For the March 1st Bread Braid, our mission was to make several different types of breads using the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes 100% Whole Wheat Olive Oil Dough: 1 loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil; 1 loaf of Aloo Paratha; and Whole Wheat BBQ Pizza.
Due to my busy schedule the past couple of weeks, particularly with baking 27 breads for the STIR IT 28 Atlanta Event last weekend, I had to wait until the last minute to make the breads for the bread braid. I’ll be honest, I almost blew this one off. I was so exhausted at the beginning of the week, I didn’t want to think about bread much less make any for awhile. Plus, I kept doing stupid things like dropping a whole pan of taco meat on the floor while I was trying to put it away. But, that’s a story for another day…
My bread-baking reprieve didn’t last very long – two days to be exact. By Wednesday, I was having withdrawals. So, I decided to make a half batch of the whole wheat with olive oil dough.
100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil
You can find the recipe here.
I’ve been doing some more research on home-milling and using different types of grains. According to the book Flour Power: A Guide to Modern Home Grain Milling by Marietta F. Basey, hard red spring wheat has a higher protein content than hard red winter wheat due to the shorter growing cycle, but hard red winter wheat has a better flavor due to the longer growing season (they are both harvested in the summer) so I decided to use a mixture of both.
I used 1 cup of flour made from hard red winter wheat, 1 cup of flour made from hard red spring wheat and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour I got from the farmer’s market. I used more of the farmer’s market flour mainly because I didn’t have enough home-milled flour to make the 3 1/2 cups. The flour from the farmer’s market didn’t specify the type of wheat (only that it was Kansas wheat), but I’m pretty sure it was red winter wheat.
The home-milled whole wheat flour had also been sifted once to separate the bran and germ. The resulting flour is called clear flour. Clear flour still retains some of the finer bran fiber from the outer endosperm of the wheat berry and is thus coarser and contains higher levels of ash. We used this technique in the BBA Challenge for the Marbled Rye Bread. It is usually made from very high-protein wheat and is used for whole-grain and high-fiber breads.
I made up the dough and let it ferment on the counter for a few hours. However, I didn’t put it in the refrigerator for the overnight retard. The consistency of the dough looked, smelled and felt so good, I decided to go ahead and bake part of it.
I weighed out two portions. Each piece weighed slightly under a pound, but it was close enough. I used one piece for this bread and saved the other one for the Aloo Paratha.
I shaped the dough into a ball and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Then I shaped the ball into an elongated oval, placed it on parchment paper, and let the dough rest on the counter for about 90 minutes. Right before baking, I made three slashes in the loaf using a serrated knife.
Then, I sprayed the loaf with water and sprinkled a mixture of seeds on top. After that, I sprayed the loaf with spray oil to try and keep all (some) of the seeds from falling off.
Then, I placed it on the baking stone with a steam pan underneath and baked it for about 30 minutes. It had good oven spring.
Here is the finished loaf.
I really liked this bread. It was very flavorful, not dense at all. It tasted really good as a PB&J. As I’ve mentioned before, my test of whether a bread is good or not is if it tastes good with PB&J or at least with peanut butter. This one passed the test with flying colors.
I loved the flavor of this bread. It’s one of my favorites so far. I think part of it is because of the flour I used. It was fresh and had a wonderful flavor. All I know is that I’ll definitely be making this bread again and using this flour mixture.
About the HBinFive Baking Group
The HBinFive Baking Group was hosted by Michelle of Big Black Dogs. We baked breads from the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book.
Happy Baking!
Cathy
Wonderful. I learned alot reading about spring and winter wheats! Thank you! The loaf looks delicious!
Your bread is very pretty!!! Looks professional……
Your bread turned out wonderfully. Great job!
Interesting about the different wheats. I think I have more to learn about grains then I care to think about! I like your oval shaped bread with the 3 slashes across the top, just so nicely shaped.
I loved this bread!
Wow – you mill your own flour? I’m so impressed! Your loaf is beautiful!
What a nicely shaped bread. I’m going to check out your new book. I grind my own wheat and have not been able to find spring wheat. I’m going to try harder.
Thanks Everyone! I loved this bread! I also love the flavor of the home-milled wheat.
I’ve been practicing this shape. I made it about 13 times last week in preparation for the STIR IT event. I think I finally got it down. 🙂
Found your comments on milled wheat interesting. I am awaiting delivery of a mill, and looking for tips.
I am all about the PB+J test! It is the only way to go. This loaf looks great.
I can’t even begin to think about milling my own flour…I’d probably end up looking like an I Love Lucy episode with flour everywhere. I lvoe you PB&J test method! LOL
I just started milling my own flour and am just loving the taste of my breads from it. My daughter said this was one of the best doughs I have made, but I think it was because of the flour, really. I bought a big bag of hard white winter wheat and have been working with that. I want to try some other grains, but have to order them all online as nothing is to be had locally.
~Jenny~
I agree the flour makes a big difference. I like hard white winter wheat also. I made the master recipe with that. Tastes wonderful.
Thanks so much for the tips on the home milled flour. It’s on my list of things to try! I would like to know what these breads taste like with regular flour, but I’ll get to home milled some day!
Thanks!