It’s time I moved on from plain white flour and used something different for a change – and so, here’s the result – a wholemeal bread!
This recipe comes from a book from Richard Bertinet called Dough, but well.. of course I made some little variations and so here is how I did it.
Note! Pictures of the process are displayed at the “Gallery” -page
Dough, makes two little wholemeal breads (almost 100% wholemeal)
The sponge
3g Fresh yeast
150g Water (measured to 23°C, flour being 22°C => 22,5°C dough)
150g 100% wholemeal wheat flour
100g 100% white leaven, been refreshed couple times during the past days
Dissolve the yeast into the water and combine with the wholemeal flour. Add the white leaven and cover the bowl properly with a kitchen towel. Let it stand 3-4 hours, ’till nice and bubbly.
Dough
403g Sponge from above
5g Fresh yeast
100g Water (also 23°C)
250g 100% wholemeal wheat flour
10g Fine sea salt
1. Weight out the flour and salt. Measure the water to the right temperature and mix the yeast in. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, ’till there are no dry bits.
2. Knead the dough in various ways. I tried this kind of folding-kneading as descriped in the book, but the dough being so dry it didn’t quite work. Then I did about 30 kneads and somekind of stretching, finally ending up with a ball of dough. Place this ball into a lightly floured bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes.
2. Now divide the dough into two equals pieces. Weighting helps in this, mine were about 375g each. Then shape them into balls. I first did 7 kneads (according to the link above), then gently pulled the dough from the sides with my palm into the middle, repeating this a few times, too. Finally I turned the dough around and whiped most of the flour away from the table. Then placed my both hands behind the dough, kneeling down a bit and pulling the dough towards me. The dough should be just enough sticky to roll a bit over itself. Repeated this a few times – not too many or it tears. Then let the balls rest under a kitchen towel for another 15 minutes.
3. Prepare your bannetons with flour – kitchen towel and a bowl do make a good mold.
4. Then shape your breads. Flatten the ball down a bit, and roll a third of it into the middle. Then turn the other side into the middle too and tuck it gently down. Now place your hands behind the dough and turn it over from the middle. As you pull the dough towards you press your thumbs inside of it, turning the ball into a longer bread. Incase your bread is still too chubby, you can gently roll it around with your palms. Then tuck the ends of the bread a bit inside and on the bottom side zipper the bread by squeezing it together with your fingers. Place into your banneton the seam-side up, cover with kitchen towel, shape the other bread and let them rest for an hour.
5. Turn your oven on to 250 °C. Place an oven tray or baking stone to warm up, too.
6. Then bake your breads. If you have no bread spatula, take take tray out and cover it with baking paper. Flip the breads on the tray, remove the extra-flour from the top of the breads and then from the tray with a brush. Then slash-decorate the breads with a sharp knife or a razor. Let them bake in 250°C for 15 minutes, and then another 15 minutes in 210°C.
7. Take your breads out and let ’em cool down on a rack. Wholemeal makes a good breakfast bread, filling your tummy with fiber and giving you something to chew on.
Marika~
Bread with bubbles 