The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Vermont Sourdough with Added Wole Wheat

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

Vermont Sourdough with Added Wole Wheat

Well, it's been a while (about two years I think) since I last posted to my blog.  Lots of irrelevant reasons for that, but last night's bake from the first edition of Jeffrey Hamelman's book BREAD inspired me to return.  Time will tell if I can keep it up.

I baked this one "by the book" with only a longer final proof than prescribed because I undershot the desired dough temp by 5-6 degrees, and in my cool house the dough just never caught up.  The end result was, nonetheless, delicious.  We love this bread, and prefer it to the base Vermont Sourdough because of the extra flavor that the added whole wheat flour produces.  I used Guisto's Unbleached Artisan flour alongside my home-milled whole hard white wheat flour.  In this case the wheat was only milled a couple of days before the bake.

The crust shot is at the top, and here is the crumb.

Vermont SD w/ added Whole Wheat

The crumb is not as open as I like, but that is due to my less than excellent dough handling skills.  Thanks in part to the excellent qualities of the Guisto's flour this dough was a joy to handle, albeit poorly on my part, and the flavor was excellent.  The crust came out crackling crisp, and the crumb cool and creamy, wheaty sweet with a perfect (which for us means pretty mild) sour tang.  It wrapped the meatloaf sandwiches perfectly at lunch today.

Thanks for stopping by
OldWoodenSpoon

Comments

Bashert's picture
Bashert

Looks very tasty! I have really been liking the addition of whole wheat to my recipes lately, as well. What do you use to mill your white wheat flour? Milling is the next big leap for me...

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

Komo mill these days for my milling.  I also have a 35 year old Magic Mill, but it raises the flour temp so much that I decided to stop using it.  It also sounds like an angry jet engine (it's a steel cutter mill, not stones).  It's so loud it hurts the ears, and the dog runs and hides.  I keep my grain in a sealed bucket in a small wine fridgie at about 50 degrees, and do my milling in two passes to get to the finest grind.  It makes great "whole grain" whole wheat flour.

Thanks for the kind words.
OldWoodenSpoon

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

WS.  Nothing like taking a fine recipe and making it better to suit your tastes. Crust is fantastic and the crumb is plenty open.  Has to make some fine sandwich bread!  Well done and Happy Baking WS!

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

For taking time to comment, and for your kind words.

OldWoodenSpoon