After one miserably failed attempt at whole wheat bread today (I forgot to put all the flour in – so it was… less than desirable), I am trying again, but I think I miscounted and still put not-quite-enough flour in the dough. I think that I am overly cautious trying not to use too much flour that I use too little. And I am certain I don’t knead the bread enough.
If tomorrow weren’t Sunday (and if I had more milk) I would try again. Perhaps I will a try a recipe that just uses water – just to see if I can ever get the dang thing to be tall enough.
One of my concerns is that perhaps there isn’t enough dough to fill the pans (i.e., my pans are too big) But I use the same size pans my sister used, and she got hers to rise tall…
I also read that letting the bread rest between mixing it up and kneading it (autolyse?) can help it rise tall, so next time I am going to try that.
I’m feeling a little bit like a failure today… two ruined batches of bread (when I am making the bread in the first place to stretch our grocery budget this month), I lost my patience with the kiddos, it’s 7:36pm and they still aren’t in bed, I lost my patience with my sweet husband, I haven’t prepared my Relief Society lesson for tomorrow, and I didn’t get a load of laundry started this morning. In order to accomplish everything I would like to accomplish tonight, it will require me staying up too late (which I hate doing on Saturday night – I like to be well rested on Sunday! Plus, the choir is singing tomorrow, so that means choir practice before church…)
On a brighter note, we took back our cable box today (no more TV! Yay!) and set up our internet and home phone service with Qwest to start in a few weeks (saving us a LOT of money). So that’s good, right?
I also wanted to blog more, but my blogging marathon will have to wait until tomorrow (unless I decide to sleep tomorrow because I stay up too late tonight…)
Some days are just bad days. Today is a bad day.
I learned a few tricks from my in-laws (which is what inspired me to actually try baking bread). One- I add a TON of flour, so I don't think you need to worry about that. Two- I use half bread flour (bread flour = extra gluten = lots of rising potential). Eventually I will experiment with 100% whole wheat, but I'm not ready for that yet. Three- don't actually "punch" the loaf. Just fold the dough multiple times. Four- after shaping into loaves, put the pans of dough in the oven on warm (170degrees) with a pan of water on the bottom rack for 20 minutes. This will allow them to rise before the loaf starts cooking. The loaves will look about as tall as they will get after that time, then crank up to 350 and bake! I need to make some bread...so maybe we can make some together this week. Also, I think I'm going to buy new pans because I think I want even taller loaves.
ReplyDeleteThis always works unless I use water that is too hot - and this is delicious.
ReplyDelete5 C hot tap water
2 T yeast
2 T salt
2/3 C oil
2/3 C honey
12-14 C whole wheat flour
1/3 C gluten (I don't usually use this)
2-3 T dough enhancer (I always use this)
Add all of the ingredients and only 8 C of flour (salt last) and mix for a couple of minutes on high (oh yeah, you need a bosch or something similar) Add the rest of the flour only until the bowl comes clean and knead (bosch) for 8-10 minutes (any extra will break gluten bonds, so I hear) Shape into 5 loaves and let double in size (30-45 minutes) and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes (or in my oven, 35). Let cool on rack. Freezes really well.
No extra kneading. No extra steps period. I'm too lazy. We love this bread. Dough enhancer is pretty cheap and I just buy it at the regular grocery store where they have flour, etc.
How about a trip to the U of U's new Natural History Museum sometime after Thanksgiving? It's free, but you have to get tickets online, I think.
Good luck! I'm still on a quest for "great" wheat bread.
ReplyDeleteAre you grinding your own flour, or purchasing it pre-ground? Just curious.