January 9, 2016 - 4:37pm
puzzle about 100% whole wheat bread
hi,
can someone shed some light on how the 100% whole wheat dough should expand in the first proofing stage? i've prepared my dough using 100% of 15% protein whole wheat flour with no knead method, and the dough can nicely pass the window pane test. but afterwards, my dough only seems to expand only horizontally.
is this normal? could the amount of yeast be a factor? like less yeast should be used for a longer time of resting in the fridge?
thank you!
liming
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There are people here far more experienced with 100% ww breads than me - I'm not a huge fan of it myself, however I do make them regularly and have evolved a technique that seems to work for me.
I think you'll need to give up more details though so that others can help here - e.g. how long in the fridge, how much water, yeast & salt in your recipe... Basically the more details you give, the better we can help...
Does my technique help you diagnose your issues? Not sure - my thoughts are that you really do need to build up the gluten when making whole wheat breads - bearing in-mind that even with a 15% protein flour, some 15% of that flour is bran and wheatgerm which basically have to be carried with the white flour which is what the gluten is working with.
So I'm thinking that your dough flows out flat (if that's my interpretation of what you mean by expanding horizontally!) because the gluten isn't sufficiently well developed to hold it together during proofing time.
My method involves proofing & baking in a tin which might not be what you're after. It involves an 80% hydration dough autolyzed for an hour, then kneaded in a mixer then having the yeast and salt added and kneading again until it's all mixed. It tip it out of the mixer, let it bench rest for 10 minutes, then briefly hand-knead it using a rock & roll method, form it into a boulle then leave it in a bowl or tub to ferment overnight in a cool place. I only use a small amount of dried yeast though - it works out at 4.5g of IDY for 1500g of WW flour. (1200g water and 24g salt) In the morning I tip it out of the bowl, give it a 4-way stretch & fold, then divide into 3, pre-shape, rest (10 minutes or so), then shape into a log and put in a tin to prove (about an hour to 90 minutes) then into the oven.
I think that with my method, I could get away with the dough being strong enough to be proofed in a banneton in the morning then hold its shape in the oven until the crust is set. I've not tried it this way yet though. (and I've also found that my customers who want this bread want it baked in a tin!)
I moved to 80% from 70% hydration in the past few weeks after reading some comments here. It's obviously a much wetter dough, but still seems to hold itself together very well with positive comments from my customers.
-Gordon
thank you Gordon for your detailed description of your method. i indeed can learn something valuable from it!
i'm pretty confident about my gluten development because it passed the windowpane test very well.
i like your idea of proofing in a tin. i 2nd proof my dough in a round glass casserole, and its diameter is much longer than the dough's. so my additional question is: could it be possible that my dough expands horizontally since its expansion was not confined on the sides? maybe if i restrict the dough in a slimmer square tin, the dough can grow vertically?
here is further details about my dough and sorry about the lack of it in my previous post:
1. 100% 15% protein whole wheat flour at about 270g
2. 90% water
3. 1.5% commercial yeast
4. 10% 6-day old sourdough starter (100% hydration)
5. 1.8% salt
6. 12% sugar
7. minimal mixing only, no kneading
8. 14- hour cool fermentation in the fridge ( 2-3 hours into this, i did a window pane test, and the dough stretches into a thin film without easily breaking, it was quite thin though i didnt check it against light to ensure it was translucent)
9. at the end of the 14 hour, i realized there was a sign of over proofing (a finger poke can leave some indent), so I quickly took it out of the fridge, round it into a large ball and let it rest for only 15 minutes (not even a second proofing?) before baking.
10. baking was done in a glass casserole with a lid on for the first 10 minutes.
I'm wondering if too much yeast added, too long a cold fermentation and the over proofing were the main factor, not the gluten development.
Thank you very much for your comment!
Cheers
Liming
It looks like your hydration is too high. Pull back your hydration % and stiffen up your dough. Having a window is great, but if is too wet, then it is too heavy and will not get much volume. You can also try folding your dough after the first hour, then after the second hour at room temp. This will help get you the strength you need to make it rise nice and full.
dk
thanks dk, so is it correct to say hydration level is important in that: first, too little hydration will inhibit gluten development (especially for 100% whole wheat flour); and second, too much hydration will weigh on those bubbles trying to expanding upwards. So I need to experiment the right amount of hydration for the right amount of time and yeast (to form a soft, light but strong gluten network, and also take care to avoid over fermentation)
Wow, sounds like a grant experiments to do, a long way to go... :)
cheers!
Liming
Lliming
By Jove, I think you've got it.
dobie
I dont think its the hydration. i just made a boule thats 87% hydration. You did 90%. Im thinking perhaps your dough overproofed? Here's mine
550g whole white wheat flour
480g water
200g starter - 100%
19.5g salt
Add everything but salt.
Autolyse for 1 hr
Add salt, (mixed with wooden spoon handle)
Mix in kitchen aid for 5-10 minutes
Because of the salt, the dough wont stick to the sides of the mixing bowl, at first.
Keep mixing, it'll start sticking more until it doesn't
Place dough into container, cover it.
Let it rest for an hour, then throw it in the fridge.
I left my dough for 48 hours in the refrigerator.
The residual heat keeps the dough rising.
It actually doubled in the fridge.
Dump it.
Flatten dough with finger tips into a square-ish shape.
Fold.
Round.
Form.
Proof until doubled.
Score dough.
Placed in a cast Iron set.
500f for 15m (Covered)
450f for 10m
425f for 20m (Uncovered)
Cool