Troubleshooting the failed 75% whole wheat bread
Hi all,
So this is the second recipe I followed from FWSY. And it failed :(
So, I need your help and experience to understand why and perform the root cause analysis(RCA) , just like what we use in our office.
Observations:
1. When I autolysed the flour it was bit stiff compared to the white wheat flour. Seems like whole wheat absorbs more water.
2. Room and dough temperature was constantly at 32 C
3. I didn't use water to dissolve my instant yeast.
4. I gave fermentation around 6 hours and still yhe dough didn't rise enough.
5. I proofed the dough in the refrigerator for 15 hrs.
Looking at these points what improvements would I need before I go for my next attempt ? What would be the possibile cause for this failure ?
Thank you all,
Have a great day :)
How much flour? Heck, just give us the recipe or a link. please.
And tell us how this loaf is a failure. ...Taste, crumb, aroma, etc.
Oh, and was the loaf warm when it was cut for the picture?
Is the loaf in the background part of the same loaf?
1. Yes. Whole wheat does absorb more water but Forkish would have taken this into account and Forkish has never under hydrated a dough. Quite the opposite. Check to see if you followed it correctly.
2. As recommended by Forkish?
3. Ditto 2
4. Is your yeast healthy? Test it by dissolving some in a little warm sugar water and seeing if it froths.
5. Ditto 2 and 3
Whole wheat flour 750 g = 75%
White flour 250 g = 25%
Water 800 g, 90ºF to 95ºF (32ºC to 35ºC) = 80%
Fine sea salt 22 g = 2.2%
Instant dried yeast 3 g = 0.3%
Excerpt From: Ken Forkish. “Flour Water Salt Yeast.” iBooks.
1. At 80% hydration, the whole wheat will be easier to work with than if you used just white flour. As mentioned above, whole wheat will absorb more water.
2. That is very warm. The DDT for the recipe is 25-26C. The room temp is assumed to be about 21C. But these should have just made things move along faster.
3. Instant yeast does not need to be proofed (added to water) before being used.
4. It is supposed to triple in 5 hours after mixing. How much did it rise? I would say that either there wasn't enough strength in the dough or your yeast was dead (but at those temperatures if you got any rise the yeast should be fine). I am guessing you were waiting for the magical tripling and overproofed at this point (given the temperature of the room).
5. The recipe doesn't call for retarding. 15 hours might have been too long. Did you leave it out of the refrigerator first, or just go straight to retarding after shaping?
I agree with Mini that it looks like you didn't cool it long enough before cutting into it (or didn't cook it long enough, but probably the former).
Thank you Mini, Leche and Maverick for your comments.
@Mini: I used the formula that maverick just shared. The taste was not what I wanted it to be, it's very stiff and sometimes difficult to eat.
I think I did cut it whole it was warm and also I agree that I might have under baked it because I was bit worried that my oven is going to hot my loaf just might have a burnt crust like my previous batch.
@Lechem: I will test the yeast and check.
@Maverick: I agree with everything you said. I might have over proofed it and under hydrated it as I think I might have incorrectly measured the water.
I will follow your suggestions and will keep you all posted.
Thank you again. I really appreciate all the awesome support I get here.