I have always been wanting to make a 100% whole wheat bread. All the recipes I have made till now included some part of 'All purpose flour' or 'maida'. Now, I have always wanted to make a bread with only 'whole wheat flour' or 'atta'. Every time I tried to increase the proportion of whole wheat flour, the bread would either be too dense or would not rise enough. This time, after researching using ebooks from Tanima and going over some recipes online, I decided to go with this particular recipe.
Actually, we used the recipe only for the feel. The conclusion we came to while making this bread was that making bread is actually a 'feel' thing. With experience you get the feel for the dough (which is by far the most important aspect of bread making).
Ingredients (to make 1 loaf in a 10"x4.5" tin)
- 3 Cups of warm water (the original recipe asked for 1 1/2 cups but the dough was not hydrated enough)
- 1/6 cup Olive Oil
- 1/6 cup Honey / Molasses (The recipe asked for molasses, I had it so i used it, if not you can use honey).
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 Cups Whole wheat flour (we used Ashirwad atta; why I mention this is because, we have come to the conclusion that every atta / flour has different capacity to absorb water)
- 1 tbsp active dried yeast
Method
- Proof 1 tablespoons of Dry Active Yeast in 1 cup of warm water with a tsp of sugar / honey.
- Then mix the first four ingredients in the bowl (2 cups of warm water, olive oil, honey / molasses, salt)
- Add: 1 Cups Whole Wheat Flour, add the yeast after it has been activated,
- Mix well till the consistency is somewhat even.
- Then continue to slowly add rest of the flour, 1/2 Cup at a time until the dough quits sticking to the sides of the bowl. It should be tacky to the touch. The trick is to have enough consistency to stand up with the least amount of flour so the bread will be fluffy. Don't over mix or the bread will be tough.
- When your dough is finished, Cover the bowl and let it rise for about 30-45 minutes in a drought free place. The dough will be larger but it doesn't need to double.
- Mix again just enough to knock it down at least close to the original size.
- Drop the dough on a floured surface so you can work the dough and shape it. Roll it in the flour and shape it in your hands to make a nice ball getting enough flour on it so it isn't sticky. Shape the loaf by turning the dough under it's self over and over. When the dough is shaped right the sides and ends will be sealed and all you will see is a nice oblong shaped loaf with smooth sides and top.
- Grease the bread tin. Drop the loaves in your bread pan and let them rise until almost doubled. You can top it with some oats,sesame seeds or other whole grains that you like. I had also used flax seeds.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200deg C. Then bake the bread for 35-40 min at 180 deg C.
- To get a nice crust, I keep a shallow tin in the oven and either put 3-4 ice cubes or 1/4 cup boiling water to steam up the oven (twice during the baking cycle, ensuring that the door is open for least time).
- When done turn the bread out of the pan to a rack to cool. To check if the bread is done, take it out and tap the top of the bread, it should sound hollow.
This is a work in progress guys... we look forward to improving this recipe, will keep updating, until then, happy baking
