100% Whole-Wheat Miche de Campagne - James J. MacGuire's Pain de Tradition formula
As I had such a lovely result from my last Pain de Tradition using white flour, I thought I'd give it a try with whole-wheat flour. James said to make a miche de campagne, substitute 15% whole-wheat or up to 10% medium rye for part of the white flour, so my 100% whole-wheat version isn't conventional.
100% Whole-Wheat Miche de Campagne - James MacGuire's Pain de Tradition formula
The crumb
close-up
There is one major difference in the procedure from my previous one. I retarded the shaped dough overnight, for 8 hours, and then let it come back to room temperature for an hour and a half before it's loaded to oven to bake. The whole process seems to be long but is not at all cumbersome for a housewife - there are always a million things to be done in the kitchen and around the house any way.
The result is very pleasing for me. I think the high hydration dough loves to sing, I could hear it crackling even 5 meters away. It has a very strong nutty and wheaty aroma. The crust is very crispy and the crumb is lovely. So often wholemeal bread is dense and heavy, but this high hydration pain de tradition formula makes this 100% wholemeal bread light and delightful to have. I will have no trouble at all getting my son to have a piece of this. Done!
Shiao-Ping
Comments
Shiao-Ping, I'm following you along with your recent J.J. MacGuire loaves..I have your first one rising right now in my new oval banneton! The hydration seems so high, it just was more like a big ciabatta dough going into the banneton...I'm thinking it's going to spread as soon as it is put onto the paddle! I've been babying it for a long time today..just as you stated...exactly..I've be a cumbersome housewife and had the time! If it's not a success for me..at least I very much enjoyed the practice attempting this loaf!
This is a very lovely new boule you have baked! Iam curious as to the light wheat color..did you use a white whole wheat flour?
Sylvia
Don't be alarmed once the dough is loaded onto the oven, it will flatten out like a pancake! As long as your oven is hot (it's best that you use a banking stone), it will rise up. MacGuire shows a picture of his dough in the oven, and it is as flat as a ...well, pancake!
No, it's not white whole wheat; I have not managed to find that category of flour in Australia yet. It is organic wholemeal (I think in American you call it whole wheat) flour that I used.
Shiao-Ping
Hello Shiao-Ping, I have posted my attempt at MacGuire's Pain de Tradition formula in my blog...I did not want to clutter your very nice blog/ instructions. Your instructions and write-up are so clearly written and easy to follow. Thank you so much! Any suggestions or help about is greatly appreciated on my loaf. I'm still working on my oven temperature..higher or lower..I turn my convection off when steaming and back on when steaming is done. I'm baking at a lower temperature. I usually raise it up somewhat higher from the recipes instructions! Thank you!
Sylvia
Did I understand that correctly? Is this 100 % whole wheat? It doesn't really look like it, I'm surprised!So light . . .
Once more, good job! I am right now trying to bake as many breads as possible out of Hamelman's book, but as soon as I'm tired of that I'll dedicate my baking to your blog and your recipes . . . ;)
Salome
Hi Salome
Sylvia posed the same query as you! The bag of flour that I used is Kialla Pure Foods Organic Wholemeal Flour (Kialla Pure Foods is a Queensland based company). I looked at the ingredients and it says Organic Wheat Flour and Organic Wheat Bran. The color does look very light and only has very fine bran in it. It is different from other wholemeal flour that I've used before. In memory, other brands that I've used before had a lot more bran and more coarse too. So, maybe this IS the white whole wheat that Sylvia was asking me about. I am not familiar with the term "white whole wheat" as it is not generally a category of flour that you would see in Australia. But, maybe, wholemeal flours from certain brands are closer to white whole wheat flour than whole wheat flour, like this one that I used. (Note: In Australia whole wheat flour is generally called wholemeal flour.)
The taste of this bread is certainly far more "wheaty" than the other one that I made with white flour. I think, for comparison though, I should do one with even more bran in it just to see if I can still get the same light texture.
Thanks
Shiao-Ping
What is the protein content of the flour? Having that information will tell us a lot.
--Pamela
The bag says 13.2%.
Shiao-Ping
The white whole wheat from king arthur flours...looks to be a little lighter and less flavor I think...just by looking at the crumb of your loaf.
Sylvia
In Australia, white wheat is the norm, not red wheat.
Hi charbono,
Thank you for your info. I was told that the American white wheat is derived from Australian wheat and that it took a couple of decades to develop strains which your climate could support.
Does this mean that my "wholemeal" flour is your "white whole wheat" flour? I am so surprised.
Shiao-Ping