October 2, 2015 - 7:29pm
Help!!
I have been baking this whole wheat bread recipe for a very long time, and in the past four weeks something is wrong and it turns out dense. I've changed my yeast, the gluten flour, and the wheat berries and the same result. The tops don't brown within the 40 minute baking time, the dough doesn't rise like it used to, and I'm just at a loss.
I grind the wheat berries just before using(I use Montana White Wheat berries), coconut oil, honey, salt, and gluten flour and instant yeast(SAF). I've thrown out so many loaves in the last month and I am so frustrated. Any ideas?
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I use a Bosch to mix and knead(10 minutes on the first setting). There is not one thing different in the ingredients or process used.
Have you checked your oven?
..used to? If so, then, as Kathy says, you should check the oven's calibration (and the seal as well).
The oven is on my list to check, but all of this is happening before baking the loaves(except the browning, of course).
The recipe calls for some of the flour, all the water and yeast to be mixed and prove for 30" and then I add oil, honey, salt and gluten flour and the remaining flour while mixing. The bread tastes normal but after kneading it doesn't rise completely in either rising, the first one in a large bowl and then after I punch it down and separate into pans. The over is turned on at 350 when I put the loaves in to bake. It doesn't get preheated.
the scale? Buy some yeast at a different store and a different brand. Don't watch the clock but watch the dough. Give it longer in the oven if you need to. Just a change in water temp could prolong the rises enough to throw off a clock. Have your ambient room temps gotten cooler?
My recipe doesn't use weights. I've bought several different yeasts and continue to experience the same problem. Like you I watch the dough and only use a time to help me not forgot I have something in the oven :) Room temps have gotten cooler since I live in a cold state, but I usually just allow the dough to rise to a certain point regardless of time/temp. My dough rises only to a point and then stays there both in the first and second rises. Usually when I put the loaves in the cold oven, as it warms up the dough rises more as it bakes, but again, it isn't rising and ends up squat and dense. I'm wondering if my wheat berries are the problem. They are the only remaining ingredient and it was a new bag from Wheat Montana.
So many things can affect how a bread rises. Personally, I find cooler temperatures really inhibit rise and oven spring with my yeasted loaves. The yeast I use seems to really prefer temps of around 75°F. You could try warmer water to bring up the dough temperature.
If you think that it might be the wheat berries that are causing the problem, which is a possibility, then test your yeast using flour from the store. I have no experience in grinding wheat, but from what I have gathered in reading, some find it useful to use a little asorbic acid to help increase gluten strength or diastatic malt to help increase enzymes that help with the rise.
Hopefully others with experience in this area will help troubleshoot your problem.
Without a scale, I can't nail down the hydration. How do you determine the "certain point" to rise to?
Would it help to make a small rise gadget, a small jar or skinny glass with a small dough ball inside. Pack it clean and level, mark it and mark a line where it would be at "double." Set it next to your bowl of rising dough. Then on the first rise let the dough in the gauge reach "double" and not higher before knocking it down to shape. Poke the gauge down too and bake before it reaches double. See if that helps.
Montana apparently has had some issues in the past (2012 is in the past in my mind anyway). If it were me I'd contact them and ask.
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