This Week in 100% Whole Wheat
This week's Workday 100% Whole Wheat from "Bread", 3rd edition was so happy with the new steaming arrangement (baking stones above and below, a steam pan, and a spritz before and 5 minutes into the bake) that it positively grinned (or maybe grigned) at me:
Workday 100% WW Formula, "Bread", 3rd ed. (I don't use the honey)
I used the max times (12 hrs each) in the book for fermenting the levain, bulk fermentation, and the overnight retarded proof in the fridge. These long cool fermentations result in a natural sweetness as the enzymes have plenty of time to break down the starch into sugars.
For a couple of years when I started bread baking, I couldn't get decent oven spring with a steam pan. I was finally talked into using a dutch oven, which seemed to work fine (especially compared with the steam pan). But for Thanksgiving baking I wanted to do two loaves and getting 2 dutch ovens into the oven isn't easy. Somewhere or other, I saw the suggestion to use a baking stone above as well. And, somebody wrote that Hamelman in "Bread" suggests that home bakers add a spritz 5-10 minutes into the bake. I can't find that suggestion in "Bread", but it certainly seems to work.
Nice. Along the same lines I baked a 100% WW earlier this month. Here is a picture of the crumb:
ww_scald_crumb.jpg
I have been wanting to try a stone above as well as below, but my oven isn't big enough.
For this bread I sifted out the bran of the WW, scalded it, then added it back in. This worked very well.
That looks really nice. What's the purpose of sifting out and scalding the bran? Does that reduce the bran's cutting effect on the gluten structure (so you get that nice open crumb), while you still get the fiber and nutrients by adding it back?
Do you do the scald alongside the levain, and include the scald in the final dough mix?
I scalded the bran in the hopes of reducing any damaging effects on the gluten, as well as improving the flavor. It's possible that the scald reduces the bad nutritional effects of phytic acid in the bran but I'm not sure.
I added the scald after I mixed and rested the basic dough, so that the basic gluten structure would be set up before I hit it with the scald.
The scald holds a lot of water, so the initial mix is going to be dry and harder to work with. The bran I removed amounted to 8.5% of the weight of the WW flour, so 91.5% extraction. That amounted to 28g of bran, scalded with 81g of boiling water. The total water for 70% hydration (my target) would have been 210g.
Here's an extract from my notes:
Here is part of the process I used, also from my notes:
- Mix starter, all flours, salt, sugar, water (done at ~ 11:10 AM)
- rest 30 minutes, knead/stretch
- add scald, knead to distribute
- rest 1/2 hour, S&F between hands. Emphasize squeezing to elongate dough.
- 2 S&F over next 1.5 hours (12:45, 1:20)
- refrigerate bulk ferment at midnight (12.5 hrs hours total)
This may be more info than you asked for!
TomP
Your procedure obviously worked very well. Hamelman describes his formula as convenient for working people; all the work can take place in the evening after work or the morning before going to work. I may give the sifting and scald a shot in a simplified way; just set up the scald alongside the levain and dump them both into the final dough. Or, since I have been using bassinage (mix in the KA mixer 4 minutes with 90% of the water, and then 1 minute more adding the bassinage water), I might just mix for 3 minutes and then add the scald and mix 2 more minutes.
Should work well!
There's a lot of debate about the nutritional effects of phytates. There was some previous discussion of phytic acid on TFL (link). It is true that there is some reduction in absorption of minerals because of phytates, but there are also a lot of benefits.
Some of those benefits include antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. Here is a discussion of anti-nutrients from the Harvard School of Public Health:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/anti-nutrients/
There is a phytic acid collapsed bullet point at the end of the article. Most Western diets have enough nutrients that the amount of phytates in the diet is not a big concern.
I have been influenced the most by reports of the Irish experience in WW2. Because of major food shortages the Irish government required progressively higher extraction to make the wheat go further. Eventually they went from 91% to 100%. After that rickets and other diseases started to show up. The effect has been attributed to the high extraction. Perhaps that attribution was not correct, but it does not dispose me to want to use much unprocessed bran.
OTOH, for people whose nutritional status is ample, it may not matter much. Also, sourdough processing, and sprouting, alleviate the effects. Mostly, I suppose, I get annoyed by the blithe assumption that raw and whole grains and seeds are automatically "healthy". At best it's not so clear.
I don't dispute the effect of the phytic acid on clacium absorption, but I suspect that because of the food shortages, there were additional nutritional deficiencies present in the diet (maybe less milk?).
I guess I get annoyed by the the lack of balance when phytic acid is discussed. That it is only an anti-nutrient and doesn't have any benefits. I appreciate the anti-cancer, lower cholesterol, blood sugar moderation, slower digestion, and antioxidant benefits of phytic acid.
From the Harvard article:
A Med diet with lots of veg, whole grains, and lean protein like tofu, oily smoked/pickled fish (sardines, sprats, herring, salmon), and grilled fish and chicken. For good nutrition and health I think it's hard to beat my usual breakfast of home baked whole wheat or rye with some oily fish on top, and maybe some arugula.
My microbiome team occasionally reminds me of the health benefits of a lot of fiber, much of which I get from whole grain breads, as well as vegetables and brown rice.
Raw shmaw, but the fiber from whole grains is an unmitigated health benefit. Just ask the crew in your colon.
100% agree. It's pretty obvious if you give just a little bit of attention to how and what comes out the back end.