99% Whole Wheat Desem Loaf
Sometimes good things are right in front of you, or a bit off to the right under "Also on the Fresh Loaf." The other day I was nosing around, when I clicked through an image that had intrigued me for awhile, and discovered JMonkey's version of a desem whole wheat loaf. Reading through it, it all seemed so simple, even though Desem has lurked in my brain as something very strange and mysterious. So I took a dab of my ordinary white starter and built it up over three feedings with fresh milled whole wheat, at low hydration, and matured in a cool but not cold environment. Then made a loaf, roughly following JMonkey's numbers, but not his times (I followed the dough's times which were different.) As I have no cloche, I baked for the first time in a year or more in my dutch oven. I find it difficult to get the dough in the DO gently enough, and manhandled it a bit in the process (just like JMonkey apparently.) Since I was never able to manage a preheated DO without burning myself, this time I placed the dough into an unheated DO and then into a preheated oven.
The aroma of the dough while fermenting was strong yet strangely sweet and very pleasant. The finished loaf didn't come out looking anything like JMonkey's and of course I have no idea if I captured his taste either.
I will say that this bread makes for very hearty eating. I just had a slice, and don't know if I'll have room for dinner. The bread itself is almost overwhelmingly whole wheaty to my taste, but seems very much the staff of life.
I know, particularly in light of Eric's untimely passing, that bakers come and go on this site. I believe that I started participating on this site some time after JMonkey stopped contributing. Yet here he has taught me about desem and I appreciate his help. Of course I wouldn't even have been aware of this type of bread had it not been for Phil's wonderful baking efforts.
Formula and method:
Seed hydration | 71% |
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KAAP | 95% |
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Whole Rye | 5% |
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5:00 PM | 4:00 PM | 4:00 PM | 10:00 AM |
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Seed | 16 |
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KAAP | 9 | 9 |
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Whole Rye | 0 | 0 |
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Whole Wheat | 25 | 50 | 150 | 225 |
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Water | 7 | 14 | 30 | 90 | 141 | 60% |
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375 |
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Final | Starter | Total | Percent |
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KAAP | 0 | 9 | 9 | 1% |
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Whole Rye | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
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Whole Wheat | 500 | 225 | 725 | 99% |
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Water | 410 | 141 | 551 | 75% |
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Salt | 13 | 13 | 1.8% |
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Starter | 375 | 32% |
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1298 |
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Used freshly milled medium course flour to feed starter | |||||||||||||
Used garage and just inside garage door to mature starter |
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Temp varied from 42 to 62F |
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Grind wheat berries at fine. |
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Mix flour and 350g water and autolyse for 1 hour |
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Mix in salt, starter, and rest of water |
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Mix for 40 minutes at speed 1 in compact Bosch |
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Rest 15 minutes |
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S&F on counter |
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BF 30 minutes, S&F on counter |
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BF 30 minutes, S&F on counter |
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Shape into boule and place in brotform with floured paper napkin at base |
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Proof 1 hour 15 minutes |
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Spray top, slash and place in Dutch Oven |
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Bake in preheated oven (cold covered DO) at 450F for 40 minutes |
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top on, 18 minutes with top off. |
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Comments
Crumbs on your breads. Does that make you a crumby bread baker? I think so since yours are so delightful. I wonder what happened to zolablue all the time and re-read her short blog all the time - jmonkey's too. We have all been relegated to baker in training by the TFL community. A nice thing to be.
Nice baking Varda! It has to taste great.
I'm enjoying the bread, and feel very virtuous baking and eating such healthy fare, but definitely more to learn in this department. Crumby baker signing off! -Varda
Hi Varda,
Great to see one of your breads made with flour from your new mill. It looks every bit how I'd imagine a loaf from rural France or Quebec, hearty and full of nutrition, just the thing for sustaining a person through a hard days work, or to have with a flavorful stew or soup for dinner. I know what you mean about these very high ratio whole wheat breads though, very filling and tasty but not what many of us in NA are accustomed to eating on a regular basis these days.
Just a thought about the dough size and mixing time though if I may. I think a smaller dough, say 900 grams-1K might be a better fit for the Bosch Compact, allowing it to better develop the dough over a shorter time than the 40 minutes on 1st speed you indicate in your procedure. With high ratio whole wheat doughs I really feel they need to be slapped around a bit.. or a lot, to bring out their best potential in terms of crumb and crust structure as well as volume. Long, slow mixing for a WW formula like this is great if you can match your dough size to what your mixer can effectively handle and develop over an extended period. Just something to consider for your next mix.
All the best Varda,
Franko
I ended up solving the dinner problem by making a salad. That was plenty paired with this bread, which is for lack of a better word, very meaty.
I appreciate your comments about the Bosch Compact. I am very much in learning mode, since I got it only recently. I thought it was doing great with this amount of dough, but wonder if perhaps I overmixed. At 30 minutes the dough was pretty stiff and coherent, and then I walked away and let it go for longer and it was in worse shape when I got back. The Compact is rated to be able to handle up to 5 lb of dough, and this was around 3. That's quite a difference if it can't handle that well. I will try making smaller amounts of dough with it and see if I get better results (better dough structure) but I know you have experience with this machine, so I'm sure you are right.
Thanks for your comments and your help.
-Varda
Hi Varda,
I'm sure the 5lb rating is based on what the motor can handle without stressing it and not it's ability to properly develop a dough of that size.
