it to pass the windowpane test finally (it took almost 30 min. of kneading).

More comments will be posted as the day's baking progresses.

AFTER FIRST RISING:

After 2 hours, i decided that the dough had nearly doubled. I punched it down gently, turned it over, and reshaped the ball 'inside out'. The dough is somewhat stiffer after the 2 hour rest, and didn't stick to me - yea! As I stretched the dough (the side that was the bottom) the dough did not tear, but made very small (1/8-1/4") blisters on the surface. The dough is very smooth, other than that.

AFTER SECOND RISING:

The dough nearly doubled again - after about 1.25 hrs. I punched it down, divided it in half (double batch) and made 2 loafs. It was still too sticky to put on the counter without a dusting of flour. I spread the dough out - almost using Mike's 'teasing' technique, like for stretch and fold. I rolled the dough up, brushing flour off and pinching the seam as I went. I sealed the ends, turned them under, and placed them into 2 greaed and floured PC stoneware bread pans (I can't get Baker's Joy here) The pans are about 1/2 full of dough - I don't think they'll rise above the surface...

AFTER FINAL RISE:

I was right - they only filled the pans about 3/4 of the way.  I did get them to slash nicely - one long slash down the middle.  Baked for 45 min at 350, then upped the temp to 400 for the last 10 to get them brown(I had the pans too low in the oven).   Because I had greased AND floured my pans, they popped out nicely.  I took them out when the temp was at 205. 

The bread was, again, too moist.  But not as bad as last time.  They were completely risen inside - no thick spots, or pockets of dough.  The flavor is nice - just a bit sour. But that might be because of the extra moisture.  You can't taste the honey (I didn't really want to) so it's a nice any-time bread.  I will definately use this bread next time, and compare notes - using more flour until I'm happy with the texture.  Also, since a double batch wasn't enough for my 2 loaf pans, I think I will make a 3x batch next time.  That makes 1.5 batch in each pan.  I think that would just about do it.

I"m wondering if Mike Avery is lurking today...  I'll copy this entire post into an email to him, and then post a reply when I get one.

I'M A NEWBIE at sourdough, but this question doesn't regard THAT part of the bread.

Here we go:

I decided to give Mike Avery's Cranberry Chocolate Loaf a try today.  This is my first attempt at a true sourdough loaf - no added yeast (although my wild yeast starter isn't ready yet, so I had to use my yeasted one... it won't be long now, though!) Oh - I believe my starter is at about 100% hydration (thick pancake batter)  Below, you'll see that I didn't add very much flour while kneading, so I'm thinking that it was just about right.

I don't have a stand mixer, so I followed instructions closely, but mixing everything in a bowl then kneading by hand.   I watched Mike's Kneading Video (to refresh my memory) and then followed his procedure... press out, fold back, 1/4 turn.  Slowly and rhythmically.  The instructions said to knead 12-15 min in a stand mixer - I decided to start with about 25 minutes by hand.  At around 20 min, i noticed the dough became smoother but firmer - giving way more freely under pressure, but sticking less to the surface.  I thought that "satiny" might be just the term, which is what I had been shooting for - good so far.  Over the course of 25 min, I only added 1/4 C. additional flour for kneading - which is good for me - I think I usually end up with bricks partly because I add too much flour.  I was proud of myself at this point :-) The dough was quite moist and supple - tacky to my hands, but not to the surface.

I gave it a couple more minutes of kneading then proceeded to add the cranberries and pecans.  NOTE: The pecans were my own idea.  I thought that since they were very coarsly chopped (not ground) they wouldn't affect the moisture of the loaf too much. Please correct me or point me to more reading if this isn't right.  They kneaded in beautifully.  Then came the cranberries, and the reason of this posting.  They were a disaster.  I began to knead them in and the dough fell apart.  They were so wet, that by the time I got them all in I felt like I was kneading cake batter!  I had drained them and used the juices in the recipe (as directed) and everything was going so well up to this point!  I only let myself add 3/4 C. more flour - that was the minimum amount required so I could pick the dough up to transfer it to my greased bowl.

My question - was there something I missed?  Has anyone else made this loaf?   Did I miss some major direction (like spread the cranberries out on paper towels for a week to dry before adding)?  Maybe my starter was too wet?  The directions didn't say precisely, but it was measured in cups - it had to be at least pourable, right? My dough is in its first rise now, and I'll let you know how it turns out.  If anyone has experience with this recipe, I'd love to hear about it.  Again, I'll email this posting to Mike, and let you know if he sheds any light on my plight.

Thanks! 

I made these for the first time this year. They are excellent!

Hello everyone. I'm new to the site and very grateful for all of the insight I've gleaned from reading your posts. I'm new to baking and have learned a lot from all of you already.

I'm searching for a recipe for a fruit and nut yeast bread. I've been making a loaf using a straight dough method, but find it to be much too dense when I try to use whole wheat flour. I'd like to use a poolish or biga to see if I can get a more open crumb.

Yes, I spent most of today doing the site upgrade, but I also managed to bake these Cranberry-Chocolate Sweet Buns that I've been meaning to try.