I need help with 100% whole wheat english muffins.
My first venture into baking involved my first two attempts at making English muffins with the attempt of making them a littler healthier to consume using whole wheat.
The first attempt just replaced the English muffin recipe from binging with babish and replace the flour with King Arthur Whole Wheat flour (https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/eggsflorentine?rq=Eggs). As expected, it came out like a fermented brick.
The second attempt just involved eyeballing some extra water. It came out softer, but not really fluffy as desired.
I'm right now going through a third attempt with:
140g Whole Wheat Flour
70g water
70g milk
8 active yeast
6g honey
2g salt
As of now I'm intending provide a retarded bulk ferment and retarded proofing after shaping it.
Otherwise, is there a guide or any suggestions on how to perfect Whole Wheat English muffins?
You can get almost all of the health benefits of whole wheat in your English muffins by making white-flour ones, but finding every fourth "Make English muffins" note on your calendar and crossing it off. ?
I haven't made these since 2015...but I've made both types they have but prefer...with sourdough batter.
I prefer the sourdough...50/50 wheat/white...and I generally do not like white wheat...but I do in these muffins or sourdough waffles. I would add baking soda to my fermented batter then ladle into rings right away if memory serves.. I can't find my old notes on this...but you can think about this IF your not getting the nooks and crannies you want.
I just can't remember just which recipe this one was.
Loose and bubbly is what you want if pouring into rings.
The recipe you posted is not the same as link's ingredients.
I had no idea what bingwithbabish link was for eggs florentine....but decided to check it out and the recipe actually did have the muffins recipe as well as the filling. And it does have baking soda, yeast and baking powder in the recipe. I just don't happen to make mine that way. Maybe you didn't let them rise long enough before cooking for 100% WW.
Did the first 2 attempts work and if so...then try maybe 1/4 to 1/2 WW with the bread flour and see how that goes...and if it is light enough...you could try more WW...BUT... like the other poster said....they are still "healthy" even if you don't use whole wheat.
I see this one is for cut out muffins vs shaped or ladled ones. I've done all at one time or the other cause I had boys...and they loved them some egg muffins and I didn't treat them to fast food very often. They got it homemade.
You could always add a little more liquid if dough is too stiff in this case I think. I made the cut out or shaped ones for many many years. But stuck to 50% white/wheat for this sort of bread.
This is the result. It is the softest dough I have made so far, but it is somewhat crumbly and has a very slight sour and acidic aftertaste. Maybe bulk fermented it for too long?
https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/01/how-to-make-100-percent-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread.html
http://www.make-your-own-bread.com/the_process.html
I also found these two guides to making whole-wheat bread in general, and by the looks of it they necessitate a food processor. I live with parents and they're not willing to shell out 50$ or more for an appliance that they might not use frequently in a small kitchen. Is there by any desperate chance that I can attain the same gluten formation through other means?
For the particular recipe in the seriouseats article, she is very clear and specific that this particular recipe is going to fail without the food processor. I would say avoid that particular recipe unless you have one.
That doesn't mean it can't be done; it just means that that recipe intentionally relies on something you don't have. So skip that recipe and find another that does what you want.
Never needed any food processor for any bread though I do like to see what the guys at serious eats do to keep themselves busy, LOL. Check out their way to "filter" used oil.
There is NO reason you can not make these entirely by hand having made them for decades with nothing but my two hands
Your muffins don't look bad...BUT as I mentioned...I never chose to make them with 100% WW and for a very good reason. I would have to expect them to be denser...more bitter...and take longer to rise. Also you most likely needed additional hydration due to replacing the white with WW. But that is all something you learn.
Your almost there...but again...I'd say 100 % WW will take away some of the characteristics you seek in a english muffin IMHO
WW likes honey to offset the bitterness . You might consider addition of gluten as one of the KA recipes suggest...ALTHOUGH when I made their versions...I did not use any added gluten cause I'm not a big fan of it.
I might add...I used all purpose flour with the white wheat without any problems.
Any advice on how to approach kneading whole- wheat dough? One of my fears is supposedly overoxidizing the dough from prolonged times of kneading. I'm also somewhat confused as to when and how long I let the dough rest and autolyse.
You want something very specific: fluffy whole-wheat English muffins. Maybe it's a bit elusive. I harp on this over and over, but here goes again: Instead of bending over backwards to bravely try to re-re-solve this problem for the Nth time all by yourself, use your time and energy to find a very specific and promising-looking recipe for "Fluffy Whole-Wheat English Muffins", follow it exactly, and see what happens.
It's like if you want to learn to juggle, you don't buy a general book on Newtonian mechanics and muddle through, you buy "How To Juggle" and get right down to business.
Are you sure your WW is FRESH?? Whole grain flour starts turning rancid due to the oils in the germ. Depending on the shelf time before you bought it...what temperature it is stored...you might be getting some off tastes. I always smell my whole grain flours that I put into my buckets cause it is easy to forget the expiration date that was present on the bags when you bought it. I have bought WW flour before close to the end of the use by date...and it was starting to have a nose to it. King Arthur is good about their dates and usually can use past the dates when I have it shipped to me...BUT...if you buy it off the grocery store counter vs from their web site...you need to check the dates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRGMNuBIOX4
These will do...but as I said before...not my favorite way of doing it. But this shows you how to develop the dough...and looks quite nice for a WW muffin. She makes these entirely by hand...no mixer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnJeWcWI31g
this video is with a mixer...but no reason you can't do by hand...her dough is softer...
My version...I use a dough beater...soft dough...softer than these...and cut the dough... and lift with a small cookie spatula gently to a sheet to then rise. NO twisting of the cutter cause it can affect density, IMHO...but not taste. Then I gently place on the griddle.
I got my flour out of a local Walmart Shelf. I store it in the fridge between 38 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Although I'm not too sure since they're based off of multimeter readings.
It looks like I also picked it up fairly recent.
As for the quality of the flour itself, I didn't notice any off odors aswell.
Regardless, I'm very interested in milling my own flour, but not sure if any blender will do or I'll need a professionally made mill to ensure a very fine mill for Whole Wheat Flour. Would this blender do?
So flour is not the issue with the UNWANTED bitterness.
Your close to there...just develop the dough. For a fairly new baker...your doing ok but I get that you want it to be less dense. WW is a dense creature...so as folks have suggest...get a WW english muffin recipe...and follow it...don't try to adapt the one you have since it was not written for 100% WW.
Do it...and then do it again...and you'll learn if you need a bit more of kneading...or a bit more of proofing soon enough.
As far a milling your own flour...
I suggest you get comfortable with dough using a good quality flour, such as KA.
Get some successes before dreaming of greener pastures of wheat grains for your blender. LOL!