The following was a blog post this week on a whole wheat/whole grain version of a Cuban bread recipe I posted a while back. Enjoy!

When you have baked for a while, you will have the urge to tweak your recipes, to play with them. At least that is how it has always been for me. IF I am patient enough, I will make the original once, ultimately determine that this and this ought to be different, and I go for it.

As much as I love the Cuban bread recipe I posted a while back, I am also in general not a huge fan of white bread, no matter how addicting. And Cuban bread is one of the best sandwich breads I have had. Therefore I set out to “Germanize” it, if you can call it that, and add some whole grain aspects to it.

One thing to keep in mind is which kinds of ingredients will affect the hydration balance in the dough and which ones will simply add flavor and texture. Because the balance of ingredients is nowhere more crucial than in bread, one has to be able to fine-tune a dough when one “plays” with it. Adding whole wheat or rye flours will affect the hydration balance, as they soak up water in a different way than white bread flour. Further, their gluten content is different, so this will have an impact on the overall texture. On the other hand, seeds will affect the flavor and texture primarily.

This tweaked “Cuban” is not only STILL a great sandwich bread, but it will make a great and very healthy addition to your dinner table (Thanksgiving?), both as sliced bread or as rolls. In the Basic Cuban Bread recipe, I substituted 1/3 or 292 g of the bread flour for whole wheat flour, or a mix of equal parts whole wheat, dark rye, white rye and semolina. I also added 50 g each of pumpkin seeds, sesame, cracked wheat, steel-cut oats and rolled oats. This made the loaf more crumbly, but not by much.

Last but not least, a few people have been asking me how to best shape a baguette/French bread. The technique is pretty much the same, no matter what length. In order to force the dough into a French bread/batard shape, start with a boule, let it rest, shape it into a "torpedo" and then roll it into itself. Seal the seams. This will give you the same effect as an "envelope fold" would, but it is easier in my estimation, and more effective.

The most important thing is to let the dough rest between stages in order for the gluten to relax. When you have sealed the seams, begin rolling the loaf into a batard by elongating it towards the sides. It is easiest to do the final proof on a French loaf pan instead of a couche, if you want to avoid transferring the loaf (also, I am avoiding proofing anything containing traces of oil/fats or egg on baker's canvas).

German Foodie’s Whole Wheat “Cuban” Bread

584 g bread flour 292 g whole wheat flour 462 g water 92 g poolish 18 g yeast 16 g sugar 57 g lard or liquid shortening 18 g salt

50 g each of pumpkin seeds, sesame, cracked wheat, steel-cut oats, rolled oats

Prepare bread dough, let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 400 F. Shape dough into two batards the length of a half sheet or French bread pan. Proof on pan, score straight down the middle. Bake for 30 minutes or until the bread’s interior is about 200 F; steaming at the beginning. Makes 2 loaves.

Download a printer-friendly recipe.

I just made the French Bread II recipe from Reinhart's "Crust & Crumb" (with pate fermentee) and decided to turn it into two boules. Here are some pictures, please let me know what you think.

I made this bread yesterday from Hamelman's yeasted prefermets section. I used 50% Strong white Hovis bread flour, and 50% Snowflake Nutty Wheat Flour. As the latter contains too much bran, i adjusted by adding some all purpose flour to the final dough.

I mounted two baking stones on two separate racks. The oven spring was better this way, i think. I used Sylvia's Steaming technique.. (very effective).

I cut some slices today morning, and the bread smelled strongly of buckwheat. I used buckwheat in lieu of millet called for in the recipe. The crust is crunchy, and the crumb is soft and satisfying. I love this bread!

Khalid

I'm trying to soften up the crumb of 100% whole wheat bread a la Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads using potato starch in the soaker, but I'm not sure how much to add. Is there a general guideline for quantity of potato starch you should use based on total flour weight (2%/3% flour weight?). 

A couple weeks ago, I posted my bake of the Whole Wheat Bread from Reinhart's BBA, made with fresh-milled flour. A reply by Karin (hanseata) prompted me to bake the “100% Whole Wheat Bread” from Reinhart's newer Whole Grain Baking book. I had made this bread once before leavened with sourdough starter and didn't particularly care for the combination of sourdough tang and whole wheat flavor, but I thought I really should make it again using instant yeast and with fresh-milled whole wheat.

The differences between the formulas for whole wheat bread in BBA and WGB are clearly evolutionary and illustrate where Reinhart has gone with his thinking about drawing the best possible flavor and performance from whole grain flours. In the WGB version, essentially all the flour is either in a biga or a soaker, with an optional additional small amount used to adjustment dough consistency, if needed.

I followed the recipe in WGB closely, with these choices where there were options: For the liquid in the soaker, I used about 2/3 Greek-style yoghurt and 1/3 2% milk. For the fat, I used canola oil. I added less than an ounce of additional WW flour during kneading.

After bulk fermentation, I shaped a single bâtard which was proofed on a linen couch then baked in a Le Creuset oval roaster (in which it barely fit).

