100% Whole Wheat Bread
The Holy Grail of 100% Whole Wheat Breads?
All too often, a discussion of home made 100% whole wheat bread also includes some reference to a door stop, a shot put or an anvil. It’s challenging to make an all whole grain bread that is palatable.
This recipe from King Arthur’s Whole Grain Baking not only produces amazingly light, tender and moist bread, but is fairly simple and quick to make and has a unique flavor all its own. King Arthur calls it “the Holy Grail of 100% whole wheat breads”. I’m not sure I would go quite that far, but then this is the lightest one of its kind I’ve yet to bake, so who am I to criticize?
This recipe yields one 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf.
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) orange juice
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water
4 tablespoons (½ stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter; cut into 6 pieces
3 cups (12 ounces) traditional whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons (1 ¼ ounces) sugar
Heaping ½ cup (1 ¼ ounces) dried potato flakes or 3 tablespoons (1 ¼ ounces) potato flour
¼ cup (1 ounce) nonfat dry milk
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
Note: I neglected to mention in the video that the bread pan should be lightly greased before placing the dough in it. Also, you’ll probably want to mix and knead it more than I did. For this loaf, I didn’t knead at all; I just mixed with my dough whisk. The bread was a little crumbly and should have been kneaded some to develop the elasticity of the gluten. This happens automatically during the long wet fermentation of the no-knead method, but this bread recipe needs more human intervention in the form of good old fashioned kneading. A few therapeutic minutes aught to do it.
► For another 100% whole grain bread recipe, see Rick’s Whole Wheat & Rolled Oats No Knead.
Here’s a particularly nice result from Breadtopia reader, Allan Castine:
{ 158 comments… read them below or add one }
Could you use sourdough for this recipe if you have one (i.e. Russian) that claims to be good with heavier breads?
That is a great question, Beth. My guess is that by the time you adjusted everything in order for the recipe to work with a sourdough starter instead of instant yeast, you would end with a substantially different recipe. If nothing else, you would surely have to lengthen times given as sourdough is much slower acting.
Now that you have me thinking about it, I sure am tempted to experiment. Do you have time to play around with this? Maybe between the two of us, we can come up with an acceptable sourdough equivalent.
Sure!! Don’t know how long it will be, we home school, but I was going to make bread anyway. Do you want it to attempt to be a no knead, or is that just wishful thinking?!?!
Wow, that would be nice. Maybe we can go for no knead later, if and when sourdough shows some promise.
I’ll try it tonight.
Is there any reason not to use standard bread ingredients with a starter (i.e. oils)? I think I have a recipe to start with…
If I understand your question, no, I don’t think there’s any reason why you can’t use the same ingredients with sourdough starter as you would with commercial yeast. Different strains of yeast, but still yeast.
Some ingredients inhibit yeast growth, like cinnamon, but nothing in this recipe will be a problem. Salt does too, but you have to have some and 1 1/4 tsp is not too much.
Great! The next question (hee hee sorry!!): Is the goal to see if this particular recipe will work or just any 100% WW recipe? I have a starter feeding right now. I am hopeful that I can make the bread this evening.
I would think any good (non-anvil like) 100% WW (or 100% whole any grain) bread is a worthwhile goal, but since King Arthur already put their time and expertise into this recipe to achieve this result, we might as well piggy back onto it and just see if substituting the instant yeast for sourdough can approach the same end. At least that’s my thinking.
So, here’s what I’m thinking (hope it isn’t too rebellious!!). I think I will do my recipe first. I am VERY familiar with what the texture should be like (I’ve been making 6-8 loaves of it a week for a few years) and then I’ll have a good comparison. I don’t want to spend the time trying a new one first and THEN sourdoughing it. Since you’ve done King Arthur’s, maybe you could do that one and we can compare notes. What do you think?
Great idea, I’m in. I should be able to give it a go this weekend.
Well, I just converted it. It started as one large loaf, but with the starter and the extra flour I had to use because of it, it will probably make two big-ish loaves. It’s overnight rising in the pans. If all goes well, it will be beautiful tomorrow.
It worked!!!
They are a little denser than the traditional style, but NOT a door stop. The gluten developed nicely. It isn’t crumbly at all. I think I rushed it a little. I’ll have to tweak it a few times, but I’m very encouraged.
This is very encouraging. A little denser is to be expected. Even coming close on your first attempt is awesome. I can’t wait to get the final recipe!
Love this site thanks to No-Knead bread and your excellent videos! On your new Holy Grail bread I noticed you were using a Fiddle Bow Knife to cut the bread. Will that knife cut the original No-Knead recipe with it’s hard crust?
Thanks, Eileen
That’s why we bought the Fiddle Bow knife – to see if it’s easier to cut the crustier loaves. Denyce says she gets enough exercise already without struggling to slice a piece of bread. We’re fairly impressed with it.
We’re conducting extensive field testing to see if we want to add it to our product line. The blade is super sharp and supposedly stays that way. It’s also easier to cut a uniform toaster width slice. It does take some practice to uniformly cut big slices from the middle of the round loaves and you still need another bread knife to cut those slices in half to fit in a toaster. But overall it’s definitely easier.
That’s exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks for the information.
On Saturday afternoon I followed the same "Holy Grail" King Arthur recipe as above, minus the braid. Only I substituted 1/4 cup of firm sourdough starter for the 2 1/2 tsp. of instant yeast. I also left out the 2 Tbs. of orange juice. I didn’t substitute water for the o.j. since the water in the starter about makes up for it.
I let it proof overnight, about 17 hours, then gave it a few "stretch and folds" in the morning and into the pan for the final rise. After about two hours I had what you see in the first picture below. The rise was even more vigorous than the yeasted version. It required an extra 10 minutes of bake time too.
The final results were the best yet for this recipe. Even lighter than before, but also better flavor thanks to the long proofing.
I really love sourdough starter. I think it’s the cat’s pajamas. Sometimes I wonder if my starter is a particularly vigorous variety. Or maybe it’s just that I live in Iowa. You can grow anything here. So if you’re having any trouble getting your bread to rise well, you might want to consider moving here. Just an idea.
FANTASTIC!!! I’ll have to try the 18 hour proof BEFORE the rise in the pan. Mine was essentially a sponge to rise first (abt. 4 hrs) with half of the flours. Then the rest went in and it rose in the pan. I wish I could try yours for texture. They look very similar. My technique is on http://www.recipezaar.com . The recipe is called “Beth’s 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread”. See what you think.
Cool. The possibilities are limitless. I bought some citric acid a while back and never used it. Maybe I will now.
