100% Whole Wheat

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I was running out of wheat to grind up and make bread with so I got 50 pounds of wheat from the local mill.  This is a wheat that I had never used before and I figured I had better find out how the flour compared to the flour I had been making.  When I was grinding the flour it felt harder than the wheat I had been using.  There is also a really nice aroma to the flour after it is made.  The flour made a really nice looking loaf of bread and seems to me it will even take more water than I have been using so next loaf I will increase the hydration to see if it can handle it.

Method: 

The first evening I made up the first build of the preferment like this.

First Build Grams Percentage
Starter 15.22 50%
Flour 30.44 100%
Water 15.22 50%
Total 60.89 200%

 

The next morning I made the 2nd build.

Second Build Grams Percentage
Starter first build 60.89 47.37%
Flour 128.54 100%
Water 64.27 50%
Total 253.69 197.37%

 

I waited eight hours and combined the flour, water, salt with the preferment.

Dough Formula Grams Percentage
Flour 1014.76 100%
Water 913.28 90%
Salt 18.27 1.8%
Preferment second build 253.69 25%
Total 2200 216.8%

The water and preferment were mixed together. Then I went off and ground up my wheat into flour, about 30 minutes.  I mixed in the flour until it was a shaggy mass, then let it rest 50 minutes.  The salt was then added and the dough was finished mixing.  I did three stretches of the dough an hour apart.  Then the dough was put into the refrigerator over night.  The next day I took the dough out and started heating the oven up with my cast iron roasting pan in it.  When the oven got to temperature I put the dough in with the lid on.  I cooked the bread at 460°F for 47 minutes with the lid on and 13 minutes with the lid off.  I have already had a little nibble of the bread and it seems to be good.  The crumb shot will be added after I cut the bread.

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Replies

Johnny's picture
Johnny 2009 July 28
Looks good LD, I am so jealous of your grinding set up. I looked into doing some myself but to get a decent grind stone was pretty expensive here. I have been mucking around with adding sprouted wheat and grinding that up in a meat grinder. It gives a much stronger wheatey, sweet nutty taste to the bread which I quite like and makes fantastic toast.BTW couldn't help notice the cheese making book :) how's that going? any chance we will get to see what you end up with?
LeadDog's picture
LeadDog 2009 July 28
Oh I think it is a good chance that I will make some cheese.  I'm going to start off with the easy stuff and see where that takes me.  The cheese book was strategically placed.  If I can make cheese then I will have made the great combination of wine, bread, and cheese.
I got a crumb shot of the whole wheat loaf.  The crust is thin and crunchy with a nice soft crumb.  There isn't a lot of big holes in it so it looks dense.  I think maybe a little bit more water and I'll get the more open crumb I had been getting.  The taste is very nice and different from the other wheat that I had been using.  The 50 lb bag cost $11 so I guess this will be my source for wheat.  The next Blue Cheese loaf is out of the oven and will be tested tomorrow.  I'll upload pictures then.  :)
TeckPoh's picture
TeckPoh 2009 July 28

Of your grinding set-up

Of your access to interesting grains/flours

Of your access to an incredible range of cheeses

Of your boundless quest for quality foods

But, thankful that you are sharing it all with us, albeit virtually and via recipes. Thank you.

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog 2009 July 29

TP I'm flattered.  I'm really just having fun in what I'm doing and enjoying sharing it with people who find it interesting.
Johnny's picture
Johnny 2009 July 29
Looks very nice LD :) I like the even texture right throughout the slice. So looks like you got yourself a really good source that tastes great and at $11 for 50lb! wow that is incredible. I'm paying up to $30 for 25kg of flour if I want to get some half decent unbleached baker's flour.
LeadDog's picture
LeadDog 2009 July 31
The goodness of this bread just keeps growing on me.  Today I had it with homemade Almond Butter and Strawberry Fig preserve.  Yum that was just a really great tasting sandwich.
Millciti's picture
Millciti 2009 August 3

Wow... You have it all don't you!  Wine, cheese, a grinder, great California Bread, almond butter & figs! 

Thanks for sharing Duane!!  I will look forward to your cheese adventures...

 

Terri

rossnroller 2009 September 4
Hey Duane, just something I've been curious about for a while...when you post your recipes, you have such exact weights for each ingredient (eg: 15.33 gms, 30.44 gms)! My digital scales are calibrated to 1 or 2 gms, so such precise weight measures are impossible for me. What sort of scales are you using?

And why do you always have weights measured to 2 decimal places, rather than whole gram amounts? Don't get me wrong - this is not a complaint or criticism! Just wondering... :)

Cheers
Ross
LeadDog's picture
LeadDog 2009 September 4
Oh I just round up or down to the nearest gram.  I guess the 2 decimal places is influenced by my job.  The spreadsheets that I use are based on percentages so to get the right percentage you will get fractions of grams.  My scale just measures in grams too.

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