Easy Whole Wheat Bread for Beginners

I just love it when someone who knows nothing about bread making asks if I can show them how. This happened with a friend of ours a couple years ago. He had never made bread dough, to my knowledge. He certainly had never kneaded bread dough. He does like most of my heavier, denser loaves, enjoying whole grains. He loves beer. And so I set myself the task of creating a recipe he could make for himself.

Whole Wheat & Ale Bread

Whole Wheat?

I explained to him my ideas on buying whole wheat flour from the grocery, mainly, DON'T. My main gripe about whole wheat bread, long ago when I first started trying whole grain breads out, was that they just tasted blah. Later on, after reading Peter Reinhart's books I realized that those grains need some coaxing to extract flavor. That, but even more importantly, I learned about the way "whole wheat flour" is created. And I do mean created. No grocery-store-bought whole wheat flour is anything but a construct, made by taking the white flour, and adding back in enough of the bran to approximate "whole wheat," and this may vary by brand. No wonder it tastes so different when you grind your own wheat berries! There is no dividing up the white endosperm (the starchy part used for white flour) from the bran (the outer coating and source of fiber) and the germ (the food source for the grain when sprouting, and source of many B-vitamins, some protein, minerals and healthy fats).

The reason for this dividing up of the grain parts is of course, getting the white refined starch we call white flour, a process that has now removed about a quarter of the protein and greatly reducing at least 17 key nutrients. What is left is a mere shadow of the original grain. To "rectify" this situation, white flour is "enriched," a process whereby some few nutrients are added to the flour, but certainly not in the proportions, nor the way, in which nature originally provided. Another reason for this division is that the germ, containing so very much goodness, also tends to go rancid very easily, so removing it means the resultant (mostly worthless) white flour is able to stay in warehouses and on grocery shelves much, much longer. And of course, removing the bran is removing the fiber we so need in our diets. (Facts gleaned from The Whole Grains Council.org)

Enough of the lesson!

Suffice to say that once I started grinding my own grain, whether slowly and tortuously with my Kitchen Aid grinder attachment long ago, or very quickly with my Whisper Mill, the flavors began to truly stand out. This is due to having the whole grain, bran, germ and endosperm, all ground together, yielding far superior flavor. There are other ways of extracting flavor, but just this step makes it worthwhile. I told our friend to look for a place that he could take whole wheat grains and have them ground, as is, for him to use.

Other Considerations

When making whole grain breads, keep in mind that the whole grain, ground together, yield a substantial amount of things to prevent a good rise. Those very things that make whole grain breads heavy and dense, namely the bran and germ. These have no gluten proteins and cannot help with the rise and stretchiness of the dough. The bran, in fact, can actually cut the gluten strands, furthering this problem. Any bread that is labeled "whole grain" must have some token amount of whole grain in it. However, no true whole grain, or even mostly whole grain, bread will ever be light and fluffy. Can't happen. While I am not a wholehearted proponent of plain white bread (I never, ever buy plain white bread, but only bake my own when needed), some white bread flour in a whole grain recipe can help give a little rise you may not get otherwise. In my recipe below, I have 3 parts whole grain to one part white flour, for just a little lift. 

Kneading

Kneading is an individually learned process. I don't believe any two people perform this process quite the same. The goal is to manipulate the dough, forcefully enough for proper mixing, long enough to develop such gluten as is possible to coax into being. (This does not apply to rye breads - that is another article entirely.) Often, at the beginning of kneading, the tendency for a new bread maker is to add more and more flour, because at the beginning the dough can be quite sticky. 

Avoid this if at all possible. 

The more flour that goes into the dough, the denser and dryer the loaf will be. Add any flour judiciously, and do your best to deal with the sticky hands. The dough eventually will become more pliable and less sticky, the closer to "windowpane" you get. In Peter Reinhart's books, he describes the proper feel as "tacky, but not sticky." If you have a metal "bench scraper" this can help with scraping the dough up from your counter or kneading surface so kneading can continue. 

Windowpane

One way I have worked with in a lot of breads is spraying my granite countertop (often my hands as well) with spray oil and kneading on this oily surface. If more is needed occasionally, at least I am not making the dough more dense. 

Windowpane can be reached in 10 to 20 minutes of kneading depending on the strength of your arms and the amount of manipulation. Press, roll, fold, stretch, turn; move and manipulate the dough constantly, to knead. Windowpane means being able to pick up a smallish piece of the dough, then stretching it between two hands until you can see light showing through the dough, but without tearing. And happy baking!

Whole Wheat & Ale Bread

Makes 1 round loaf

Whole Wheat & Ale Bread

3 cups <2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (1¾ cup whole wheat berries, ground)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons white bread flour, plus some for dusting
2 teaspoons salt
1 packet (2½ teaspoons) instant rise/rapid rise yeast
3 tablespoons molasses
2/3 cup cool water
¾ cup < 2 tablespoons strong-flavored ale (or use all water)

In a large bowl, combine the two flours, adding the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the opposite side of the bowl. Mix the water, ale and molasses together and pour into the flour mixture. Begin mixing with hands or a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together as a mass. Oil a clean, smooth surface and turn the dough out onto the surface and knead for 12 to 15 minutes, or until it passes the windowpane test.

Grease a clean bowl and place the dough into the bowl, turning once to grease both sides. Cover with a towel or with plastic wrap and set aside to proof until doubled. This can take up to 4 hours but begin checking at 2 hours. When a finger is pressed into the surface of the dough, it should still spring back slightly. If the finger leaves a deep indent, it has proofed too much, so keep an eye out.

Once dough is risen, turn dough out onto a lightly flour the work surface. Gently fold and turn the dough to degas. Flatten the dough into a rough rectangle. Press corners into the center, then again press the new “corners” into the center. Turn the dough over and firm the rounded ball by pressing, dragging and turning the dough until the surface is very taught. Set the loaf onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set to rise until doubled. It is ready when the dough still springs back when gently pressing a finger into it.

Have oven preheated to 425 degrees. Place bread onto a rack near the center of the oven and bake 25 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake a further 10 minutes, until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before cutting.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.