Beth – how is it that you bake 6-8 loaves per week? Or I guess I should ask why is it?
I have a hungry family of 6 (4 kids). I do 1 loaf a week for other people I know, and I pay for my piano lessons with 1 loaf! Plus, I LOVE bread making. It’s my therapy!
Hi,
I have just moved to Mississippi from the big city of Houston, Texas. I am in the country now and I am loving it. However cable is not on my side of the street now. I have been surfing the web a lot. Your site is a blessing. I have not been a very good bread maker but I have more time to practice now. Thanks for the video and thanks for the blog.
Txbetty
Thank you, Betty. Let us know how the bread baking goes.
Hi there-
I am delighted to have found your website. I recently became convicted to begin making bread for my family and was intriqued by your whole grain sourdough video. Well, I now have a very bubbly whole wheat sourdough starter, thanks to that video, and am really interested in trying the King Arthur recipe you converted to sourdough.
I was reading how you proofed it for 17 hours. Was that in the refrigerator? And when you say you gave it a few “stretch and folds”, does that mean you kneaded it for only a short time? Also, after I feed my starter, how long should I wait to make bread with it?
Incidentally, I gave another recipe a try before trying this one because I was lacking the dry milk and potato flour and it called for an entire CUP of sourdough starter. It also suggested only an hour rise….and that in the pan. Well, it came out like a doorstop. I was disappointed but my family liked it anyway, eating the whole loaf! But what a fun, therapeutic process. So, onward I go with a better recipe, I’m sure.
I really appreciate your site. It’s very enjoyable and informative! Thank you for your time. And your help!
Hi Beth,
If that 17 hours is for a no knead recipe, then it was at room temperature. The few stretch and folds would be in place of kneading all together. Even before no-knead became the rage, a lot of people were happily and successfully baking along using the stretch and fold technique to develop gluten and bread strength without kneading.
As far as how long you should wait to bake after feeding your starter. If you’re leaving at room temperature after feeding and the room is not very cool/cold, I would say at least several hours. I just try to remember to feed my starter the day or evening before I’m going to bake. If it’s the day before, the starter can go back into the fridge and still be ready the next day.
Hi Eric, No knead seems right for some but I can’t handle the heavy, hot equipment in & out of the oven. So I’m going for sourdough. But my question is what is “bread flour?” I have ww flour made from hard red 100% whole grain winter wheat professional grade – contains the bran, germ and endosperm; protein 4g; from Kerrville TX. Is this “bread flour” If yes, do you think I could feed it to my/your starter? Do you think I can use the KA to make a loaf of sour dough. I made a brick over the weekend. Need to proof for hours? So much to learn, so little time. – Kay
Hi Kay.
Bread flour is just regular all purpose flour with a higher protein content. The higher protein comes from more gluten in the flour. It comes labeled in stores as bread flour so you can tell it from the others. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the actual protein content marked on the packaging, but bread flour has around a 14% protein content and AP flour is around 11%. Most bread bakers prefer baking with bread flour for the extra elasticity of the dough, making a nice texture for bread plus it’s a little easier to achieve a more open crumb (bigger holes). For pie crusts, cookies, pastries, typically AP flour is preferred.
You can definitely use whole wheat flour to feed to your starter. You just have to feed it more often than using white flour because the oil in the germ (which is not in AP flour) will go rancid at some point.
It’s challenging to make a 100% whole wheat bread that is not a brick. That’s why so many “whole wheat” bread recipes actually call for as much or more white flour as WW. What happens is the sharp edged bran flakes in the whole wheat flour cut the gluten stands which would otherwise create air pockets to give you a more airy bread.
Making a whole wheat sourdough bread that is not a brick is even more challenging. You might want to consider buying a copy of Ed Wood’s “Classic Sourdoughs”. I think it’s well worth the effort to get good at making sourdough leavened breads vs. regular yeast breads for the flavor difference. And the term “sourdough” is kind of a misnomer because the bread isn’t necessarily more sour tasting.
Yes, you can use the dough hook attachment on your KA to do the heavy kneading usually called for in bread recipes.
Good luck, Kay.
Eric, what do you think the effect would be if you omitted the milk powder? I would also plan to substitute Soy Garden spread for the butter (I’m vegan).
Is 3 cups of whole wheat flour really only 12 ounces? That seems awfully light to me.
This will probably be my next attempt; I like the 18 hour proof, but I plan to use my KA to knead it.
I don’t think it would hurt anything. Typically, dairy and oils soften the dough so the crust is more suitable for sandwich bread. But I would substitute an equal portion of flour to maintain approximately the same hydration level.
The way King Arthur measures flour, 3 cups would equal 12 oz. They fill cups very lightly. The above measurements come straight out of their Whole Grain cookbook, so I’d go with the 12 oz.
ps. thanks for the pics earlier, I’ll be posting them for sure.
my bread smells like yeast/beer what could be the problem
Sounds good to me
.
Hi everybody,
Beth you could use sourdough starter for the Russian breads.Good starter work same as yeast but take more time,and room temperature about 75F- 90F.Before yeast was
dicovered that starter was used for everything.
Saintdennis
Beth you must use rye flour for the starter,and must very strong.I have my starter in the kitchen on counter 24/7.I do not put my starter to the fridge.I feeding that starter
every day.
Saintdennis
I have found that my bread rises better when I feed my starter a day or two,or more, before I want to use it and letting it have a rest in the fridge before using it. I don’t feed my starters that often, sometimes weeks or months go by but I store them in the fridge full time except when I revitalize them. Most of my starters are several years old but I found Carl’s 1847 starter to be the hardiest and one called Egypt sometimes is super fast rising.
Let me start by saying THANK YOU for the videos and your web site, it’s wonderful!!!! I first found you on U Tube.
I am totally new to bread baking and also take in mind that I use a DLX to mix this dough so I usually need less flour than any receipe calls for, (because gluten development is suspose to be so good)… I only used a little less than 2.5 cups per loaf.
4 questions I have about this loaf….
1. Taste is good, & it’s not a door stop, but the middle is all “sunk in” similar to your picture, but worse. Was the braid too heavy? (I used less than 1/3 of dough) or maybe when I took temp it deflated?
2. Also when taking the temp it WAS 190 on the outsides, but the inside not as hot, so I put it back in for more time until done, made outsides too brown for my liking.
3. Why use tent foil after 15min? is that so it’s not too brown (I did, but it’s still very brown)
4. I couldn’t find potato flour, so I used flakes, is this a normal flour I should be able to find? I thought about taking the flakes & grinding it to make a powder (like in a coffee grinder thing, I have soemthing called “the bullet”)
Any help you can offer is taken with a big smile!!
