Here are two white whole wheat sourdough boules. Mixed 1/2/3 with 2% salt. Proofed 12 hours total with 3 foldings and 2 shapings. Steam in the oven at 400 deg F for 50 min. What do you think?
You should be congratulated for leaping into (I assume 100%) whole wheat first off. The gritty bits in whole wheat (bran and germ) have the effect of breaking the continuity of the gluten structure which makes a good rise and oven spring a bit harder to achieve.
The other thing about whole wheat is that the self same gritty bits also absorb rather more water and so you end up with a 'dyrer' stiffer dough, at the the same hydration, than you would get with a white flour dough. The 1/2/3 recipe is perfectly good for a white loaf but as the proportion of wholemeal increases the amount of water added should be increased - say up to 1/2.25/3 or possibly even higher depending on the characteristics of your flour.
The other alternative is to go back and practice with (say) 10% wholemeal and 90% white flour with the 1/2/3 recipe intil you are confident that you can consistently get good results and know what to aim for in terms of dough development and then work on increasing the amount of wholemeal (and water) to a blend and texture that you like and can work with.
Replies
Hello rdunnion,
You should be congratulated for leaping into (I assume 100%) whole wheat first off. The gritty bits in whole wheat (bran and germ) have the effect of breaking the continuity of the gluten structure which makes a good rise and oven spring a bit harder to achieve.
The other thing about whole wheat is that the self same gritty bits also absorb rather more water and so you end up with a 'dyrer' stiffer dough, at the the same hydration, than you would get with a white flour dough. The 1/2/3 recipe is perfectly good for a white loaf but as the proportion of wholemeal increases the amount of water added should be increased - say up to 1/2.25/3 or possibly even higher depending on the characteristics of your flour.
The other alternative is to go back and practice with (say) 10% wholemeal and 90% white flour with the 1/2/3 recipe intil you are confident that you can consistently get good results and know what to aim for in terms of dough development and then work on increasing the amount of wholemeal (and water) to a blend and texture that you like and can work with.
Hope this helps and let us know how you go.
Farinam