Laurel's Kitchen Basic Whole Wheat
Hello, everyone. I joined awhile back, but have been focusing on family issues since. Now I'd like to start again on my bread-baking hobby. Thus, I'm going to ask some newbie questions, similar to ones I may have asked before.
I have a problem knowing how I'm doing. I'm using Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. Does anyone know if these are high-hydration? How can I tell?
I end up with this sloppy mess that turns out okay once I kinda scoop it/shape it into the loaf pan. However, I'm shooting for great.
Or else I end up with this dry, dry dough to which I've added over a cup of flour. It looks more like I think bread dough should look, but it turns out mediocre (not even okay). I'm specifically looking at the Basic Whole Wheat recipe.
It always turns out dense, though very tasty and breadlike. I've been trying some soft whole white wheat in place of some of the whole wheat. Could this be part of the sloppy mess problem? It certainly turns out a better loaf of bread than the straight whole wheat, but shouldn't even straight whole wheat turn out a good, loaf?
If I post pictures, would that help?
Thanks!
Blessings,
Voni