Bigas, soakers, & mash
I'm new to Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain breads. I've made the biga and soaker formulas a couple of times so far. I've measrured with a gram scale but they both consistantly turn out more like a batter than a dough. In his book, he says that both should be the same hydration and feel of the final dough!? Not sure why mine is more like a batter when I am following the formula gram for gram? I've been making bread for years and I'm tempted to just go with my gut and do this by feel? Any thoughts or suggestions anyone??
Also, I made the Whole Wheat Mash Bread - it turned out okay, but not sweet like I was expecting from everything I've read. I also had a VERY hard time developing the gluten in to get it to pass the "window pane" test...it litterally would not become elsastic - I had to finally add 4 T of wheat gluten!!
I did make the Potato Rosemary bread and it was divine!!
Any suggestions would be soooo welcome!!
Thanks,
Cher