Atta sandwich loaf

So here goes, my first entry.  I have been lurking around these parts for a while, gathering information and experimenting and this is the result: a 100% wholemeal sandwich loaf, using atta flour.

This project began around one year ago after I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and had to overhaul both my diet and lifestyle.  Out went the white bread sandwich for breakfast every morning, and the hunt was on for a replacement.  Living in Francophone West Africa, where it is super-easy to get white baguettes etc., finding a decent wholemeal loaf was very difficult virtually impossible.  That left me with only one solution: to start making my own.

After some searching on the internet, the received wisdom seemed to be that bread made with 100% wholemeal flour was, by definition, unpalatably dense; due to both the lower levels of gluten in brown flour and the propensity of the bran's sharp edges to slice through what little gluten there was.  I also recalled from years ago when my mum used to bake bread when I was young that she used a 2:1 brown to white mix.  Faced with the prospect of finding a solution that would last me the rest of my life, I resolved to find a recipe that used 100% wholemeal flour and was nice to eat.  Being married to a half-Indian lady, I had also been introduced to atta flour.  I was keen to try this in bread since it is (a) 100% wholemeal and (b) smoother than Western-style brown flour.

After some time, it became apparent that there was no one recipe out there which could satisfy all of my requirements, so I started experimenting and combining the best parts of various other recipes which I had found.  The following recipe is the result of those experiments.  Any tips from those more experienced than myself would be greatly appreciated.

100% Wholemeal Brown Bread (Atta Flour) 

Ingredients

• 6 cups Atta Flour
• 2 cups, 2 Tablespoons Water
• 1/4 cup Plain Yoghurt
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Instant Yeast
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 2 teaspoons Herbs (optional)
• A little Milk

Method

1. Take two large bowls.  In Bowl 1 (Autolyse), add 4 cups of flour and 1 cup of water and mix well.  This should result in the flour forming into small clumps.  In Bowl 2 (Poolish), add 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 cup of water and 1/4 cup of yoghurt and mix well.  This should result in a smooth, soft, wet dough.
2. Cover both bowls with a tea towel and leave for one hour.  After this time, you should be able to see the yeast working; the dough in Bowl 2 has expanded and the surface is pock-marked by small bubbles.
3. Add the salt, sugar and olive oil (and herbs, if using) into Bowl 1 and mix well enough to ensure that the salt is well spread throughout the mixture.
4. Combine the two bowls into one and mix until the dough forms a cohesive whole.  There will still be small hard lumps at this stage.
5. Tip the dough out onto an oiled work surface and knead well until all of the small lumps have been absorbed and you have a homogenous dough.
6. Slowly add around 2 tablespoons of water as you kneed, and more oil if you prefer, so that the dough becomes slightly sticky.
7. Continue to kneed for another 10-15 minutes; the dough should be soft, smooth and elastic.  The dough will stick to the work surface if left to sit, but not when kept moving.
8. Place the dough in a bowl, lightly brush the top with water, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for around one hour.
9. Deflate the dough and allow it to continue fermenting for 30 minutes more.
10. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and cut into two pieces.  Shape into loaves and place into greased tins.
11. Cover and leave in a warm place for around 45 minutes; until the loaves rise to the tops of the tins.
12. Lightly brush the tops of the loaves with a little milk.  Bake for 10 minutes at 220°C, then reduce to 200°C for a further 20 minutes.
13. When the loaves are fully baked (sound hollow when tapped), remove from the oven.  Allow them to cool in the tins for around 10 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.

Working time:   45 minutes

Waiting time:    3 hours 15 minutes

Cooking time:   30 minutes                   

Total:               4.5 hours

Express Method

To be used when short of time.  I would use this if I were baking in the evening, once the kids were in bed and I needed bread for breakfast the next morning.  The results are satisfactory to put bread on the table, but not fantastic.

 Reduce Steps 2 & 11 to 30 minutes, Step 7 to 10 minutes and Step 8 to 40 minutes.  Eliminate Step 9.  Total: 2.5 hours