With permission, my blogpal, Johno from the Minstry of Minor Perfidy, has allowed me to reprint his original recipe for whole wheat bread. Try baking it on the weekend. Start in the morning and have loaves ready by dinner time! It is a commitment, but it’s worth it. Lately I’ve made it with a cup of regular whole wheat and a cup of white whole wheat in the first part and a cup of white whole wheat in the dry mix. It’s the King Arthur brand flour and it makes a lighter but still tasty bread.
Also, if you take his advice and work with a wetter dough, it will be lighter with bigger bubbles. It’s worth varying the wetness to figure out what kind of texture you want in the final product.
Here it is!
Johno’s Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Whisk together thoroughly in a large bowl:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
2.25 cups water at room temperature
1 Tablespoon honey
3/4 teaspoon instant (AKA rapid-rise) yeast
Clean the sides of the bowl with a spatula. In another bowl, whisk together:
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 Tablespoon salt
Use a measuring cup to gently sprinkle this mixture on top of the batter you made. Cover the bowl containing the batter and the flour mixture with plastic wrap and let stand 1 to 4 hours at room temperature – the longer the better. Optionally, let stand 1 hour at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator overnight. If using the refrigerator, remove mixture and let warm up at room temperature for two hours before using.*
Stir the flour into the batter using a wooden spoon or your hand. Once things come together, turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead 7 to 10 minutes. RESIST THE URGE to add extra flour. If after 5 minutes or so the dough is still unmanageable, go ahead and add flour by the tablespoon. But not before, and not too much.
Once you have a smooth and elastic dough that is only tacky instead of sticky, place it in a very lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour in a warm place (70-77 degrees)
Give the dough a business-letter fold** and return to the bowl. Let rise 1 hour.
At the end of the second hour, divide and shape into loaves. Let rise covered in pans 1 hour to 90 minutes, or until nearly doubled. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
When the oven is hot and the dough is sufficiently risen, place in the oven. After 10 minutes, turn down to 425 degrees. Let bake an additional 30 minutes, turning the loaves 180 degrees after about 10 more minutes have elapsed.
When the loaves are dark golden brown and the interior registers 200 degrees, remove from oven and let cool on racks. Let cool completely before cutting and eating.
* the point of this is to allow the enzymes in the flour to go to work in a liquid environment. These enzymes will break down the starches in the flour into simple and complex sugars. Some of these will be yeast food. Most of them will become delicious and complex flavors in the loaf. Finally, the enzymatic activity has ancillary benefits – softening the bran in the whole wheat, making the texture of the bread more springy and interesting, and the loaf resistant to staling.
** business-letter fold. Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Grasp the left hand side of the dough and fold it about 2/3 of the way across the mass. Repeat with the right side, as though you were folding a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the steps along the other axis. Return to the bowl. (The point of this is to further strengthen and organize the internal structure of the gluten matrix, to allow for better texture and rise.)
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:
*It’s hard to kill yeast. Don’t worry.
*The key ingredient is TIME. Slower rises equal more flavor, and you simply cannot rush excellent bread.
*It’s perfectly impossible to over-knead bread by hand. Only a machine can over-knead. Don’t worry.
*By the same token, you’re done kneading when you’re done kneading. As you get used to making bread, you can depart at will from the recommended kneading times if the dough is done more quickly or needs more time.
*The biggest mistake most people make is to add too much flour to the dough during kneading. Don’t do this. You are aiming for a narrow hydration range in which a particular recipe will work. Adding flour at the early stages of kneading can lead to dense, dry loaves. Add as little flour as possible, and try to get yourself used to working with sticky doughs rather than adding flour to help. Give it a few minutes… things will come together on their own as you knead.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Mmmm, this sounds delicious every time I see it. I’m going to grab a couple girlfriends and start some bakin!
We use this recipe all the time. It makes a fantastic all-purpose bread. The only thing different is that we use the dough hook and stand mixer rather than hand mixing – we get a better rise and a much better final product (we’re impatient – we never knead properly by hand!).