help wanted
Hi everyone, I am a very novice bread maker with a few quesitons. I have been milling my own wheat and making ezekiel bread for the family for about 4 months now. I have a recipe that we love, but have some questions and would love some advice. I have been to this site on several occasions and am in awe of all the knowledge here. Most of it is way above my abilities and understanding!!
So, I found a recipe on a blog and have done some adapting to better fit my schedule. The original recipe came from the urban simplicity blog. I started out following the recipie to the T, but have made some changes, started using weight rather than cups and now need some guidence. Here is what I do. I increased the recipe to make 4 two pound loaves. The night before I boil the beans, lentils, barley, millet and wheat. Then seperate those from the water and add additional water to make 8 cups. To that I add 38 oz home milled wheat, one cup oil, one cup honey and 4T yeast. I let that ferment overnight. The next day I divide into 4 equal parts. To each part I add 13 oz bread flour, 4.75 oz home milled spelt flour, 1 T each yeast, salt and gluten. Then into the mixer for 8 min. Turn out for a 1 hour rise, pat down, roll and place in loaf pans for a 30 min rise then bake to 200 degrees using the probe.
Overall the bread is great and the family loves it. I guess I would just like for it to be a bit prettier and more consistent. I was hoping that you guys would be able to look at the batch I just make and offer suggestions. With the boiling of the beans and dividing into 1/4th it is hard to be consistant and I am wondering if my dough is too moist.
That seems really excessive-even for a highly seeded loaf.
The crumb doesn't look bad. It looks a bit underproofed to me (the increased density at the bottom and edges) and possibly the shaping can be a bit tighter.
i.e.. Search "finger poke" test in the search box. The loaves may need a little bit more proofing time. Your kitchen temp and dough temp will influence that a lot.
I'm not clear when you add the beans,lentils, etc. Please clarify.
I've never made ezekiel bread (just eaten it) but when I have made other whole grain bread, I have found it is essential to knead the base to windowpane and then add the whole grain. The loaf generally turns out moist (not crumbly) and can be as fluffy as possible. No 100% whole grain is ever feathery fluffy. You may also find you can dial back the gluten. Gluten and bread flour will make the bread even chewier than just the whole grain and beans.
Thanks for the great info. The beans are added the night before to the WW flour, water, yeast, oil and honey. That is then allowed to ferment overnight.
You are probably right about not proofing long enough. I was getting large holes in the center so I cut back on the proofing, but that was also before I started to weigh my flour rather than scoop. The dough now is much more moist, so a longer proof is probably needed.
I will check out the finger poke.
Either can result in the crumb pattern in your photo. You are doing great work with your bread making. Maybe experiment with the same ingredients, but not all at once. Just playing around with flavor and dough characteristics.
Do you get local grain to mill?
Thanks for the encouragement! So I read about the finger test and even watched a few you-tube videos and am still a little confused. I made bread and on the second proof I waited 30 min and then did the finger test. It almost seemed over proofed. Is that possible after only 30 min and in a fairly cool kitchen? I have not cut into any yet, but when I do I will send a pic. I make 4 loaves at at time and freeze. So, if bread can over proof in 30 min, maybe that is it.
On a second note, my loaves are often a little lopsided and tear right at the top of the pan. Should I score them? The lopsided issue is probably due to the fact that I am baking 4 loaves at a time. Having said that convection or regular?? I put the loaves in for 30 min and then insert a probe and bake to 200 degrees internally.
Who knew one could become so obsessed about the bread they bake????
Thanks for all your help!
Ok,I am thinking this batch was under proofed. Here is a side by side with the previous batch on the left and new batch with 30min proof on right.