The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

The Approachable Loaf- Pt 3

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Sugarowl

The Approachable Loaf- Pt 3

Revisiting The Approachable Loaf from the 2020 Community Bake- part 3

(Link here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/62486/community-bake-approachable-loaf-bread-lab)

I tried the loaf again. The kids were at school/daycare so I could pay a bit more attention to the dough. I wish I had taken pictures of the process, then you all could tell me if the dough was done. Next time!

So the changes from last time are 100% whole wheat with the addition of vinegar and I rounded off the oil to 30 instead of 27ml. I prefer round numbers because that's what my jars do. I also accidentally added 2 grams of yeast to the preferment, so I compensated by only adding 3 grams to the final dough. It fermented fast, about 3 hours to doubling, but the strings were short.

I did a gentle mixing and then left it alone for a while before kneading. For the kneading I gently did some Rubaud and stretch and folds. I also squished it some. I know, squish is not very descriptive, but that's what I did when it would start to tear. I did that maybe 3 times then I left it alone for 30 minutes. Came back and did the same thing again. The third time I did one Rubaud followed by several coil folds. I noticed throughout the kneading that the dough went from sticky and shaggy to smooth and sleek. I was glad I could take time to notice that. I think the kids being away helped with that. After 30 more minutes I shaped it.

I baked it at 425F for 30 minutes. Again it was too hot or my bread was too close to the top as the top got singed. It rose higher than my first loaf. I'm not sure if that was the vinegar or the gluten development and gentle kneading. I have noticed that whole wheat rises better when I use vinegar, but I think it was probably both.

Here are the ingredients

Preferment: WW Flour: 352g + 352g water + 2g yeast

Final Dough:

166g WW Flour

60g Water (This bumped up the hydration to around 80%)

40g Honey

30g Olive Oil

10g Salt

3g Yeast

1tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

I'll post pictures tomorrow after I cut into it.

I wasn't able to get to making bread as soon as my last post because I've been sick with sinus stuff and now the doc suspects anemia. So now that I'm not sick and only dealing with low iron I was able to bake some bread today. I still have a lot of breads to try on my wish list, but I think I may stick with one (or two, possibly three) for now.