[Sca-cooks] whole wheat bread

[Terry Decker]

Until the 19th Century, most wheat flour was whole wheat.  Roller milling
separates the wheat germ from the rest of the grain giving us our modern
unbleached or white flour.  The separated germ became another product and
the bran that was sieved from the flour was used for animal feed.  Adding
bran and germ back into white flour to produce whole wheat flour is largely
based on the nutritional ideas of Sylvester Graham (1794-1851).  This flour
is often referred to a "graham" or "graham-added" flour.

Fine period whole wheat bread was made from well-sieved flour (thrice
boulted).  Graham flour isn't that fine, so the bread it produces is going
to be more like Medieval peasant bread.  For a good whole wheat loaf, find a
well sieved stone ground flour.  I personally like King Arthur White Whole
Wheat Flour (basically a fine whole wheat bread flour, don't use it for
pastries).

Get the highest protein percentage you can find.  Flour from hard winter
wheat is about the best.  King Arthur again.  If you can't get or can't
afford the King Arthur, find the best you can and consider running it
through a flour sifter to sieve out large particles.

You might try building your dough from a sponge, by adding the yeast to one
cup of water to proof, then stirring in two cups of flour to make a soft
dough.  Cover it and let it sit on the counter for 4 to 24 hours.  Break the
sponge apart in the remaining liquid for the recipe and continue with the
recipe from there.

Make sure you get the salt into the dough.

If it is still too bitter, adding a 1/4 cup of honey to the mix will sweeten
the dough (assuming a two loaf recipe).  I have found that most people
prefer the taste of whole wheat loaves made with honey.

Bear


>Actually, the bread made with 100% whole wheat wasn't horrible.  It did
taste just a bit too healthful though.  I suppose at some point in history,
somebody probably worked with 100% whole wheat, and there are people on this
list who probably know the who and when (lots of great scholars here).
Silly me, didn't try 75% whole wheat 25% bread flour.  I considered upping
the amount of yeast, but thought maybe somebody else had already figured
this out & maybe I was reinventing the wheel....
>
>Samrah