September 23, 2023 - 11:26am
Latest Workday 100% Whole Wheat
Hamelman's Workday 100% Whole Wheat from "Bread" 3rd edition.
I mixed for 4 minutes in the mixer before adding the last 10% of the water for bassinage for another minute of mixing.
I folded in 15% chopped walnuts on the board.
I was more generous than usual with flour on the board and my hands for folding the nuts in and then shaping. Some combination of changes in technique resulted in a more open crumb than usual and a stronger dough that did not slump when I dumped the loaf out of the banneton.
The flavor was deeper than usual, as well. Although my shaping wasn't perfect, I'm really happy with this batch.
Formula: Workday 100% Whole Wheat Formula
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Beautiful loaves with perfect crumb for my tastes. Thanks for posting cause I was wondering what these looked like. Makes me feel good to look at your work!
I love his intention here to make a bread you can fit into a workday without fuss. The rub with this formula for my situation is the 70F that Hamelman insists is important. (I know Debra winks loaf in the same volume is also at 70F.) That works great in Vermont, or for those with a retarder. But won't work for me in Az, where it doesn't even get down to that at night much of the year. I could try adjust down the formula's 6% PFF to something like 2% to see what happens. My worry is loss of control.
A workday desem routine, with the same minimal ingredients and hydration, works better in my situation; but goes the opposite extreme and uses 25-30% pre-fermented flour with a short bulk and proof.
Thank you very much for your kind remarks, While I was trying out different formulas, my better half decided that she likes this one, with walnuts added. So I bake this one every other week, alternating with various rye or rye-wheat breads from "The Rye Baker" or "Bread".
My culture is dark/whole rye at 100% hydration, per "The Rye Baker". The wild yeasts here in San Diego, CA seem to prefer warmer temps. Getting the culture to double or triple after refreshing in 6 hours as many sources say requires 85℉ in the B & T proofer. I usually treat "room temperature" in formulas as 75℉ in the proofer. This time, for the sourdough and the bulk fermentation I used 72℉ in the proofer and the max times (or a little more) in the formula. We live in a highrise on the waterfront so the ambient temps are not usually as hot as you might expect, especially at night. The lower temp than usual for the sourdough and the bulk fermentation, with some extra time probably developed the flavor.
BTW, my culture goes dormant in the fridge pretty quickly. It has gone 5 weeks without refreshing and then comes back to normal after 1 feeding. This is the only formula that I retard in the fridge; it did develop decent volume in the fridge.
Hamelman says that that it might need some warming up before baking to develop full volume. I give it 15-20 minutes at 85℉ in the proofer before baking to wake the yeast up and develop a little more volume.
I think the better volume than usual may have resulted from more careful mixing, I used to do the 40 folds, and then sometimes a few more to get the walnuts in. This time I used the mixer on the KA2 setting:
I baked it in a big rectangular cast iron pot, an Emeril stove-top smoker, which works great as a dutch oven for oval loaves, I always check for doneness 5 minutes early. Even so, this loaf was just a bit toasted on the crust.