Hi Lisa,
I’m glad you like the site.
Even though you use a good mixer, I would still stick to the amount of flour in the recipe at least the first time you try it. Maybe just mix a little less time if you’re concerned about developing too much gluten.
I can’t tell why it sunk more than mine but I doubt if it’s because the braid is too heavy.
The foil just keeps the top of the loaf from getting over done. It’s naturally a very “brown” loaf. Not sure there’s much you can do about that.
Potato flour isn’t all that common and I actually forget what it does. Maybe it conditions the dough or helps bind it. I think grinding the flakes in your bullet sounds like a great idea.
Could you substitute Canola or Olive oil for the butter?
Sure
Excellent!
How long is that Fiddle Bow knife? I don’t want to order one if it won’t fit my kitchen drawers. Although I could probably drill a hole in the handle and hang it up in the pantry.
It’s 15 3/4″ long.
My first attempt and mine deflated. It was about 1″ above the top of the pan and now it is about 1″ below. I mixed the dough in a bread machine with the dough setting,substituted 2 ounces of Olive oil for the butter and didn’t use the orange juice. Any thoughts on what went wrong?
I guess I should be more clear, it deflated in the oven during the 1st 15 minutes. I noticed it when I went to tent the loaf with tin foil. Also I put the dough in the pan into a warm oven to finish rising and maybe the oven was too warm for it.
Dear Ed,
why your bread collapsed:1)liquid/dry ratio not balanced,2)salt omitted,causing bread to overrise then collapse,3)dough exeeds pan capacity,does not bake through and collapses,4)machine opened during rising or baking,5)warm weather and high humidity may cause dough to rise too fast,then collapse before baking begins,6)bread left in machine too long after baking,7)overheated liquids used.
Saintdennis
Dear Lisa McD,
why you can’t find potato flour???? 1) potato flour is potato starch,2)cook potato in jacket (with skin)let it cool take the skin of and mash it very fine and use it replace potato flakes and it is cheaper.
Saintdennis
Dennis,
I made the dough in the bread machine then finished it in my oven after letting it rise in the pan for 1.5 hours.
Ed,
How your bread came out??? If you have any problems about baking just ask and I will help you.
Saintdennis
Other than becoming a whole wheat short bread and a bit dense it was really good. I’ll try it again without getting the oven too warm for the 2nd rise. Thanks for the help.
Have I ruined my starter? I had a good working starter, producing bread not parrticularly pretty, but good to eat…I made too much bread so at long last, I refrigerated my starter & my bread didn’t taste as wonderful…I took it out of the fridge, set it on the counter & either used or fed it daily UNTIL…the holidays came & I neglected it for one reason or another…anyway, now although it is not molded, it smells yucky. (It has not been refrigerated in forever…) Do I just need to toss it & begin again? Is there any hope for it?
Thanks.
Oh, it smells VERY sour & is the consistency of syrup. Thanks.
Just feed it a couple times a day for a few days and see what happens. You might be surprised and see that it can be revived quite nicely.
I want to make the whole wheat recipe I saw originally on youtube, (so glad I found your site) and was wondering if I use salted butter, do I decrease the amount of salt in the recipe? (Holy Grail recipe
)
Hi Lori. No, you don’t have to.
I missed the temperature to bake it at. I’m guessing 350 degrees? I live at HIGH altitude. Thanks.
OH, never mind, sorry….I watched the video and you said it in there.
OK! I made the loaves which taste wonderful, but don’t look as nice as yours. I doubled the recipe and maybe didn’t let the loaves rise long enough. Also, they are a little doughy in the center so must not have baked them long enough either. The braids don’t look to be a part of the loaves, but almost look separate from it. Any suggestions other than the obvious? I need a thermometer, and just need to practice more on how much to let them rise. No need to worry if they’ll be eaten because one loaf is almost “toast!”
You may want to forget about the braids next time. Otherwise, sounds like you’re doing fine, really.
Honestly, I want to do the braids, but want more of a result like yours. Do you have any suggestions for helping me to have better results? Would letting the loaves rise longer have incorporated the braids into the main dough? (I milled my own grain)Also, I don’t have a lot of experience kneading dough by hand which is what I did. I mixed it with the Kitchenaid but then kneaded by hand for about 3 minutes. I also don’t know how to “ROUND” a loaf to shape it well. Making bread is such a science and I have different results every time. Do you have tips on how to check if the dough has risen long enough by touching the dough? OR do you have a book or other site to suggest for me to get some helpful hints to make my bread baking more successful? Also, please let me know if you don’t want these types of questions on your site. Thanks again.
Hi Lori,
The questions are great. It’s crafting a detailed answer, that may or may not help, in less than about a million words that’s the challenge.
A lot of this stuff just comes with a little (or maybe not so little) practice. Eventually, I hope to have enough of a range of videos posted to cover much of the basics.
Hi Eric,
You had mentioned that you were working on a newer and better 100% whole wheat bread recipe. Just wondering how that was coming along.
I was about to make the “The Holy Grail of 100% Whole Wheat Breads” as I wrote under “Nate’s Bake”, but held off because you suggested I should. How long for the new recipe?
Very curious and anxious to try this recipe out!
Marilyn
Toronto,Canada
It could be a few weeks yet. I have a couple other ones I have to do first. Maybe give the “holy grail” recipe a try in the mean time. It’s still very good.
Hi Eric,
the bread “The Holy Grail of 100% Whole Wheat Bread”recipe I did a few changes.1)Summer time I’m using sourdough starter (one cup sourdough starter to replace one package of yeast)and in winter I use one cup of sourdough starter plus 1/4 teaspoon of yeast.The reason I’m using the yeast in winter is cold and I need it to speed it up.2)Dry powder milk is good but problem is that some people can not use the milk ( health problems)that you can use potato or pasta water and works just fine.3)Potato flakes are very expensive or you can find them in the store that I’m using cook potato and grind them.Try it and let me know what happened.
Saintdennis
Has anyone tried making this in a bread maker, and if so did you need to alter the quantities?
Hi,
Just found your site while searching about for tweaks on the no-knead method. Amazing site! I’ve been having great success with the NK method. I am very interested in this 100% method, but the video keeps freezing at 2:47. I thought the videos are free. Is that right. This happened also the other day when I was looking at the NK video, but I thought it was just my connection. Now I’m not sure. The progress bar show it is loading, it just won’t play after that 2:47 point. Thanks for any help.
