The Fresh Loaf

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KipperCat's picture
KipperCat

No Knead Half WW

This is the bread I baked yesterday, using half and half whole wheat and white flour. It barely rose, though got a little oven spring. But it isn't a brick! The flavor is very good and the crumb is nice and soft. I think I overproofed by about 2 hours, but may have the other elements right.

Here's the dough just before going in the oven. The gluten strands on the dough surface didn't hold when I rounded the dough. You can see how torn up it looks. I stopped shaping because I was making it worse with each little stretch. Would the overproofing account for that? Quite a contrast to my last dough pic, isn't it! It's not well-risen, but it passed the finger-stick test, so in the oven it went. I didn't think it would take a free-form bake, so used my 4 quart saucepan for baking it.

Once the dough is losing it like this, is there any way to return it to a nice plump state that holds together? It actually has risen some in the colander since I shaped and placed the dough there, but the dough seemed rather torn up, and further rounding was just making it worse.

I should clarify that the overproofing seemed to be in the 18 hour stage.  The dough seemed a bit liquid in the center when I dumped it out on the board. 

Here are the exact ingredients used, with the standard NYT Jim Leahy method

215 grams KA white whole wheat flour

215 grams all purpose flour - GoldMedal

1.5 tsp. salt

.25 tsp. yeast

1.5 Tbsp. gluten

1/8 tsp. Vitamin C crystals

1 3/4 cup water

KipperCat's picture
KipperCat

Here's the dough ready for the oven. I like wheat bran for keeping the towel from sticking to the dough.



Here's the loaf just dumped out on the 13" stone. This picture is taken through the oven door.



Here's the finished loaf. You can just see my new dough scraper propped on the cooling rack behind the bread. It measures the bread at nearly 5" high! The crust is definitely browner than I would like.

And last of all, the inside.



What I've changed since first loaves -
- I weigh out 430 grams of flour instead of measuring 3 cups. Apparently I was measuring lighter cups than Jim Lahey, as this looks more like bread dough, and not like a think pancake batter!
- I learned how to stretch and fold, using the envelope fold
- I use very little flour for the fold and rounding process. Of course this is easier, now that I have the correct amount in there to start with!
- This is the first loaf I've raised in a colander, instead of on a flat surface. I'm not sure that really made a difference, as the dough was so different by the time I placed it in the colander.
- This was also the first loaf I've baked directly on a stone, instead of in a pot. It's a good thing I decided to do that, because by the time the loaf was ready to go in the oven, it was obvious it wouldn't fit in the 4 quart pot I'd been using.
- Since I didn't have time for an 18 hour rise, I started with 90'F water instead of the 70'F I usually use.
- It was baked for about 10 minutes less time. I think my oven isn't regulating very well. 10 minutes before time to check the bread, I could smell it burning and took it out of the oven.

How the Bread was Better -
- Nice crisp crust, (had been a bit tough). I even heard that nice crackling sound as the crust cracked when I removed it from the oven!
- Much larger loaf
- The flavor was very good, though I'm not sure how the it compared to the last few loaves. We took it to a friend's house for dinner. Between the other food and the conversation, I didn't pay enough attention. I did find out it's surprisingly good with guacamole! The flavor is better than my very first NYT loaves, but even they were incredibly good. This is just a very easy method that also produces a very good loaf of bread. It's also whet my appetite for doing other types of bread.

KipperCat's picture

Why did my dough fall? NYT no knead

June 4, 2007 - 3:24pm -- KipperCat

Hi.  I'm a new member of the forum, though I've read a lot here just recently.  I haven't baked bread in years, and then it was mostly in a bread machine.  But this no-knead bread is so easy it's become a habit.  It's also very good!  I'm still working on a good whole wheat version.  Today's dough is half AP and half WW flours.  The only recipe changes are adding 1.5 Tbsp gluten and  more water.

weavershouse's picture
weavershouse

I finally made the Sourdough Pagnotta that has been so praised here 3 SOURDOUGH PAGNOTTA AND 1 SOURDOUGH SEMOLINA ON LEFT3 PAGNOTTA AND ONE SEMOLINA ON LEFTSOURDOUGH SEMOLINA IN CLAY BAKERSOURDOUGH SEMOLINA, SESAME SEEDS SEMOLINA3 SOURDOUGH PAGNOTTA AND 1 SOURDOUGH SEMOLINA ON LEFT3 SOURDOUGH PAGNOTTA AND 1 SOURDOUGH SEMOLINA     I tried one pagnotta plain, one I baked in the Le Creuset with poppyseeds and one I rolled with cinnamon/sugar and raisins because my husband was asking for raisin bread. I also made a NYT no-knead with 3 cups unbleached white and 1 cup semolina, 2 tbls. olive oil and 2 tbls. sugar, 1/3 cup active starter, salt and water. I baked the Semolina Bread in a long clay baker as shown in my photo. I think they all came out good. I always like the taste of my bread better the day after baking so I'll see if I have a favorite then.

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