Thread: bread advice

On 3-Sep-2010, heteroscedastic <[email protected]> wrote:

> One problem may be that while it is easy enough to get hard wheat
> white flour, the whole wheat flour which is readily available
> (Hodgson, King Arthur) does not seem to be designated as true bread
> flour.

Gluten and yeast are responsible for how much bread dough will rise. Gluten
development is not sufficient with whole wheat flour and needs to be
supplemented with Vital Wheat Gluten, which can be found in most stores that
sell whole wheat flour, though it may be in the "health food" section rather
than baking section. Add 1 tablespoon of Vital Wheat Gluten per cup of
whole wheat flour and you should see better results. Also, whole wheat
flour takes longer to hydrate than white flours; you should expect longer
rise times for whole wheat breads. If you are using a bread machine, check
your manual for how to use the whole wheat setting.
--
Change Cujo to Juno in email address.

heteroscedastic wrote:
: I have a basic recipe for white bread that is very dependable and
: works great. I have tried to modify it by replacing about half the
: white flour (I use Cargill "Hummer" high gluten flour) with whole
: wheat flour, leaving everything else the same, and the results are
: pretty much uniformly disappointing. The dough becomes sticky and
: less elastic, and doesn't rise well, and the finished bread has a very
: coarse crumb. I have tried increasing the amount of yeast, but this
: doesn't seem to help. Is there a general principle to follow when
: changing part of the flour in a bread recipe to whole wheat?
:
: One problem may be that while it is easy enough to get hard wheat
: white flour, the whole wheat flour which is readily available
: (Hodgson, King Arthur) does not seem to be designated as true bread
: flour.

You can search for the King Arthur site and request a copy of their catalog.
They have mucho things for a wheat loaf, and you will find the additives
there including good recipes. I have experimented around to find a good
wheat loaf for me. My single loaf recipe is two and one half cups of flour
total. My final whole wheat mixture has been 1-1/2 cups of all purpose, and
1 cup of whole wheat (King Arthur). Your mileage might vary.

On Sep 3, 7:42*pm, "WSBRK1" <anonym...@not-for-mail.invalid> wrote:
> heteroscedastic wrote:
>
> : I have a basic recipe for white bread that is very dependable and
> : works great. *I have tried to modify it by replacing about half the
> : white flour (I use Cargill "Hummer" high gluten flour) with whole
> : wheat flour, leaving everything else the same, and the results are
> : pretty much uniformly disappointing. *The dough becomes sticky and
> : less elastic, and doesn't rise well, and the finished bread has a very
> : coarse crumb. *I have tried increasing the amount of yeast, but this
> : doesn't seem to help. *Is there a general principle to follow when
> : changing part of the flour in a bread recipe to whole wheat?
> :
> : One problem may be that while it is easy enough to get hard wheat
> : white flour, the whole wheat flour which is readily available
> : (Hodgson, King Arthur) does not seem to be designated as true bread
> : flour.
>
> You can search for the King Arthur site and request a copy of their catalog.
> They have mucho things for a wheat loaf, and you will find the additives
> there including good recipes. *I have experimented around to find a good
> wheat loaf for me. *My single loaf recipe is two and one half cups of flour
> total. *My final whole wheat mixture has been 1-1/2 cups of all purpose, and
> 1 cup of whole wheat (King Arthur). *Your mileage might vary.

Thanks, both of you. I had read about adding gluten, but figured that
my high-gluten Hummer would handle it. From what you are saying, it
just isn't doing the job and we need more gluten.

BTW, not a bread machine--a Kitchenaid with dough hook and then hand
kneading.

heteroscedastic wrote:
: On Sep 3, 7:42 pm, "WSBRK1" <anonym...@not-for-mail.invalid> wrote:
:: heteroscedastic wrote:
::
::: I have a basic recipe for white bread that is very dependable and
::: works great. I have tried to modify it by replacing about half the
::: white flour (I use Cargill "Hummer" high gluten flour) with whole
::: wheat flour, leaving everything else the same, and the results are
::: pretty much uniformly disappointing. The dough becomes sticky and
::: less elastic, and doesn't rise well, and the finished bread has a
::: very coarse crumb. I have tried increasing the amount of yeast, but
::: this doesn't seem to help. Is there a general principle to follow
::: when changing part of the flour in a bread recipe to whole wheat?
:::
::: One problem may be that while it is easy enough to get hard wheat
::: white flour, the whole wheat flour which is readily available
::: (Hodgson, King Arthur) does not seem to be designated as true bread
::: flour.
::
:: You can search for the King Arthur site and request a copy of their
:: catalog. They have mucho things for a wheat loaf, and you will find
:: the additives there including good recipes. I have experimented
:: around to find a good wheat loaf for me. My single loaf recipe is
:: two and one half cups of flour total. My final whole wheat mixture
:: has been 1-1/2 cups of all purpose, and 1 cup of whole wheat (King
:: Arthur). Your mileage might vary.
:
: Thanks, both of you. I had read about adding gluten, but figured that
: my high-gluten Hummer would handle it. From what you are saying, it
: just isn't doing the job and we need more gluten.
:
: BTW, not a bread machine--a Kitchenaid with dough hook and then hand
: kneading.

I use my Kitchenaid food processor, but with the regular blade in it. I
tried the dough hook they had in the box that came with it, but shucked that
and used the regular blade. Stuff comes together quick, and I like that!
<G> Nothing like fresh home made bread.