Holly
Hi!
Got the video to work, plus your pizza video. Can’t wait to try them! Have to wait a couple days cause I’ve already got 2 NK batches started for tomorrow – one plain and my first try at a cinnamon raisin version:) I’ll try to remember to check back and tell how the 100% WW comes out. It’s just what I’ve been wanting for sandwiches. I don’t think I’ll be buying bread ever again now, barring an emergency.
Holly
Well I tried it in the breadmaker and ended up with a little fire plug of a loaf! Sure smells good though.
Hi
I made the the King Arthur whole wheat bread and it was very dry when I mixed it. I did use the right amounts according to the recipe. I ended up adding 1/3 of a cup of water more to make it mixable. Any thoughts as to why?
Hi Patrick,
Well, it’s hard to tell from here. You’re idea of “dry” may be different from mine. It seems the real test would be how the finished loaf turns out.
Hi Patrick,
Whole Wheat flour need more water than A/P flour.If is too
dry put it on the table and flat it and bring the bowl with the water and put hands in the bowl and poke the dough with wet hand.That way you control wetnest of the dough and then knead it.When I making bread that I using starter and water and then I put flour a little at the time to have the control of the dough wetnest,if you put all flour one time that you will have lot of lumps.When you are finish mixing let the dough rest about 30 minutes to flour to absorb the water.If you have any question that just ask.
Saintdennis
The bread would not mix well with the amount of water in the recipe. It was like the it wouldn’t wet all the flour. I was using organic red wheat flour. Is there a problem if I put a bit more water then I should? Even after I added the 1/3 cup extra of water when I tried make the braid for the top of the loaf I had a hard time rolling out the dough. It was like working with playdough. When I baked the bread it did turn out ok. It was a bit dense, but it still tasted decent.
I don’t think it could hurt to add a little more water than the recipe calls for. There can be differences the moisture level of flour.
I’ve made this recipe several times following the given instructions exactly, with same results each time.
Since this King Arthur whole grain book came out, Peter Reinhart came out with his whole grain book. In my opinion, his 100% whole wheat sandwich loaf recipe is WAY better than this one. I’m going to be doing a video and write up on it for the site but it’s going to be a while.
Someone was looking for sourdough biscuit recipe. Here is one: 2 cups. sourdough starter
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbl. baking powder
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter or crisco
1/2 cup milk
Cut in the butter into the dry ingred., then stir in milk and sourdough starter, mix well forming a ball.
Knead gently on floured surdface about 30 seconds. Roll dough about 1/2 inch thick. cut into circles with a cutter.
Place on ungreased baking sheet, cover lightly and let rest for 30 min. Brush tops lightly with melted butter and bake at 400 degrees. for 15 min. or till biscuits have puffed and are golden brown.
Used to make these in a dutch oven over a campfire.
Hi
Did you ever make that recipe (the one that you said was a better whole wheat bread then King Arther’s)?
If you haven’t could you post the recipe so I could try it?
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
Yes, I make it a lot. If I don’t get around to posting it for a while (it’s a big job since it’s an elaborate process that requires a lot of explaining – just posting the ingredient list doesn’t help), you can find it in Peter Reinhart’s latest book on whole grain baking. He calls it Oat Bran Broom Bread (made with 100% whole wheat, oat bran, flax seeds). I will do a video, etc. on it eventually.
I’ve learned so much from this site, it’s wonderful!
I thought it was here on Breadtopia that I read about using King Arthur’s White whole wheat flour. I thought I read it was similar to using all purpose unbleached flour. But for the life of me I can’t find it again. I have a bag of it and can hardly wait to give it a try. Can you help me out? I’m interested in sourdough and/or no knead recipes.
Thanks!
Hi Carolyn,
I’m pretty sure white whole wheat is similar to regular whole wheat as far as how you use it in a recipe. It’s still whole wheat with the bran and germ and all that. But the bread will be a lighter color and the taste not as bitter. I think it might be a bit softer wheat (lower protein level) than red wheat but the main thing is you would use the same as you use your common whole wheat.
Hi Eric’
Do you have that new book “Advanced Bread and Pastry??? Is it very good book.I’m reading it second time and that book is very good investment.
Saintdennis
Hi Dennis,
I’ve ordered it but it hasn’t arrived yet. Can’t wait to read it.
Hello, Eric! It’s been a while since we compared notes. I haven’t done anything with WW flours since I posted my results. I know you have said that you like Reinhart’s recipe the best so far and that you will eventually get around to posting it (can’t wait!). Up until that point, was the version of KA’s that you posted on 4/30/07 (man, has it been THAT long!?!) the best you had come up with? Thanks tons for your diligence!
Well, it was the best in terms of lightness. But Reinhart’s is vastly better overall as far as I’m concerned. I know it’s ridiculous that I haven’t done the video on that yet. I should be fired, but then it would probably never get done!
HAHA!! Yeah, because I’m sure you’re being paid WAY too much!!
That would be like me getting fired for not doing the laundry! Who ELSE is going to do it?!!? No pressure….
Hi Eric,
did you received that book yet??? (advanced bread and pastry) That is very good book and I made a few recipes from it.
Saintdennis
This has become one of my regular breads. It goes over very well with everyone in my house.
Last night I made a variation without the potato flour (I was out, thought I could just boil a couple potatoes to use in place, which I’ve done before with good results but my potatoes turned out to be green), and with some flax seeds added. I ground the flax, then poured some boiling water over them before using. This was also my first batch using fresh ground flour. It came out excellent. I made a 3 loaf batch (love my DLX mixer! – my first time trying a single loaf of this I still had the KitchenAid and it threatened to die kneading it), gave away one to a friend and we’re already almost done with the first loaf here at home.
Hi Dennis,
Yes. Quite a book that one. Looking forward to trying some of the recipes. How did it go with the ones you tried? Bread or pastry?
Hi Eric,
I love that book very much. I did some breads and pastries and they came out very good. I bought that book for $ 48 and now that book cost $ 60 and that was my best investment I did with my $ 48 bucks. You have lot’s of nice color photos.
