light wheat bread

Bread gets its flavor from fermentation by-products as well as good ingredients and being a high percentage whole wheat, needs time for all those branny bits to absorb the water so it doesn't crumble after it is baked. Soft, flavorful whole wheat sandwich loaf is achievable if some simple rules are followed.

1. The recipe has to have adequate liquid. Right after it is mixed, it should be more sticky than tacky. In other words, if you touch it with your finger, your finger should come away with dough on it.

2. It needs to be kneaded for a long time to develop the gelatinous starch to windowpane. Enter this in the search box and do some reading. Txfarmer had a wonderful post with pics on this a long time ago but it can still be found.

3. Whole wheat needs TIME to absorb the extra water. You want all the branny bits waterlogged so they don't absorb water from the crumb after the loaf is baked. That is wht makes WW loaves crumble when sliced. Use a method (sponge, tang zhong,autolyze, cold retard,etc) that soaks all the WW flour for a period of time to achieve this.

4. Fermentation flavor takes time. I have often made a WW dough up in a rather sticky in consistency after supper, thrown it in an oiled covered container in the refrigerator overnight and by the next AM it has risen most/all the way,is tacky rather than sticky and after a brief warmup is ready for shape/proof/bake. Great flavor and time to soak.

5. Fermentation flavor can also be enhanced by using a preferment technique of some kind-search preferment. There are many ways to do this with many different names. A sponge method is a tried and true method-this is where a wet mixture of flour and liquids and yeast are mixed and allowed to rise for a period of time before being added to the rest of the ingredients (salt,yeast,etc) and made into the final dough. The final dough is then risen to double,de-gassed,shaped/proofd/baked. If you are doing a 50% whole wheat, use all the WW flour for the sponge so it gets a nice soak.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/41924/hokkaido-kamikaze-bread

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23662/sourdough-hokkaido-milk-loaf-classic-shreddable-soft-bread

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21575/sourdough-100-whole-wheat-oatmeal-sandwich-bread-whole-grain-breads-can-be-soft-too

Good luck and happy baking!

I make half & halfs frequently - mixed up 6 this evening. Flour, water, salt & yeast - the trick here is just a tiny bit of yeast, so for 550g of flour, it's about 1.6g of yeast. Your local temperature will dictate this more than anything though. I've left the dough (I made up enough for 6) in a big tub and starting at 5am tomorrow I'll scale, pre-shape, rest, shape and into tins for a proof - which will be very short - and into the oven at 7am.

-Gordon

will markedly improve the flavor.  For my whole wheat bread I also add some molasses for enhancing flavor.

I've started half and half: 50% polish and it works wonders - generally a 1/16 tsp yeast for anything from 450-550 grams for about 12-14 hours depending on flour (wholewheat much faster)

One thing I do with a bread flour/ whole wheat recipe that I like is use sorghum molasses instead of honey in the recipe. Now I'm a southern boy and grew up slathering biscuits with sorghum so it 'jes comes natural like. Don't know where you are or where you're from so you may or may not be familiar with sorghum. It is much more akin to maple syrup than it is to the molasses produced in sugar refining and has a much milder taste than regular molasses. Sometimes it's called sorghum syrup. It has got some nutritional value beyond its sweetness. You might want to give it a try. If you don't like it in the bread 'jes bake some big ol' cathead biscuits.