The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day- wholewheat help please!

Jessiebean's picture
Jessiebean

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day- wholewheat help please!

I am a newcomer to artisan bread but having tried Jasons croccadillo ciabatta bread I can't stop experimenting! I am now delving into Artisan Bread in Five minutes a day and have had good results using the master recipe so tried the whole wheat sandwich today. It seems to have fermented into a beery sort of substance and seems more like a sort of alcoholic poolish rather than a dough. the results are disappointing too- chewy. cake like crumb- my darling husband commented that it looked like banana bread. The recipe seems to have a lot of yeast and honey in it- I have read that reducing the yeast and increasing the proof time would be a good idea- does anyone have any tweaks to recommend- what can I do with the boozy dough I have? Use it as a poolish? It really looks like one- bubbly and loose and strong smelling after just a couple of hours.. any advice appreciated

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Your Boozy Dough is over acidified (from alcohol of fermentation), and can be used in very sparse quantities in a new batch of dough or else they imaprt an off taste to the bread. The remaining dough can be tossed.

 

Jessiebean's picture
Jessiebean

oh that is disappointing-as I followed the recipe as printed in the book I am wondering what I can do to avoid this in future? Is there a similar wolemeal/wholewheat no knead stored dough recipe I should try?

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Reduce the yeast to a pinch and let the dough ferment slowly in a cold fridge for at least 8-24 hours. This will do the trick.

Jessiebean's picture
Jessiebean

thanks for that- that was my gut feeling too but I am very new at this!

Chuck's picture
Chuck

The common wisdom about all the recipes in the Herzberg/Francis books is to cut the printed amount of yeast at least in half (whether or not any problems manifest with any particular recipe:-). For example here's what they say on their own website about the amount of yeast.

Jessiebean's picture
Jessiebean

It has really helped me- now I just need to track down some Australians on here to find out if the wholemeal flour I use is the right flour and the difference between granualted yeast (in the recipe) and instant yeast (in my freezer...) maybe I plain used too much as the format of the yeast is different?

TastefulLee's picture
TastefulLee

I have been working on adapting the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day master recipe for two reasons: 1. My family does not enjoy dense crumb and 2. my husband is a diabetic so I want to incorporate both sourdough and whole grain into the formula. My goal is to develop an every day sandwich bread that the whole family will use based on HB in 5 method. I started by cutting the recipe in half (less waste if we hated it lol), and then tweaked it, adding one extra T. Of vital wheat gluten. I let the dough rise on the counter in the bucket (bulk ferment?) for the recommended 2 hours and then refrigerated it for a couple more hours so I could handle it. I formed the recommended ball, elongated to an oval and placed the dough in a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pan. I covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. I then allowed the loaf to rest @ room temp while I heated the oven to 375° and I baked it for about 55 minutes. It rose beautifully and had a moist springy crumb. We enjoyed sandwiches on it and were very pleased except for a slight bitterness. I added 1T of honey to the 2nd loaf with the same room temp rise, shaping, pan rise and baking as before and it was a success. Then since I had recently made a sourdough starter, and had read of sourdough benefits for diabetics, I got brave. I formulated a recipe based on my adaptation substituting oats for part of the white whole wheat flour, increasing the VWG, and replacing ADY with sourdough starter. This did not rise significantly at room temp so I refrigerated it overnight to see if it would. No such luck so I shaped it and refrigerated it for 24 hours. Still very little rise. I decided to bake it anyway, expecting to toss out an inedible brick. Halfway through the bake time I peeked through the window and beheld a risen loaf! A little while later I removed a golden brown beauty from my oven, and while I would have liked a bit more spring the flavor was wonderful, the crust was outstanding and the texture was much lighter than I expected! I am thinking of adding just a pinch of ADY to the dough next time to get a little more lift for a little lighter loaf. 

Its always nice to be pleasantly surprised!