Dennis
hello! just wanted to say your site is exellent!! I’m learning how to bake and learning all the goods of whole grains, and all the health benefits and I love it!!
your teachings on video are really good, it helps me a lot to see, more than reading or anything else. thankyou for sharing your experience. I try to make the whole wheat starter, it is fantastic! it looks aswome, and smell really good! now my bread is proofing…(I think that’s what you call it) it has being like 4 hours and it is growing beautifully! tomorrow I will bake it and let you know the results. I have a question, could I make banana bread using the starter? or any other kind of sweet bread? or muffins? maybe you are laughing crazy thinking what a nut…but I’m new at this, so I figure, not to bad to ask… ha. again thanks. karin.
never mind the question!! I know the answer is no!! wow! my bread it is soooo sour! but I,m not discourage,,,( only a little) I will try again.
you know i had never ate sourdough bread before,, but still think it should not be soo sour right? my kitchen smell like beer…hic! ha.
Hi Karin,
Sorry for taking so long to reply. Been away.
Those are good questions. Experimenting with using sourdough definitely takes a lot of practice to get results that are somewhat predictable and even then you never know for sure. Sounds like you’re having fun playing around with it though and that’s the best way to go.
Yipiii!!!! I made this whole wheat bread it came out delicious! so soft and moist and with a little of a crunchy crost! perfect! and guess what? my daughters surprise me with a La Cloche for my birthday a few days ago.. imagine my happiness! today I’m going to work in fase 2 of the sourdough bread.
I do have a question, do you know how do you become a member of a food club? my husband is thinking on getting me a super nice house mill, and I read somewhere that you can buy grains in bulk and you can save some money.
thanks again your videos make it so easy to learn!! I also made the bananabread, twice now, DELICIOUS!!
That’s great, Karin. Congratulations!
I buy my flour in bulk from a local food co-op. I’m in a small town and everybody just knows about it. Not sure how you go about finding one in your town. You could check the phone book yellow pages or just ask around. You can sure save a lot of money baking your own bread and of course it’s much better than most you can buy at the store.
In one of you videos, you spray a cane proofing basket with oil. I used to do that but after a while the basket became rancid, so now I just use flour. Do you have the same problem? Is there a way to remove the oil?
Thanks,
Chuck
Hi Chuck,
I rinse the basket out each time with hot water. I doesn’t seem like that would remove all the oil but I’ve been doing it this way for quite a few months (if not a year or more) without a rancidity problem. But I’ll be keeping my nose peeled for any sign of it now!
I’ve been enjoying your website all summer so I guess it’s time to let you know! Your videos and advise have have been so helpful. I have tried many of your recipes, regularly making sandwich bread, pizza dough and banana nut bread. My family is addicted to your pizza dough recipe. Pizza, with your crisp dough, has been a fun summer meal for us! And they don’t even know I am feeding them 100% WW banana bread. I love it! I have a pan of KA 100% WW bread proofing now.
I was prompted to write to you today to encourage you to post the video of Peter Reinhart’s Oat Bran Broom Bread. I love Peter’s book but am slightly overwhelmed by the process he developed. I need your help to get started! So consider this another nudge to get the Oat Bran Broom Bread video up and running.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Sue
Hi Sue,
Thanks for your very nice comments and inspiration. I’m definitely going to do a video on Reinhart’s whole wheat bread. Probably the Oat Bran Broom Bread but it could be one of the others. As you know, the process is similar in many of his recipes so getting one down helps with a lot of them.
I have another no knead recipe next up on my list, then Reinhart most likely. I’m planning on picking up the video making pace especially going into Fall/Winter (baking season as I see it).
When I made this bread I didn’t have all of the ingredients. I used 3/4 C of non fat milk and 1/4 C of flour to make up for the not having dry milk. I also substituted corn starch for the potato flour and forgot about the OJ. My dough looked drier then the dough I saw you make on the video. That might have been because didn’t use the OJ or substitute water for the missing OJ. I am a novice at bread making and I didn’t knead the bread as much as I should have. The result was tasty, a little dry and not quite as much volume as you had in your bread. Hopefully the next try will be a bit better.
My question is, is the corn starch a suitable substitute and what is the proportion of dry milk to liquid?
Hi Steve,
I’m not much of a food scientist (read: not at all) so it doesn’t take much of a deviation from the recipe before I wouldn’t even venture a guess as to what you’ll end up with or or how this tweak or another effects the outcome.
My advise to most people, novice or otherwise, is to follow the recipe at least the first time so you might know what the creator of the recipe intended. You’re probably better off waiting until you have the ingredients before diving in.
I have the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book and I love it. Everything I have made from it tastes delicious.
The whole wheat bread we’ve made at home taste like beer and it has a very sour smell. Is it because of the amount of yeast used or the time for yeast rising? I used one teaspoon of instant yeast, one hour rise time followed by another 24hours rise time.
Shalom!
I began baking with your no knead recipes about 3 weeks ago, making about one loaf a week, with varying degrees of success, but with absolutely not one crumb of the bread going to waste.
The no knead or almost n.k. method produces quite a heavyish, dark coloured loaf, what we call black bread here in Israel.
Is there a way to make the bread come out lighter in weight and also in colour?
Also, do you have a recipe for the Bread we eat here on the Sabbath, Challa?
It’s important for me, by the way, not to use milk in any of the breads.
May I say that I really enjoy all your videos. Great site!
All the best,
Adair
Hi Adair,
What kind of flour are you baking with that produces the dark, heavyish loaves? The n.k. recipes on this site use mostly white flour. If you go with mostly or all whole wheat, you’re going to end up with a much heavier bread.
There should be a bunch of challah recipes on the internet. Many bread baking books have one as well. We’re lucky to have a great local bakery that makes fantastic challah every Friday. One of these days, I’ll do a video on it.
where did the recepie of Whole white bread come from?
The recipe on this page came from King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book.
Whole Grain sadness!
First of all, my fiance and I LOVE this website, he finds new recipes and I make them and lots of them are fantastic, especially the almost no-knead! BUT every time I try to make whole wheat it doesn’t rise and turns into a brick and I have a few theories but I’m wondering if somebody can help me? We bought our yeast before we knew much about bread baking, and we got a HUGE thing of non-instant, so I know that this recipe calls for instant but I was hoping I could make it work just by activating the regular yeast as I normally do instead of putting it in with the dry ingredients…but that doesn’t work. The last time I made it it seemed to be doing better, it rose during the two hour proofing time, and then after I put it in the loaf pan it wouldn’t rise and it almost got flatter in the oven. Any ideas???
Hi Allson,
I think 1) you are using too much flour.Let’s say you should use 4 cups of flour use only 3 cups and mix well and if dough need more flour just put the 1 tablespoon at time and mix it at least 10-15 minutes. 2) Then you must have temperature in the room at least 78F. For one bread you will need 1 cup of starter or 1package of yeast or 1 tablespoon of yeast.If you use non-instant yeast you put in 1/4 cup of warm water (not more then 100 F) and let it bubble up and then put flour and water and mix it up. Remember flour and watershould be at room temparature.Then then you are fine.
