I get bored repeating the same recipe over and over. Once I understand the basics of anything, my creative mind starts to wander, thinking of ways I can make the familiar feel new. My monster bread loaf is my latest delicious experiment.
You may ask why I use vital wheat gluten and lemon juice in whole wheat breads. Vital wheat gluten helps the bread retain more moisture. It also helps with gluten formation. Whole grains can interfere with the formation.
Why lemon juice? It's a preservative and also helps with gluten formation. There is zero lemon taste once baked.
Oh, and I often break the rules of bread baking and dough formation. Don't care as long as it tastes great.
BTW, I have tested water straight from the tap and water allowed to offgas the chlorine. The offgassed water works WAAAY better for oven spring.
80% Hydration XL Rustic WW Bread
Rustic Bread Baker's Math:
Flour/Grains/VWG/Dry Milk = 100% (1.00)
Water = 80% of flour/dry weight (.80×1)
Salt = 2% of flour weight (.02×1)
Yeast = .2% of flour weight (.002x1)
Dry Ingredients
250g KA whole wheat flour
250g KA bread flour
250g KA AP flour
100g 10 grain cereal, dry
20g Vital Wheat Gluten
15g dry milk powder
15g fine sea salt
1.5g instant yeast
Wet Ingredients
700g room temp water
15g lemon juice (1 Tbs)
Directions
Morning to noon prep: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
Weigh water and lemon juice in a pitcher and vent to allow the chlorine to offgas over 6+ hours.
8 to 9 PM: Pour room temp water/lemon juice into the dry ingredients. Stir with a Danish dough whisk or a large spoon until a shaggy ball forms and all the dry flour is incorporated.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise and bulk ferment for 10-12 hours on the counter at room temperature. Should double in size, have lots of small bubbles, and a slightly rounded top. If the center starts to collapse, it will still work but needs to progress to the next step.
Next morning: Spray an enameled chicken roaster, including the top, with oil. Set aside.
Wet hands and dough scraper. Scrape dough away from sides, turning bowl to release the dough into the center of the bowl. Then pull and fold the dough 8-10 times to strengthen the gluten formation. The change in feel is VERY noticeable.
Lightly dust a working surface with bread flour. Use a bowl scraper and turn the dough out onto the working surface. Dust the dough with bread flour. Flatten, trifold, roll to develop surface tension. Pinch seams closed. Place in the greased chicken roaster seam down. Cover loosely with cling wrap that has been sprayed with oil to prevent sticking.
Wait 30 minutes, then preheat oven to 475°F.
Allow dough to rise until doubled in size. Could be as short as 1 hour. Do not let the sides of the dough expand above the lid lip.
When the dough is right at the lip, remove the plastic, add the greased lid, and place the roaster in the hot oven.
Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, reduce the heat to 450°F, and bake 15 minutes more. Check that the internal temp of the loaf is 195°-205°F.
Remove from oven and roaster, then allow bread to cool on a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, bread stores well in an open paper bag on the counter. A plastic bag works but the crust will soften. Store in the refrigerator for up to ten days.
Happy Drooling,
Ray