I baked at 425ºF (convection bake) with the cover on the roaster. After 10 minutes, I reduced the temperature to 350ºF, and, after 10 minutes more, I removed the cover. I baked another 20 minutes with the roaster uncovered. At that point, I felt the crust should be darker and firmer, although the internal temperature of the loaf was 185ºF. I removed the loaf from the roaster, placed it on a sheet pan and baked for another 10 minutes. I left the loaf in the turned off oven with the door ajar for another 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.

The crust is thin, slightly crunchy and chewy. The texture of the crumb is moist and chewy – hard to describe but very pleasing. The chewiness is from the larger particles of grain, rather than from the gluten in the crumb. The crumb is otherwise quite soft – almost cake-like. I milled the wheat to the second finest setting. Next time, I plan to mill it at the finest setting, at least for the biga. The flavor is very similar to that of the BBA whole wheat bread but even better. There is no grassiness or bitterness from the bran, just a little sweetness from the honey and the wheat itself and good wheaty flavors. I much prefer this yeasted version to the sourdough one. 

This bread does not need any spreads or other enhancements. It is very satisfying plain. But I'm anticipating it will be equally delicious with almond butter or with eggs.

I also baked a couple boules of sourdough bread today. I used one of the formulas from the SFBI Artisan II Workshop, which calls for a liquid levain fed twice a day. These were baked in Lodge Combo Cookers.

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

A couple days ago, I tested my new KitchenAid Grain Mill's output with a formula calling for about 30% whole grain flour. It was very good. In fact, the flavor of that bread has improved over two days. Even as I dipped my toe in the home-milled flour waters, I knew that the real test, for me, would be how the flour performed in a 100% whole wheat bread.

Most of my breads are made with levain, but my favorite whole wheat bread has remained the “Whole Wheat Bread” from BBA. This is made with a soaker of coarse ground whole grains and a “poolish” made with whole wheat flour. I have used bulgur for the soaker in the past. Today, I used coarsely ground fresh-ground hard red winter wheat, the same wheat was used finely ground for the poolish and final dough. The formula can be made as a lean dough (plus honey) or can be enriched with oil and/or egg. I used both.

The KitchenAid Grain Mill does a great job with coarse grinding. I found that, with the first pass, the particle size is rather variable. It seems to even out by putting the flour through the mill again at the same setting.

I ground the rest of the grain at the next to finest setting. I put it through 3 passes of increasing fineness, actually. The flour ends up somewhere between semolina and AP flour fineness, at least by feel. This slightly coarse flour, fresh-ground, seems to absorb a bit less water than the KAF WW flour I usually use. I ended up adding about an extra tablespoon of flour to adjust dough consistency during mixing.

Bulk fermentation, dividing, shaping and proofing showed no differences I noticed from the behavior of this bread made with KAF WW flour. However, there was a remarkable difference in the aroma of the bread during baking and cooling. It filled the kitchen with a wheaty smell that both my wife and I found absolutely lovely. (As I write this, the bread is cooling. I hope it tastes as good as it smells!)

Another remarkable difference is that the color of the loaves is quite a bit lighter than loaves made with KAF WW flour and exactly the same other ingredients and the same baking time and temperature. I thought this might be because the KAF WW has malt added, but it is “100% hard red whole wheat,” according to the ingredient list on the bag.

The flavor of the bread is just perfect, to my taste. It has a wonderful whole wheat flavor with not a bit of grassiness. It is very slightly sweet. I used a very mild-flavored clover honey, and I cannot find any distinct honey taste in the bread. The flavor is bolder and more complex than this same bread made with KAF WW flour. I'm sold!

As I've written, above, Reinhart's whole wheat bread from BBA has been my favorite. I've made other whole wheat breads from formulas in Hamelman's “Bread” and Suas' “Advanced Bread & Pastry” that I found less tasty. I am now wondering how they would be if made with fresh-ground flour. Hmmmm …. This is shaping up to be a project.

David

In my continuing search for whole wheat breads to add to my list of favorites, today I baked the “Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread” from Michel Suas' “Advanced Bread and Pastry.” I had previously baked the Honey Whole Wheat from AB&P, but still prefer Peter Reinhart's 100% Whole Wheat from BBA to it.

Most of my bread baking is with sourdoughs, and I want to have a sourdough whole wheat bread that I really enjoy in my repertoire. The one I have made - I can't remember where I got the formula - was not to my taste. I just didn't like the combination of sourdough tang and whole wheat flavor. On the other hand, I have enjoyed other sourdough breads with a high percentage of whole grains, so the AB&P formula seemed worth trying.

Yes. I know it's not “pure” sourdough, and it's not close to purely whole wheat, but if Chef Suas wants to call it “Sourdough Whole Wheat,” who am I to quibble?