Tell me if you need any help.
Lot’ s luck
Saintdennis
my wheat didnt turn out. it fell while it was riseing. what did i do wrong?
Eric,
My kids have picked on me about my biscuits, saying the dogs wont even play with them
I have never had luck making bread till now, by watching your video’s, I bought the sourdough starter from you, the first loaf was a flop, But my second came out great, so thank you so much.
I do have question, you have a recipe for whole grain loaf bread, I would like to make a white bread loaf, is it made the same, just sub the grain flour for white?
If not could you give me the recipe for a white loaf bread?
Again thanx so much,
Becky…….
Hi Jody. About how far into the rise (time wise) were you when it fell? If it was anywhere near the end, you could just go ahead and bake it early before it falls. I’m not sure that’s the problem, but you could try it.
Hi Becky,
I would give the Almost No Knead Bread recipe a try. If you click on this link and scroll down the page a little, you’ll see “Almost No Knead Sandwich Loaf Recipe” and follow the recipe using the all white flour option.
It makes a tasty loaf bread. Great texture and smaller holes than the regular no knead recipe which is better for sandwiches.
Hello, from Southern California!
I just discovered homemade sourdough starter. However, I got my recipe from a popular cooking site and unfortunately, it contains yeast. Oh, well! It’s sitting in the bowl, anyways, bubbling up and I’m still going to try it – providing it doesn’t die on me!
Your site was another new discovery for me today, too. I was looking for info on what the texture of the finished starter would look/feel like. Boy! Have I learned a lot about sourdough by surfing into breadtopia! (Who would have thought?!)
What a great site! I love your super informative videos!
Next time, I’m going to try your starter with whole wheat, like in your video – and WITHOUT the yeast.
Beth’s “experiment” looks so yummy, by the way…I want to try that, eventually…
Question(s): Does extremely low humidity affect the amount of wild yeast in the air? In this part of the world, we have been suffering with ZERO humidity. Doesn’t yeast needs a humid environment to survive? Perhaps I NEED to add at least some commercial yeast, considering the environment?
Thanks for a really great site! I’ll be back again and again and again…
Hi Kristi. Welcome to our little bread world.
Interesting question about zero humidity effecting the amount wild yeast in the air. It does seem like it would be a tad hostile of an environment. Even so, wild yeast is in other places, like the flour you use. Some recipes for making sourdough starter call for using smashed up grapes because grape skins can have yeast on them. That what gets fermentation going in wine making. So you may be ok anyway.
I’m trying the whole wheat recipe right now. First time I’ve ever tryed to make bread! I used extra flour instead of potato flakes, and regular 2% milk instead of the dried stuff. I also used a mixture that is closer to 75% wheat flour, and 25% white flour. I’m crossing my fingers! Is it okay to substitute regular milk?
There may be some reason not to use regular milk instead of powdered that I’m not aware of, but if you subtract the same amount of water as milk you’re using, in order to help maintain the same hydration level, it doesn’t seem like it would be any big problem. For all I know, it could be an improvement.
Let us know how it turns out. Using 25% white flour should make it easier to get good results and far as rise and texture go.
Well, it didn’t rise nearly as much as I would have liked, it’s also pretty moist. It sure looked pretty with the braids on top, and I didn’t get food poisoning from the couple slices I had last night! It certainly tastes like healthy bread.
Ok, I just tried it toasted for the first time with butter and apple jelly. Was better than just eating it plain! I think I’ll make this loaf again, but I’ll let it rise even more, or add more yeast or something. Maybe I’ll just increase the ingrediants all around by half so it’ll make a bigger loaf. I’d have to give it an 8.5/10 (toasted, w/ butter and jelly) and a 7/10 plain.
Hey, not getting food poisoning is a big plus!
Since this is a thread for 100% whole wheat bread, I thought I would post my recipe for 100% whole wheat bread machine bread. My machine is an Oster, several years old.
4 cups whole wheat flour
4 heaping tsp vital wheat gluten
3 Tbl extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbl honey
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
12 oz. water
2 heaping tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbl wheat germ (optional)
Follow manufacturer’s directions for order of ingredients. In my case, this means liquid ingredients, then flour, then other dry ingredients, yeast last. I always check the progress several times during the mixing and kneading cycles, to make sure the moisture is right–dough forms a ball that cleans the side of the pan during mixing. I usually have to add more water to get the dough ball to hold together.
This makes a great, tasty slicing bread, perfect for eating fresh or for morning toast.
I am experimenting now with a sourdough version. I have made one loaf, using 1 cup of WW sourdough starter, proofed right in the bread machine pan overnight, then reducing the flour to 3 cups and the water to about 7 Oz. I had to add flour during the mix. The loaf came out great, but heavier, with less rise than the yeast version. Much tastier, though.
When I get the portions right, I’ll post again.
OOPS!
I neglected to mention that was 12 Fluid ounces of water, not 12 ounces by weight! Serious oversight when dealing with bakers.
mea culpa
Is it important to get the right size of bread pan? I don’t have a cloche so I was thinking of using a large dutch oven for making french bread it, but it is pretty big. Thanks for your feedback.
Hi Brenda,
For making sandwich bread like the recipe above, it probably does help a lot to have a standard sized bread pan. I think they’re about 9 x 5? Can’t be more than a few bucks.
As for a Dutch oven, I know people use all different sizes with success. The main feedback I hear from Dutch oven users is that the smaller (~4qt) sizes are nice since they help shore up the sides of the dough and forces the bread to rise up more. But the actual quality of the bread itself should be great regardless of the size.
Maybe I have been looking at this thing all wrong. I have been reluctant to try a Dutch oven small enough that the loaf would contact the sides. I just assumed (who knows why?) that the baking container should be large enough that it acted like a small oven, allowing air around the sides. I have found that I need to take the loaf completely out of the Dutch oven to brown, or the sides of the loaf don’t get crisp and crunchy like the top. I think that reinforced my impression that I need a large cooking vessel. But that may be completely off base.
