Searching for tips on 100% whole wheat sandwich bread not SD

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mumsified on 15 Jan 2022 at 05:58

Hi I am a brand new member as of this morning. I bought Lori Viet's book No More Bricks and a Nutrimill Grain Mill so that I can make my own fresh milled 100% whole wheat sandwich bread. I have sprouted my own Red Turkey wheat berries and dehydrated them for milling. I am after the nuttiest flavor I can achieve and obviously do not want to bake bricks. I am very desirous of any tips anyone out there may have. Full disclosure, I have achieved great results in the past but did not pay attention or tke notes, so I feel I am starting all over again every time. 

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alcophile on 15 Jan 2022 at 09:58

Welcome! I, too, had problems with bricks until I started using Peter Reinhart's "epoxy" method from his Whole Grain Breads. The epoxy method has an overnight flour soaker and refrigerated yeasted biga (75% hydration pre-ferment) that are combined the next day with salt, oil, and sweetener. Kneading is minimized as the biga develops gluten in the fridge. The soaker and biga also maximize hydration of the whole wheat flour. I am not familiar with the book you mention, but you could apply some of the ideas of an overnight soak and pre-ferment to your method.

Thank you alcophile, I appreciate the advice. I do not want a sourdough taste, though and I am too much of a novice to understand the hydration and biga parts. I will check out Peter Reinhart's method. I actually already own thebook, so this is very fortuitous!! Thanks again.

How big are your nubs?  Make sure not to over-sprout the grains.  If you are using 100% sprouted flour be aware that the timing is crucial or your will end up with a soupy mess.  You can search this site for 100% sprouted wheat bread by Peter Reinhardt and read through the thread for tips.  For any whole wheat bake with a high % it’s important to let the flour and water hydrate for at least 30 minutes to an hour which will make a more extensible and less bitter tasting dough.  I suggest starting out with 30 to 50 WW mixed with white flour first and work your way up to 💯.

Happy baking.

Ian

Thank you Ian, I'll check out that thread for sure. So far all roads lead to Peter Reinhart. 

CLAS = Concentrated Lactic Acid Sourdough. It makes super delicious and soft 100% whole wheat or whole grain bread in a few steps as simple as making yeast bread. In just a few hours, it creates an impressive flavor profile with either pre-dough or straight dough. 

It is foolproof to make, and there's almost no maintenance.

Too good to be true? You must see it for yourself here and here.

Yippee

Debra Wink's 100% Whole-Wheat sandwich bread is magnificent and is not sourdough. I found it in Hamelman's Bread book 3rd Edition. It took a few attempts to get a good result, mainly because my whole-wheat I milled was only 10.8% protein. Debra recommends around 16% protein, so I added some VWG to boost it up. Debra was gracious enough to give me some advice along the way. My fourth attempt is here: 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Loaf - 4th Attempt | The Fresh Loaf

Cheers, and welcome to TFL.

Gavin

Thank you so much, Gavin, I am very excited to try this out when my shipment of turkey red wheat berries arrives. I am delighted to have found this rich, deep community of amazing bread bakers!

I tried to make 100 % whole (wheat) bread for a long, long time. There are 2 solutions:

1) Add sweetener and fat (many recipes)

2) Long fermentation sourdough (works better if you add 2% rye and 2% fava or chickpea flour) 

With 1, I never got anything better than "good".  2 produced better results, particularly with significant (10%) spelt .