Crispy crust whole wheat bread?

[Hassouni]

Not that I've made any bread recently, but as of a year ago I was making variations on Bittman's no-knead bread fairly frequently, often experimenting with various kinds of flour, including whole wheat. I was never able to get a crispy, crackly-crusted loaf with majority whole wheat without the bread being EXTREMELY dense. I was in Switzerland recently, and had the best bread I've ever had anywhere - it was dark-ish, seemed to be whole wheat, with a great crust and nice open-holed crumb.

Is there a way I can do this at home simply?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Whole-wheat sourdough with a traditional kneading process? To get that nice crackle there has got to be at least a bit of active gluten in the bread.

[Andrew Fenton]

Do you ever use white whole wheat flour? I make no-knead bread with it, and it gets a nice crust.

[Hassouni]

Do you ever use white whole wheat flour? I make no-knead bread with it, and it gets a nice crust.

I haven't, but I've seen it and wondered what exactly it is. Care to enlighten me?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Another possiblilty is to add a bit of malt extract (liquid or powdered) to the flour before the liquids go in - this improves whole wheat crusts immensely. That and a humid oven while baking.

I'm also quite curious about white whole wheat flour - it seems like an oxymoron to me...

[heidih]

We have a little topic about white whole wheat flour here.

[Hassouni]

Another possiblilty is to add a bit of malt extract (liquid or powdered) to the flour before the liquids go in - this improves whole wheat crusts immensely. That and a humid oven while baking.

Would beer work as a liquid for the same effect?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

A reserved yes. Beer will also affect the flavour of your bread, and what you're really after is the reaction of maltose with heat. If you want, though, I can give you my recipe for Bierbrot, which uses beer as the liquid component. I've successfully made it with up to 50% w/w and it does have a nice crust and large bubbles.

Actually, thinking on it, Bierbrot may indeed be what you were eating in Switzerland.

[Hassouni]

That sounds really good, I'd love to see it.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Ask and ye shall receive!