Hi, I watched the 100% WW Bread receipe a couple three times. Yesterday’s loaf didn’t rise as high as I thought it should, and the braid ended up laying over to one side of the loaf. Today’s loaf is sittin on the stove waiting for the oven to reach temp. Today’s raised considerably higher. I’m using a Corningware pan, may be 10″ rather than 8.5″might be bigger hole than the receipe can fill. So today I added a half cup more flour and nuff water to make the dough feel right. But During the second rise the braid crashed against the side of the pan laying to one side again. Kinda tough to reposition the risin braid on the risin loaf now. I gave yesterday’s to a coworker so no idea what it tasted like. I’ll keep today’s bake cause I’m running outta bread and need sumptin to eat. Any idea why my braid migrates to one side? When this happens the uncovered loaf raises higher. Sorta looks like a rupture. Tomorrow I’ll try and post a pic of my disaster, may give you more clues. Flash don’t work on my digital camera so can only shoot during daylight.
Cheers,
otrpu
New to break making and eager to try this recipe but want to incorporate some rolled oats. What would be the best way? Should I simply add 1/2 cup of rolled oats and subtract 1/2 cup of flour?
Thanks
I would have to experiment, but would probably start by subtracting only a small amount of flour (maybe 1/4 cup) and more importantly adding water since the oats are going to absorb a lot. Not sure how much – maybe a 1/2 cup?
Hi Steve (otrpu),
I can’t explain the migrating braid. How did your more recent attempt go?
But the bread looks to have turned out beautifully. Nice going!
Hi Eric, thanks for the kind words. Out of 5 attempts I got one pretty decent and another passable. Wifey actually wrapped it in suran affore it had cooled. I tole her take it out and put it atop the suran for the half hour trip to her sister’s Thanksgiving dinner. Both gatherings raved about how good it tasted, so I guess I should be pleased enough. I’ll email photo of my one and only success to you. All have tasted great, just look. . .you know. . .weird.
Cheers,
Steve
Hi Eric, I just made a great moist, mostly-wheat experiment based on your original recipe with some tweaking of my own. The crust is really rustic crusty and the crumb is nice and tight (I was working for a sandwich loaf). Thought I’d toss the recipe out there for anyone who wanted to try it.
1.5 cups King Arthur All purpose flour
2 cups King Arthur wheat flour
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup water (warm 95F)
2 tbsp warm unsalted butter (warm)
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 large egg (warm)
1/4 cup apple cider (working from your orange juice, but tis the season)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
(I added the last 2 as we eat a lot of turkey sandwiches with apple butter. I thought the cider and the cinnamon would harmonize well. It does, in my opinion. It’s just enough to smell but you can’;t really taste either)
1st rise 1:30
punch down
2nd rise 2:00 (this could be because the house temp is at 71F or it could be some of the reagents interacting in neat ways, not sure)
375 for 35 mins. Viola.
Hey Eric,
Are you still planning to do a video of Peter Reinhart’s whole wheat bread recipe? I’ve been looking forward to trying that one and I always find your videos helpful.
Russ
Hi Russ,
Nothing like a timely reply. Sorry, your post escaped me. Yes, I do plan on that next. Now I just need to make the time to make the video.
Hi
I’d like to know if is there any multigrain recipe to bake bread?
Rick
I tried this recipe and there wasn’t enough liquid to even incorporate all the flour. I’m wondering why it calls for so much less liquid than the other NKB’s and yet has the same amount of flour. In addition, it seems like the potato flakes AND the dry milk would require even more liquid. I added more water after the initial mixing and don’t know how its going to turn out, but it was difficult to make the mixture absorb the liquid. Its rising now so I don’t know the end result. I’m at a high and dry climate and don’t know if that is part of the problem.
Hi Criss,
This isn’t a no knead recipe.
It is more difficult to mix it all up and knead it as compared to no knead. Being in a dry climate may necessitate a little more liquid and so may require a little experimenting.
I realize that is is not a no knead recipe and I did knead it with a KA. It actually came out very nice; perhaps not quite as risen as I would like, but I will try it again and not add all the flour until I see how it is mixing together. It’s surprisingly tender a excellent for sandwiches. Thanks.
Hi Mary here. I was wanting to know if I could replace the sugar with agave, & if I do would I need to reduce the amount of water? Also since agave is sweeter than sugar would I need less than 3 Tbsp? Thanks
Hi Mary,
I think agave would be great. Good idea. You could reduce it some. Not sure how much or how much it matters. Maybe 2 Tbsp?
Hi Eric,
I spoke with you this afternoon RE: whisk., I can take 10 pages to “Thank You” for your knowledge & generosity in sharing your wonderful bread recipes, tools, and techniques with us. This is truly a gift to all of us. I am so proud of my breads and I would like to share my pictures with you, only I don’t know how to send them to you. Can you tell me? I have a MAC if that makes a difference. I make several different varities (oil cured olive, roasted red pepper, hot pepper, proscuitto & rosemary, capocollo, pepperoni, Pepper Jack cheese, butter sauted onion, whole wheat & more) and have shared this great recipe with many friends and have recommended that they visit your website. I constantly review your web site postings and watch the videos over & over and encourage my friends to do the same. You are a great educator. I have been hard at work for 1 month studying your methods and experimenting on my own as far as tools, temps, moisture & ingredients. I am very happy with my results and so are those that I share the bread with. In fact a local Italian deli is now selling my bread and with great reviews, I get more & more orders each weekend!!!! you should be so proud. Thank you a million times over.
Angel Spaccarelli
I am have been inspired to make some whole wheat bread. I have most of the ingredients but could not find the nonfat dry milk at the store. Any suggestions?
Dear Mumbi,
I do not know which county you are live,but in USA every supermarket have nonfat dry milk.If you can not find it ask store manager or clark and they will help you fand it.Look at baking section.Try big supermarkets.
Saintdennis
I recently tried to make a Desem starter out of Laurel’s Bread Book. It did not work too well. No rise to speak of and pretty foul smelling starter. Will you do a video of this process sometime. I would like so visual guidence.
Thanks,
Mike L.
