Fw: Whole Wheat Master Recipe

[Guest guest]

WW Master Recipe

(Makes enough dough for four 1 lb. loaves)

 

5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 Tbsp. active dry yeast

1 Tbsp. Kosher salt, or some other coarse salt

1/4 cup Hodgson Mill's Vital Wheat Gluten

4 cups lukewarm water

 

1 to 3 Tbsp. whole seed mixture for sprinkling on the top crust: sesame, poppy,

flaxseed, caraway, raw sunflower seeds, and/or anise (optional)

 

1. Measure dry ingredients: Use dry measuring cups (avoid 2 cup measures,

which compress the flour) to gently scoop up the flour from the bin, then sweep

the top level with a knife or spatula. Whisk together the flours, yeast, salt,

and vital wheat gluten in a 5 quart bowl or preferably, in a resealable, lidded

plastic food container or food-grade bucket (not airtight). (I use a

Tupperware, 1 gallon. )

 

2. Mix with water.....kneading is unnecessary: Warm the water until it feels

slightly warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees F.) Add it all at once

to the dry ingredients and mix without kneading, using a spoon, a 14 cup food

processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy duty stand mixer (using the

paddle). You might need to start with wet hands to get the last bits of flour

to incorporate if you are not using a machine. Using warm water will allow the

dough to rise fully in about 2 hours. DON'T KNEAD! It isn't necessary.

You're finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. this

step is done in a matter of minutes, and will yield a dough that is wet and

remains loose enough to conform to the shape of its container.

 

3. Allow to rise: Cover the dough with a lid (not airtight) that fits well to

the container. If you are using a bowl, cover it loosely with plastic wrap.

Lidded (or even vented) plastic buckets designed for dough storage are readily

available. Leave it open a crack for the first 48 hours to prevent buildup of

gasses; after that you can usually seal it. Allow the mixture to rise at room

temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top),

approximately 2 hours, depending on the room's temperature and the initial water

temperature. Longer rising times, even overnight, will not harm the results.

After rising, refrigerate in the lidded container (not airtight) and use over

the next 14 days. Fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and is easier to

work with than dough at room temperature. So the first time so the first time

you try out our method, it's best to refrigerate the dough overnight, or at

least 3 hours, before shaping a loaf. Once refrigerated, the dough will seem

to have shrunk back upon itself. IT WILL NEVER RISE AGAIN IN THE BUCKET, which

is normal for our dough. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T PUNCH DOWN THIS DOUGH! With

our method, you're trying to retain as much gas in the dough as possible, and

punching it down knocks gas out and will make your dough denser.

 

4. On baking day...shape the loaf: Shape a loaf in 20 to 40 seconds. First,

prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal (or line it with

parchment paper, or use a silicone mat) to prevent your loaf from sticking to it

when you slide it onto the baking stone from the peel. Dust the surface of the

dough with flour. Pull up and cut off a 1 pound (grapefruit size) piece of

dough using a serrated knife or kitchen shears. Hold the dough in your hands

and add a little flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently

stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides,

rotating a quarter turn as you go to form a ball. Most of the dusting flour

will fall off; it's not intended to be incorporated into the dough. The bottom

of the ball may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten

out and adhere during the resting and baking. The correctly shaped final

product will be smooth and cohesive. The entire process should take no more

than 20 to 40 seconds. If you work the dough longer than this it will make your

loaf dense.

 

5. Form a narrow oval-shaped loaf and let it rest: Stretch the ball gently to

elongate it, and taper the ends by rolling it between your palms and pinching

them (for professional result, use a letter fold.

 

6. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on the prepared

pizza peel for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated

dough). Alternatively, you can rest the loaf on a silicone mat or on a greased

cookie sheet without using a pizza peel. Depending on the age of the dough, you

might not see much rise during this period; instead, it will spread sideways.

More rising will occur during baking (oven spring).

 

7. Thirty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. with a

baking stone on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water

on any other rack that won't interfere with the rising bread.

 

8. Paint and Slash: Just before baking, use a pastry brush to pain the top

with water. Sprinkle with the seed mixture, if desired. Slash the loaf with

1/4 " deep parallel cuts across the top. Using a serrated bread knife held

perpendicularly to the bread.

 

9. Baking with steam: After a 30 minute preheat, you're ready to bake, even

though your oven thermometer might not yet be up to full temperature. With a

quick forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off of the peel onto

the preheated baking stone. Quickly, but carefully, pour about 1 cup of water

from the tap into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is richly browned and firm to the

touch (smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time). If

you use a parchment paper, a silicone mat, or a cookie sheet under the loaf,

carefully remove it and bake the loaf directly on the stone, or on an oven rack

two-thirds of the way through baking. When you remove the loaf from oven, it

may audibly crackle, or " sing " when initially exposed to room temperature air.

Allow the bread to cool completely, preferably on a wire cooling rack, for best

flavor, texture, and slicing. The perfect crust may initially soften, but will

firm up again when cooled.

 

10. Store the remaining dough in the refrigerator in your lidded (not airtight)

container and use it over the next 14 days.

 

You do not need to monitor doubling or tripling of volume as in traditional

recipes. Our dough will not double in size once shaped and rested, but when it

goes into the oven you will see " oven-spring " .

 

There is a website you can check out on these books:

 

www.artisanbreadinfive.com

 

Whew!!

Nancy C.

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy, those books sound terrific. Could I talk you into sending one

complete recipe to the list?? I will have to order the books. I love bread

that is made in my kitchen!!

 

M