The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [24]
Basic Whole Wheat Bread
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)
½ cup warm water (120 ml), about 110°F
6 cups whole wheat bread flour (900 g)
2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)
2 ¼ cups lukewarm water (535 ml)
2 tablespoons honey or other sweetener (30 ml)
2 tablespoons oil (30 ml) or butter (28 g) (optional)
Dissolve the yeast in the ½ cup warm water.
Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, stirring to make the flour fluffy; make a well in the mixture.
Dissolve the honey in the 2 ¼ cups water and add the oil if you choose to use it. Pour the liquids and the yeast mixture into the well in the flour. Stirring from the center, first combine the ingredients to make a smooth batter; then fold in the remaining flour from the sides of the bowl, mixing them together into a soft dough. Since coarser flours take a while to absorb water, when using them allow a few minutes for the complete absorption of the water before you evaluate the dough. Add water or flour if more are required.
If you want really great bread—best flavor, best rise, best keeping quality—knead the dough for about 20 minutes, or 600 strokes, without adding more flour. The dough should remain soft, and should become elastic and smooth. Rest whenever you want to, but aim for 600 strokes. This is the most amazing and outrageous requirement, but after many hundreds of loaves, we are convinced that thorough kneading makes the critical difference.
If you have opted to use butter in this bread, work it in after the gluten has really begun to develop—about halfway through kneading. The butter should not melt, but should be worked into the dough while still firm. The French way is to smear the butter on the tabletop and knead in bits of it at a time, and if you are working by hand, this is easy and effective. Cutting the butter into chips with a sharp knife, or grating it and working it into the dough is effective, too, whether you are kneading by hand or by machine.
As you continue to work the dough, toward the end of the kneading, it will become lustrous, utterly supple and elastic. It should actually be white, if you look closely, with brown bran flecks clearly visible against the pale gluten.
Form the dough into a smooth round ball and put it into a big clean bowl to rise. (Do not oil the bowl.) Protect the dough from drying out by putting a platter or a plastic sheet over the top of the bowl, and keep it in a warm, draft-free place to rise. At about 80°F this will take 1 ½ to 2 hours, at 70°F, about 2 ½.
Wet your finger and poke about ½ inch into the dough. If the hole does not fill in, the dough is ready. For best results, do not wait until it sighs deeply when it is poked. Gently press out all the accumulated gas, make the dough into a smooth round again, and put it back in the bowl, cover, and let rise again as before. The second rise will take about half as long as the first, at the same temperature. Use the same finger-poke test to decide when it has finished its second rising.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured tabletop or board and, keeping the smooth top surface (gluten film) carefully unbroken, deflate the dough by pressing it with wet or floury hands (or a rolling pin) from one side to the other, expelling the accumulated gas. Cut it in half and form each part gently into a round ball, still preserving the smooth gluten film on the outside. Let the rounded balls rest, covered, until they soften, usually 10 minutes or more.
Shape into loaves, place in two greased 8″ 4″ loaf pans, and let rise once more. Loaves should take 30 to 45 minutes for their final proof. Preheat the oven to 425°F. When ready for