February 18, 2010 - 4:11pm
First try at Peter Reinhart's Transitional Multigrain loaf....
Last night I tried Peter Reinhart's Transitional Multigrain Hearth Bread. The bread looked and tasted great. However, the crumb was a bit tighter than I was expecting. Is this usual for a multigrain bread? I know my whole wheat breads tend to tighten as ratio of bread to wheat flour decreases.
The multigrain dough includes rolled oats, whole wheat flour, rye flour, cornmeal, wheat germ, flaxseeds and bread flour...22% wholewheat, 44.5% bread flour and 33.5% multigrain mix with 61% water.
Can I make the crumb airier by increasing hydration or possibly adding vital wheat glutin? Or is this typical crumb for a multigrain bread?
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I remember seeing Daniel Leader on the Sarah Moulton show, making a multi-grain bread. He explained that he hydrates absorbent ingredients such as your rolled oats and flax seeds before adding them to the dough ao as to maintain th proper overall hydration.
Let us all know if it works for you.
Dan, NYC
Thanks for response Dan. I included the multigrains (rolled oats, cornmeal, rye, flaxseeds, wheat germ) in the soaker which I left at room temperature for about 18 hours before I mixed final dough. However, your point is taken. I am going to increase the hydration of the soaker (currently has 3/4 cup water) by about 1/4 cup. Hopefully, that will make a difference. If that doesn't work I will try pre-cooking the oatmeal before I add to the soaker.
I will ltry to post results.
I am still a real beginner with bread baking, but since I've been concentrating on wholegrain breads I've a little experience with them now. However, I'm still having the same kind of problems you describe with the crumb being a little too tight. My gf loves my bread, but I think she prefers rye, so that explains why.
Anyway, I find that putting a tray of hot water in the bottom of the oven whilst preheating (and leaving it in whilst baking) seems to help a little. I can't be completely sure as I've only done it with 100% wholegrain breads a couple of times, but those breads seemed a bit lighter than the ones I made without. I still don't get any very large holes in the crumb though. I'm going to bake one in a moment, so I will upload pics if it turns out as expected :)
I used rolled oats in my breads before, but since I was following a Peter Reinhart recipe, I left them to soak overnight. I've no experience with just putting the oats directly into the final dough, but I would soak them anyway to soften them up a bit.
Your bread looks great by the way. Love the colour of the crust in the first picture.
uhm, maybe I was wrong about the water :)
The bread I baked today was based on the Reinhart wholemeal bread from Bread Baker's Apprentice. Although it tastes great, it did anything but rise in the oven; In fact I think it may have sank. I guess I overproofed maybe, but I also don't think the water helped. Probably wouldn't hurt to try.