Saturday, April 12, 2008

My First Whole Wheat Loaf

Horrors! It doesn't look like a loaf, does it? Omg, I certainly hope it's a case of using too big a pan and nothing else. I had followed Cocoa's recipe exactly, except that I used 100g of yogurt (Swiss Premium of course) and 100 ml of Meiji full-cream milk.

In terms of method, I followed closely to Cocoa's as well. Right up to the first proof stage (when the dough doubled, but I didn't poke the dough to test). All along, I wasn't sure if it was right as there wasn't any plain flour or bread flour. So I wondered about gluten and the structure and became worried when the dough still looked somewhat wet and sticky. I quickly removed it from the breadmaker, poured some plain flour and started to knead it (well, almost). Then I tried to roll the dough into one swiss roll. After that, I left it to proof in the fridge as I had to go out to get dinner.

When I checked the dough after dinner, it had nicely risen to almost 80% the height of the loaf pan. So I let it come down to room temperature, preheated the oven and put the pan to bake. I could smell the whole wheat fragrance all the way from the room. But when I went to take a look, my heart sank. The loaf was exactly the same height as before. This is the first time that a bread didn't rise. I didn't think that would be possible due to the yeast :(

Looks like the two attempts in slowing down the proofing didn't yield favourable results, although yesterday's cinnamon rolls wasn't that bad. Breads need a lot of patience and time, no short-cuts huh?

3 comments:

KWF said...

yuri, I don't think there is anything wrong with your loaf. Using full whole wheat flour, your loaf will be shorter than those using bread flour.

Yuri said...

Really wf? Phew, thought I did something wrong, next time I should mix some bread flour. Today's bread experience was another "scary" one :P

cocoa said...

sorry for the late response. Have you had the change to try again this recipe? yes the bread was 1/2 size smaller than the white bread but the taste and texture was still great. ( i let my bread complete the process include baking) anyway.. i have using the 2:1 ratio for baking a whole wheat bread where 2 portion of wheat flour with 1 portion of regular bread flour and the outcome is great. you might want to give it a try again.