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Your Text: Insert Slimies » Insert UBB Code » Close Last Tag \| All Tags UBB Help	Great shots of great loaves, Tao! Worth the wait! :D I hear you on eliminating the additives and crap that comes in store-bought breads and even in the flour mixes. I've never used a flour mix--it's always been from scratch for me. As for getting a good rise out of your loaves, here are somethings to consider: [ulist] * Some breads do need longer to proof, but you don't want to let them proof too long, or you might lose the oven spring. * Wholemeal flour doesn't have as much gluten as bread flour, so you might want to try adding a little wheat gluten to give the dough more structure * Wholemeal flour also absorbs more water than bread flour, so you may need to increase the water content a bit. The more water, the more active the yeast will be--if the yeast is too active, a low-gluten dough may not be able to support itself and collapse, so you'll have to experiment there as well. * Salt is kind of essential to bread, both for flavor and for regulating the activity of the yeast. Too much salt is not good, but you should have a little. If you think the loaves are not rising enough, you should let the dough ferment longer rather than taking out the salt. [/ulist] Since you have expressed interest in healthy loaves, can I share a recipe of my own invention? I call it "Health Nut Bread." :) (All the measurements are in metric, but you should be able to figure out the ratios if you want to use Imperial. Also, I generally do everything by weight--I put the pan on a scale and just add the ingredients one by one.) Water: 325 ml Vegetable oil: 24 g Honey: 38 g Salt: 4 g (5 ml/1 tsp) Rolled oats: 50 g Wholemeal flour: 275 g Rye flour: 100g Buckwheat flour: 25 g Wheat germ (toasted): 25 g Flax seed (crushed): 25 g Vital wheat gluten: 25 g Instant yeast: 8 g (10 ml / 2 tsp) Chopped walnuts: 50 g Sunflower seeds: 50 g The walnuts and sunflower seeds should be added after the dough has taken shape. If you don't have buckwheat flour, you can just increase the rye flour content by 25 g--neither have any gluten, so there should be little effect on the dough. If you have buckwheat flour, though, I'd recommend it--it's got a nice, earthy flavor to it. This recipe uses instant yeast, but you can substitute fresh yeast (not "live"--that would imply that the other types are dead ;) ) if you'd like. Instant yeast is much more potent than fresh yeast, so you'll need three times as much fresh yeast (by weight, not volume). The dough doesn't need that long to ferment/proof. My apartment is usually very warm this time of year, so I give it an hour to ferment and about 40 minutes to proof. Your mileage may vary. Depending on my mood, I usually shape the dough into either two bâtards or six mini-bâtards (the latter I use for sandwiches). I brush them with water (helps make the crust crispier) and sometimes sprinkle them with something, depending on my mood--favorites include more toasted wheat germ, more crushed flax seed, more rolled oats, or wholemeal flour. Lastly I score them and bake them for 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius--the time may be different for your oven, of course, but the temperature should be good. My rule of thumb is high heat/short duration for simpler/whiter/higher gluten dough and lower heat/longer duration for "heavy" doughs like this one. So, there you have it. I've been working on this recipe for years now, experimenting with various ingredients and ratios, and I think I've finally settled on a recipe I'm satisfied with. Even if you don't follow this recipe, maybe it will give you some ideas. [img]http://www.liminality.org/asylum/sigs/quickie.gif[/img] ___________________________ Suho: [url=http://www.liminality.org]www.liminality.org[/url] \| [url=http://www.ozoneasylum.com/4837]Cell 270[/url] \| [url=http://www.ozoneasylum.com/5689]Sig Rotator[/url] \| [url=http://www.ozoneasylum.com/22173]the Fellowship of Sup[/url] Loading...
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