Eric Thanks for a great website
My sister & I started making bread 2 saturdays ago with some surprising results the first loaf was 100% K A organic red ww flour it didnt rise much but tasted ok the second loaf was with 100 % locally grown organic hard red winterwheat fresh ground flour in my country living grain mill w/ light years difference over the first loaf so much so that my sister said to take the first loaf home to my chickens. we have tried adding organic rolled oatmeal
which gives a very stiff dough and a heavier crumb very chewey . the second saturday we adjusted the mill for a slightly coarser grind w/ even better results. We also tried locally grown soft red winter wheat right from a farmers grain bin w/ excellent results we put the wheat on a cookie sheet and picked out the stuff that didnt look like wheat but for $12.00 / 100# I can put up w the cleaning process. We made a loaf w/ 3 eggs instead of 1.5 cups water w/no better taste so we wont waste the eggs next time .We also tried a loaf useing 1.5 cups applesauce instead of water the bread again was heavier crumb but excellent flavor very chewey we also made one /w applesauce raisens cinnamon & nutmeg it was awesome . All w/100% whole wheat fresh ground flour. In my novice opinion if you want to take your bread to the next level spend the dough( no pun intended ) and buy a grinder and grind your own wheat before you bake your bread . If you do a side by side taste test you’ll throw rocks at anything you ate previously there’s that much difference!!!!! some of our first attempts didnt rise as much as desired it apparently has to do with the volume of the dough for the size pan you are useing instead of splitting the dough into 2 pans we put the whole batch into one pan and boy did it rise I made grilled cheese and could only put 1 slice in a 9 in skillet!!!! I never had any idea baking bread could be so much fun. The possibilities for variation are endless. The best part is that we know what went into the bread we are eating, no hidden bad stuff and that for my sister is the difference between life and death she is a 16yr ovarian cancer surviver choosing nutrition over chemo as her treatment of choice. Most women dont live 5 yrs going the chemo route .
Thanks again for a great website George
I like all these yummy bread recipes!!! yummy
Hi, First of all thanks for this recipe and for the video! I watched your video and even being a beginner I decided to try it. I didn’t have 2 ingredients: potato flour/flakes and non fat dry milk. So, I replaced dry milk and water by 1 cup of lukewarm 2% reduced fat milk and I also replaced the potato flour/flakes by a little bit more than 3/4 cup of white flour. The result of my first whole wheat bread was just great. It was not not just pretty. My husband said it was a top notch gourmet bread. I agree with him.
Thanks again.
*Click to enlarge
Hi Alice. Your bread is BEAUTIFUL!
I was just wondering if it was possible to use regular yeast and not instant, and if so what changes would need to be made?
Hi Laila,
The thing about instant yeast is it does not require “activating” in water. You can mix it with the dry ingredients first. I think you might be able to do the same with the rapid rise yeast that’s commonly available in grocery stores. If you go that route, maybe use 3 tsp since it’s not quite as potent as the SAF instant yeast.
I have not yet tried this recipe for Whole Wheat bread, but it looks simply delightful! I have tried many other 100% Whole Wheat recipes and found that it helps TREMENDOUSLY to add a bit of vital wheat gluten. Though this recipe doesn’t seem to need it. So out of curiosity if I where to add about 1 tbsp. of vital wheat gluten, what could possibly go wrong? Could this pose a problem, or do more harm than good?
I think it would help.
Hi John,
answer to your question: Why you put vital wheat gluten to flour?? Some flour have very low gluten (such rye flour) that people want to increase it.If you put more of vital wheat gluten that nothing will go wrong.Some people use high gluten flour and still put there vital wheat gluten.You can use it in rye flour.
Saintdennis
Much obliged, thank you for your input! I plan to make a loaf on thursday, with the addition of the wheat gluten. I love light bread, and I love whole wheat bread. So to have both at once is such a devine treat! I will be sure to post a picture when it is done. Thanx again!
John
John,
tell me how you make it out. Remember if you want to have soft crust on the bread low temperature your oven.
Saintdennis
I couldn’t wait, I had to make it today. It’s on it’s secong rise now. Baking it at a lower temp for longer sounds like a grand idea, because I love a nice soft crust. And it’s easier to handle. Saintdennis, what temp/time would you suggest?
Sorry for the “less-than” high quality photos. This would have been a perfect loaf, but I did not add enough water. The dough was too thick, and the loaf did not rise to it’s full potential. This may be in part due to the fact that it was a very dry day. Or possibly the wheat gluten absorbed too much water. None the less, the loaf is delicious and a bit heavier than intended, but still fairly light for whole wheat. I will try again next week!
Hi John,
# 1)I do not know what recipe you are doing, but let’s say recipe call for 2.5 cup of water and 5 cup of flour. You put 2.5 cup of water in the bowl ( if you using yeast you put only 2.25 cup and save .25 for yeast). When yeast is ready about 10 minutes or instant you can mix with flour.Then you measure 5 cup of flour and put it to another bowl and mix it just handful at the time very well. The reason is you control the flour. Sometime you use more and sametime you use less. Before you start put .5 cup flour aside and save it when you knead the on the table. Remeber,you are working with just 5 cups of flour,any more flour then that is not part of the recipe if you want to make the bread light. Never dump all flour once. When you bake you use 350 F and bake it 60-70 minutes or your termometer show temperature inside the bread is 190-195 F. Remember when you take the bread out from the oven that the temperature rise 10 more grease and you reach 205F (when you take bread out from yhe oven the bread is still baking) if you pass that then your bread will be to dry.
Lot’s luck
Saintdennis
Ah, so I have to alter the amount of flour, not the amount of water. This explains alot. One more question (sorry): I have some Active Dry Yeast that I would like to use instead of the Instant Yeast called for in the recipe. How would I go about proofing it for this recipe exactly? Perhaps create a sponge? And should I add more yeast? Much obliged.
Hi John,
I’m sorry I had my computer in the shop for whole the week and I pick it that today. Instant yeast you mix withe flour and Active dry yeast you mix one pack with .25 cup of water but not hoter than 95 F,if is too hot you will kill yeast and in room temperature 70 F – 80 F about 10-15 minutes,you will see it fommy on the top.How your bread coming a lone??? Any picks???
Saintdennis
Thank you saintdennis
For whatever reason, my computer will not allow me to load pictures. However, I assure you my last loaf was almost a total success! It rose about an inch above the pan, and the crust was soft and supple. And the inside was cooked to perfection. However, the braid migrated to the side, but that is purley asthetic. I used all of the advice you have given me, and I thank you very much! Happy bread baking!
John
Hi John,
I’m very happy to help you and if you have any questions ,please just ask. What state you living?? What the bread you are making???? Do you make rye breads with starter???
Saintdennis
Hola! Well, i live in long island, n.y. I have not yet tried traditional rye bread recipes, but I look to try one sometime this summer. I have only been baking for about a year, and still have much to learn. I try to bake atleast a loaf a week, and I prefer kneed recipies. Though no kneed recipies and even batter recipies are fun too! And I prefer to use 50/50 whole wheat recipies that call for all sorts of wonderful fillings and spices. Oh yeah, and I am a vegan, so I use a lot of dairy substitutes (that work wonders). Kindly provide me with an email adress so I can contact you about future bread baking projects, If you don’t mind. Auf Wiedersehen!
John, what town on Long Island you live??? My email>:dennisokula@yahoo.com
Saintdennis