100% WW Victory

I offer this recipe more as a dialog or diary of my trials in Whole Wheat. After several utter failures this is the first formula that succumbed to my ranting and behaved like I hoped (prayed) for. Every WW beginner should try this so you know it can be done.  100% Whole Wheat sandwich bread1 cup active sourdough starter 3/4 cup water2 1/8 cup Fine grnd whole-wheat flour (1C KA White WW+ 1C Bobs WW)1 T  Briess Light Dried Malt extract powder (see note below)1-2 T Honey Cracked Wheat Bread Base (see note below)1 tsp salt1 1/2 TBSP honey 2 TBSP oil "The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book", Laurel Robertson with Carol Flinders & Bronwen Godfrey, ISBN 0-394-53700-9, p 33 - 69 Pour the starter into a mixing bowl. Add the water, honey, oil. Whisk together. Add the rest of the flour a cup at a time and the salt, and stir. Make sure the dough is well mixed, feeling it to see if the water has been incorporated through the dough Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until it passes the windowpane test, probably 10 to 15 minutes. If you double the recipe, it will take twice as long. Having a scraper handy is a good thing, as you can scrape up the stuff that sticks to the board, so it can be incorporated back into the dough. About half way through the kneading, the dough will get a lot less sticky, even without adding much flour. Try not to add too much flour. (I added about 1/2 cup per loaf in the kneading process.)Form the dough into a ball in such a way as to form a gluten cloak on the outside of the ball. Put a bit of oil in the bottom of a bowl, put the smooth side of the dough onto the oil. Turn the bread so it's lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise about 1 1/2 hours in a covered place. After 30 minutes, remove the dough to counter (Silpat’s great) and do stretch and fold, return dough seams down. When the dough has doubled in size gently deflate by pressing your fist into the ball, then fold over the sides of the ball to form it into a new ball, flip and put back into the mixing bowl. Again, let the dough rise which will take about 1/2 as long the first rise. Again, gently deflate the bread, and form a loaf, and put the loaf into a greased 4 x 8" bread pan. Put the loaf aside to rise in 80-85 degree location (cabinet above refer), which should be a bit faster than the second rise. Don't let it over-rise! Preheat the oven to 350 F. Slash the bread with a single slash down the center of the loaf. Pop the bread into the oven. After 1/2 an hour, look at it. If the loaf is quite brown, reduce the temperature to 325 F. If the bread is pale or pinkish, raise the temperature to 375 F. You may want to use those temperatures for your next loaf. If you are at high altitudes, or you use glassbread pans, you may need to adjust the temperature further. Let it continue baking another 15 minutes. Pull the bread out and check it for doneness. Iremove the loaf out of the pan and stick a quick reading dial thermometer into the bottom of the loaf.  I shoot for 205 F. Let it cool, slice and enjoy! Expect this bread to be light, open grained, and delightful. I'd never have believed I could make a light whole wheat bread if I hadn't seen it! NOTES:Malt Powder:  I get this from Mike Avery at Mikes Breads in Gunnison CO. http://www.sourdoughhome.com/breadshoppe.html It softens the dough slightly and I believe aids gluten development. Malt adds a nice taste to anything with a WW component.. Substitute Malt Syrup or molasses if needed. I like to support small business owners who try to serve up good value. Mike also sells the best Bagel knife you ever held for $6.00 Honey Cracked Wheat Base from King Arthur: I was looking for something to add that would give this a little tooth. I’m open to suggestions for things that add flavor and texture and don’t cost $4. for 8 Oz.  As per the suggestions of jmonkey and mountaindog, the folding plays a large part in the success of this bread. Also, the rise and proof temperature I used was 80 degrees F, per jmonkey suggestion. The time required for final rise was just 1-1/2 hrs. I have started using a plastic shopping bag as a cover to allow a “no touch” rise.  If you have a dough whisk, this is a great recipe to discover how to use it. The slack consistency of the rather course flours begs for such a tool. The Whisk makes short and efficient work of an otherwise messy job. After mixing well I did a Frisage on the mass on the counter. This is now standard procedure here and insures a homogeneous dough.  I’m absolutely open to suggestions as to how to improve on this. My wife thought it was a little yeasty at first. I didn’t get that but then I’m still so happy it rose if I found a sponge inside I would overlook it!