Quote; "but wonder if perhaps I over mixed." In fact I think it may be the opposite from what I can gather from the crumb shot. Based on what I know of whole wheat mixing (without taking into account the particular nature of your freshly milled flour) the crumb photos indicate a fairly coarse appearance. Because of all the bran in a high ratio WW mix you really have to mix the heck out of it to bring some lightness to the dough, assuming you prefer a lighter textured crumb. We make a 100% WW bread in our shop and I've found better results when I mix it long and slow enough that the colour of the dough actually lightens a shade or two. The bread always comes out with a better cell structure, crust and colour, and is much more digestible. I realize comparing our commercial grade flour with your home grown and milled flour is not a fair one, but feel that a very full development for a WW mix will give you a lighter, better tasting bread that you'll likely enjoy more.
All the best Varda,
Franko
to argue with in what you are saying above. I have got in the habit of a certain size dough, but it's not set in stone and really a bit bigger than what we need around here. So I will cut back and see if I can get that lighter color and loftier structure you are talking about. I did mill fine, but I suspect that if I had done one round of sifting the resulting flour would have been closer to the bran content of packaged whole wheat, so that's another angle on this. Thanks so much for your detailed reply. It gives me a lot to work with. -Varda
Looks wonderful, Varda. And I'm sure it tastes just as good as it looks. :)
Zita
Hi Zita, Very tasty and rich, but has me longing for something white like ciabatta. Thanks so much for your comments. -Varda
Hi Varda,
I really think you have almost mastered this bread; it looks great. And this is about the most honest loaf of bread I can imagine, really. To me this is what bread baking is all about.
I agree with Franko about proper mixing, and thus mixing the dough amount to match the mixer capacity.
Maybe you can clear up why you hold back 60g of water from the autolyse. I am sure there is a reason for this, but to me it really goes against what Calvel was teaching, and, it also means you are restricting potential water uptake in the dough at the start of the process. Given this is a high hydration bread, I think this is counter-productive. If it were me, I would get all that water in when making the autolyse.
So will you be showcasing this type of loaf next Spring....baked in the wood-fired oven? I do hope so
Very best wishes
Andy
When you and Franko both give me the same advice, I have to take notice. As for withholding some water for the final dough, I had my reasons, but they don't stand up to scrutiny, so next time I won't do it.
I think I understand what you are saying about this type of bread. It's not an elegant accompaniment: it is a very basic foodstuff - healthy and simple and useful for keeping people alive.
The weather has been clear but cold lately. I look out the window and wish I could bake in my WFO, but unfortunately it's not designed for use in cold weather. So I will enjoy your WFO baking vicariously.
Thanks so much for your helpful comments.
-Varda
Nice take at J. Monkey's desem bread, Varda. I'm watching your progress with whole wheat doughs, and you are doing pretty well so far, only try to keep at it, and don't let the appearances deceit you, you are on the right track.
Try mixing for. 15 min max using your machine, and let your hands do the remaining job. Also, a wet wholewheat dough tells you when it is developed and ready, while a stiffer one doesn't.
Finally, i'd aim for a finally milled flour, as it improves crumb structure. Also, try to find white wholewheat, which makes for lighter, softer loaves, and add it to your red wheat.
Mill on, bake on, Varda!
so much for the suggestions Khalid. I'll try them and keep at it. Hope you are doing well. -Varda
That's a keeper, Varda! Must feel great to have taken a sack of local product all the way from kernels to a crust, crumb and (I assume) flavor as that. Wow. Congratulations on your triumph. Many more ahead I'm sure.
Tom
You start with grass growing in the field, and end up with bread on the table. Helpful machines (including my car which I used to fetch the wheat) notwithstanding. Thank you for your comments. -Varda
Varda-
What a beautiful whole wheat loaf! It looks so rich and airy. Milling your own flour looks like it can really enhance breads.
-Brad
The freshly milled flour noticeably enhances flavor and presumably healthfulness. Thanks so much for your comments. -Varda
Hi Varda,
That bread looks very, very tasty...and the crumb is gorgeous.
The freshly-milled flavor must be great.
:^) breadsong
Hi Breadsong. I am struggling a bit with the texture of these high whole wheat breads - and thought you got what I was looking for in your recent post. So I'm going to review your methods as well as take advantage of the great advice that several people have given me above. I am enjoying the freshly-milled flavor, as well as just the sheer fun of milling and playing with flour. (There must be a little bit of kid left in me after all these years.) Thanks so much for your comments. -Varda
Hi Varda.
Really impressive whole wheat. The crumb looks nice and open and delicious . This could be called the staff of life, as Dr. David Reuben used to say, not the stuff of lies. Anyway, I am sure it contains enough nutrition to sustain me. Another nutrionist said, if only hamburgers came on whole wheat rolls, you could safely throw out the beef. I think she had your WW in mind. I eat a lot of whole wheat, as often as I can, but sometimes I long for white flour, as in bagels, and foccacia etc., and when I am running low on whole wheat bread, it seems easier, and guiltless. Ray
I think a burger with this kind of roll would lead to a trip to the hospital due to sheer culinary overload. And it's funny that you should mention longing for white flour. After around 8 bakes in a row with whole or mostly whole wheat flour, I am determined to start bagels tonight. And I'm definitely not the type of baker who is willing to sully bagels with whole wheat flour. Thanks so much for your comments. -Varda
I agree Varda. Why mess with a good thing. The small amt. of whole wheat flour would not make much of a difference in anyone's health as far as I can see. I definitely prefer white, over whole wheat bagels. Ray
I follow all the steps
the dough was slow to rise, but it was getting there. Nicely wrapped in a warm fleece
I placed it on the table, the same table where our cat eats. Can you guess what happened?
yes, My cat thought I bought him a nice comfortable warm nest bed. Both bowls, completely deflated.
After a long time the sour was too sour and I had to trow out the bread
So beware of your cat. with warm cosy soft and comfortable bowls
SD
Maybe you should put something that looks uncomfortable over your dough next time. Good luck on your next attempt. -Varda