Monday, January 29, 2007

I saved last week's attempt at whole-grain no-knead bread because, well, look at it (on the right). It seems likely to fossilize and make a kick-ass doorstop.

I tried again, though, and think I have succeeded. I used the basic recipe, substituting in one cup of whole wheat King Arthur flour (the other two cups were King Arthur AP) and adding what was probably just a splash more than 1 5/8 cups water. I did not add any whole grain in the first mix, and it turned out to bubble gratifyingly after 16 hours or so. At that point I stirred in some whole-grain bulgur and flopped it onto a Silpat to double in size, which it did.
(You can see all my no-knead bread pictures here- am going to keep most "food-in-progress" shots in Flickr.)

The result, once baked, were vastly superior to the first attempt. I do not know if it was using too much whole wheat flour, or not enough water, or adding the bulgur too soon, but it never rose at all. This attempt made a lovely, soft sandwich-y bread that makes toast you WANT to eat, not toast you eat because you think, "well, whole grain is good for you." And that was the goal- sandwich and/or toast-y bread with some whole grains mixed in.

(Side note to Gwen: If you are looking for a very chewy, hearty bread, I think this recipe will disappoint no matter what flour you use. Both the all-white flour versions and the whole grain versions are more like an every day, almost sandwich bread- albeit an unprocessed, lovely looking sandwich bread, which to me is exactly what I like about it.)

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, sandwich bread is exactly what I'm looking for! And instead I got sooo much chewiness. I think tomorrow I'll try this variation and see how it goes.