I am so proud of my bread baking effort today. This sourdough bread is made from 100% freshly ground whole wheat grain (I jumped from 50% to 100% in this bake) with 98% hydration and it's soft and moist and flavorful. It doesn't have quite as much air as the last bakes, so if I want to be SUPER picky, I think I know some more ways to make it even lighter, but if my skill NEVER improves, this is cracking good bread that I'm really proud of it.
tell us more about your technique and formula.
was going from say 90% to 98% hydration a big improvement?
thanks!
I really don't know. I never made a wet white flour dough. I started by adding more water to my regular 50/50 white/wheat bread dough and then a few weeks ago I tried this recipe and found it very easy. I just don't hold back any water in this recipe because I'm grinding my own hard white wheat. AND, I add a bit more water for incorporating the salt and I add a wee bit with wetting my hands while kneading and shaping. The hydration in this recipe is off. I recalculated it to 92-93% and today's bake it was more on the 93% side. Here's the recipe. I simply just made it smidge wetter as I said and made it ALL freshly ground flour versus 50/50. https://www.theperfectloaf.com/fifty-fifty-whole-wheat-sourdough-bread/
It really is an easy recipe. I'm super surprised as I fought with the Bernard Clayton pain de Campagne bread for a couple of years and only got it right ONCE (baked sporadically). But once I started with sourdough, it's been so much easier. I think it's the long autolyze. Plus I've incorporated stretch and fold as it's easy with a wet dough, so I dirty fewer dishes!
I'm sure I'll try more, but I started making bread with at least 50% whole grain over 20 years ago on and off again and only recently really started baking twice weekly., So that's what I know, but it's just now that I'm dipping my foot into sourdough and so far, I'm loving it!
Oh, and my sourdough starter is about 60/40 whole wheat/rye and it's at 100% hydration. I just made it about 3 months ago and started baking with it about a month? 6 weeks ago, I think.
Hi again,
Thanks for telling how your intuition must surely be giving
you great guidance. The 100% loaves I am doing coming in around the low 90s
too and just on the border of getting a pasty cut. I've held back from going higher.
Thanks again for the 100% loaf!
Wow that looks amazing to me, I haven't even tried more than 30% WW yet and your 100% WW looks much better, good work!
Benny
Thanks for the comments. My husband (honest critic) said he likes it better than the ones I had been making because it was less holey and so it was easier to spread almond butter. I just had it for breakfast and for a loaf that is 2nd day, it's superb. It meets my palate need of feeling fresh enough to not need to toast it up.
To be honest, I can't tell the difference in taste between the 50% whole grain to the 100% whole grain. I just like it! Might try a white sourdough one of these days (never made one) just to see how it tastes!