The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

67% Whole Wheat Flax bread

Jo_Jo_'s picture
Jo_Jo_

67% Whole Wheat Flax bread

This is by far the best tasting whole wheat bread I have made so far. It is soft, tender, and very light. I soaked the ground flax and fresh ground Hard White Winter Wheat flour in the kefir and water in my recipe for 20 hours. I then added the rest of the ingredients and mixed them together, plus kneaded for 6 minutes in my mixer.  This is the first test to the theory that soaking the freshly ground whole wheat flour for 12 to 24 hours makes it easier to digest.  I have had problems in the past with large amounts of fresh ground wheat making my stomach hurt, and have come across a lot of info both for and against soaking the entire amount of fresh ground flour in the liquid of the recipe.  I started with the soaking method, just to make sure that I don't upset my stomach by not soaking.  I have eaten this bread since yesterday and haven't had any problems at all, so maybe there is something to this.  Just have to see...






I formed it into a boule, it was slighty tacky and not sticky at all.  Nice looking flecks of the flax meal, and a nutty smell.
 



Allowed the dough to ferment for 1 1/2 hours, till double.  Then shaped and measured the dough into 2 two pound loaves, and 3 small rolls. 





I then let it rise for 45 minutes for the rolls, which I cooked first. 





I then put the loaves into the oven @ 380*'s for 30 minutes, and then tented it with foil for 15 minutes. I pulled from the oven these huge wonderful loaves.


The last whole wheat bread I made I also used 2 lbs of dough per loaf pan, and they were about 1/3 smaller than these.  This is just amazing bread, great taste, and light and fluffy.  Andy says it's the best whole wheat I have made so far.....

From WWFlax
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Comments

Postal Grunt's picture
Postal Grunt

It looks like the use of soakers has gathered some fans on TFL. Count me in on that.

Frequent Flyer's picture
Frequent Flyer

Yep, I'm a believer.

FF

cfmuirhead's picture
cfmuirhead

but, questions,  as I am a bit confused by the list of ingredients:

.. In the list, 'Bread Flour': is that the White winter flour you referred to earlier in the text?

.. if so, what is the Flour WW: is that bread whole wheat flour?

.. are lecithin and flour gluten essentials?  i have never used these in breadmaking before.

..do I read right, you add 204 grams of eggs?????? 

Please clarify as I would love to try your recipe and love the idea of doing a long soak and using flax seeds.

many thanks for clarifications.

 

Jo_Jo_'s picture
Jo_Jo_

cfmuirhead...  I used regular store bought bread flour, but the Whole Wheat (WW) was Hard Winter White berries that I had put into my Nutrimill and ground myself.  The fresh ground flour is the portion that I soaked, along with the ground flax seeds.

The gluten was simply powdered gluten, just to give it a little extra.  The lecithin helps keep the bread from going stale to soon.  I purchased both of these from King Arthur Flour.  They give a much better explanation of exactly what they are.  These are also things that do not have to be used in the recipe, just replace the gluten with regular flour and just omit the lecithin. (click on the words lecithin or gluten and it takes you to King Arthurs pages for those)

I raise my own chickens, so always have eggs on hand.  This is equivalent to 4 eggs, and the bread recipe makes enough dough that I could have made 3 loaves of bread from it rather than the two and rolls I made.  I used 9 x 5 bread pans, and these loaves were absolutely huge when I took them out of the oven.  Eggs have a lot of nutrients and increase the protein in your breads, especially when they are field raised like mine are. 

This bread is still a work in progress, but I did have amazing results for a first time loaf.  If you want more information, I could write out how I made the bread with a little bit more explanation.  More like a real recipe, just let me know...