Procedure

1. Mix levain ingredients and ferment at room temperature for 12 hours.

2. Mix all ingredients to medium gluten development. The dough should be quite tacky.

3. Bulk ferment for 2 hours.

4. Divide into 2 equal pieces and preshape for boules or bâtards.

5. Let the pieces rest, covered, for 20-30 minutes.

6. Shape as desired.

7. Proof en couche or in bannetons for 60 to 90 minutes.

8. Bake at 450ºF for 35 minutes with steam for the first 12-15 minutes.

9. Cool completely before slicing.

I mixed the dough in a KitchenAid stand mixer for 3 minutes on Speed 1 and about 7 minutes on Speed 2. After bulk fermentation, the dough was still tacky but very extensible. I rested the loaves seam side down after pre-shaping. This was a mistake. There was enough flour on the seam side to interfere slightly with final shaping. (See my boule tutorial.) I recommend proofing seam side up.

I think I slightly over-proofed (90 minutes) and got less oven spring than I thought I should get with this bread.

The crumb was quite chewy. The flavor was rather simple – A very slight sourdough tang and a straight ahead whole wheat flavor with no grassiness or bitterness. I look forward to tasting the bread as toast in the morning and as a sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

David

I know there is really no answer to the question of why certain formulae have certain ingredients, but still.   I have spent the last month or two making various Hamelman sourdough breads which basically have 4 ingredients - flour, water, starter and salt.   Then I decided I wanted to make whole wheat sandwich bread, so I have been reading about that, but when I actually picked one and started baking, I found myself messing around.   So I basically used a Hamelman type approach with sandwich bread ingredients.   That meant I added a bit of honey, powdered milk, and oil to a sourdough bread, but used starter and sourdough rise times and stretch and folds. and instead of baking in pans, I shaped as batards and cooked panless until crusty.   The results were really delicious - totally surprisingly so, since usually my messing around leads to nothing good.    So I understand what honey does, but I'm not sure what oil and milk do for bread, and why certain types of bread have them and others don't.   Any thoughts on this?  Thanks. -Varda

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Image: Chipati with chickpea, potato and spinach stew.

I wrote a story in the WaPo on a wood-fired baking class at King Arthur Flour with Jeffrey Hamelman. Here's the companion recipe on flatbread, which has a hydration of 66%. It seemed appropriate given the long thread launched by Bhutan Baker.

Summer is a great time to make this yeast-free flatbread, which takes minutes to cook on top of the stove. The recipe calls for chapati flour, a very finely ground whole-wheat flour that is available in Indian markets. You can use regular whole-wheat flour, but it must be sifted to remove any large particles of bran.

MAKE AHEAD: This dough is best made in the morning for use later in the day. The balls of dough can be refrigerated in a lightly oiled resealable plastic food storage bag for 2 or 3 days; let the dough come to room temperature before rolling. The flatbreads can be wrapped in aluminum foil and reheated in a 400-degree oven for about 5 minutes.

Makes 12 flatbreads

Ingredients:

3 cups (400 grams) whole-wheat flour or chapati flour, plus more for the work surface (see headnote)

Scant 1 1/4 cups (265 grams) water

2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil, plus more for the bowl

1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) salt

Directions:

Combine the flour, water, oil and salt in a bowl until they come together into a mass. Let sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes while the flour absorbs the water.

Lightly flour a work surface. (All-purpose flour can be used for this; if using whole-wheat flour, make sure it has been sifted to remove any large bran particles.) Transfer the dough to the work surface and knead for about 5 minutes by pushing down on and spreading the dough and then turning it over on itself, being careful not to rip the dough. It should be smooth and elastic. Form it into a ball and place in a clean, oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 8 to 12 hours.

About 45 minutes before you want to bake, spread out the dough on a lightly floured counter and form into 2 logs. Cut each log into 6 equal pieces. You should have 12 pieces of dough that weigh about 2 ounces each; evenly distribute any leftover dough as needed.

Shape each piece into a ball. Let the balls rest for 30 minutes at room temperature under plastic wrap.

Place a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat; cover with a lid. (Alternatively, invert a wok over a burner for cooking on the underside of the wok.)

Liberally flour a work surface. Flatten a dough ball and dust it lightly with flour, then use a rolling pin to roll it out as thin as possible (7 to 9 inches in diameter), rotating the disk to keep it even.

Image: dough rolled out nearly paper thin.

When the skillet is smoking lightly, gently lift a disk of dough. Place it in the skillet and cover immediately. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then flip the dough. Cover and cook for 30 seconds. (If using an overturned wok, simply place the bread on top of the wok and flip it when ready.) The breads will bake in 2 minutes and should be blistered and dark in spots.

Remove the flatbread and cover with a towel or aluminum foil to keep it from crusting over. (Dot it with butter and fold it in half if you like). Serve warm. These can be made in advance and stored in a resealable plastic container.

Recipe adapted from Jeffrey Hamelman, a master baker and bakery director at King Arthur Flour.

This version was posted on my blog at ChewsWise.com

Image: Flatbread stuffed with beets, goat cheese and cilantro