Bittman Tackles Whole Grain Breads and...Breaks the Mold

[weinoo]

In a stunning coincidence, Mark Bittman published an article about whole-grain breads on the same day I started the topic about Fleischmann's No Knead Bread Mix.

Now, as many of us understand from all of the no-knead recipes that followed Jim Lahey's first published no-knead bread recipe oh-so-many years ago, kneading is not 100% necessary if you have another ingredient: time. Also, a lot of yeast isn't necessary if you have that same ingredient available: time. According to Bitty (thanks, Gwynnie):

Kneading dough by hand for 20 minutes — as was the practice when I first started baking — was never actually necessary (few home bakers knew that), but a requirement of a particular kind of bread made in a relatively hurried fashion using a relatively large amount of domesticated (that is, store-bought) yeast.

He then goes on to say, about whole-grains:

Finally, I came to the realization that great 100 percent whole-grain bread can be made only with sourdough (it’s about the difference between how whole grains respond to store-bought yeast and how they respond to acid, or a combination of acid and wild yeast), and I discovered that via a combination of driving other people crazy with questions and a recipe from “The Scandinavian Cookbook,” by my friend Trine Hahnemann.

Now, I notice there's a pinch of instant yeast in the sourdough starter. Heresy?

And, I notice the use of a food processor for the baguette and focaccia recipes.

So I don't know if we're on the cusp of a new bread revolution, or just a variation of techniques.

Any thoughts?

[Syzygies]

I worked a dozen cookbooks while practicing whole wheat sourdough nearly daily last Spring. The Tartine Bread book (http://www.tartinebread.com/) followed to the letter, down to cooking vessel (http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B0009JKG9M/) gave me by far the best results. There is a continuum of kneading, just as there is a continuum of massage (from Rolfing to a Shaman's touch), and the Tartine method is nearly no-knead but superior. One might need to practice no-knead for a while to rid oneself of poor kneading habits, but then learn the Tartine approach and compare for yourself.

Except, I substitute as much whole wheat as practical. (This is a subjective call.) I grind flour using the Wolfgang Mock grain mill (http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B001DZ6TGA/) and sieve out the bran using a drum sieve. The Mock mill is expensive. I don't regret the expense (even if only for fresh pasta) but rather the wasted money on inferior solutions before biting the bullet. The bran makes whole wheat flour taste like a roll of unbleached paper towels fell in; after sieving the flour handles like a sturdier white. Something (germ?) remains, for this flour oxidizes and goes bad in a matter of days once ground, which store bought whole wheat doesn't. It also has a substantially better flavor.

Ditto for sourdough. It isn't that hard. Heresy to "cheat"? Many artisan bakers do as insurance; when we declare any idea "heresy" we're being religious fanatics, substituting a preconceived notion for direct observation.

I struggled with breads that went too flat, when I pushed the whole wheat or rye too close to 100%. Then I discovered Finnish Ruis bread at a farmers market (http://www.nordicbreads.com/). Their bread goes flat, and they embrace this shape. They don't care. What a healthy attitude! I struggled with alternatives to the combo cooker because I didn't like the dome shape as well as longer loaves. Huh. People love baguettes for the crust. A flat Ruis loaf, split and toasted, is all "end piece" crust. Wonderful.

Or use some white flour for more conventional loaves better than one can buy.

Edited February 10, 2013 by Syzygies (log)

[patrickamory]

I love the Finnish Ruis bread from Nordic Breads. And would love to try to make it at home.

The one downside about buying it is that it lasts for 24 hours, max (they suggested freezing it - the results were not great).

If I could make this at home I would be a happy camper.

[Syzygies]

I love the Finnish Ruis bread from Nordic Breads. And would love to try to make it at home.

The one downside about buying it is that it lasts for 24 hours, max

Huh, I know what you mean, though I kept mine in a plastic bag and toasted it as needed. A Finnish relative's family used to bring it back in suitcases from Finland, and he never got any as a kid, it was considered too precious. They clearly kept it a month, and he wants some now! In California it clearly won't be the same day.

These judgements are relative, the bread of the Aeolian Islands off Sicily was made monthly because of fuel shortages. Think cracker, and that's roughly how they used it, crumbled into various dishes.

In any case, I'm going to experiment with making Ruis. I'm guessing 100% rye, sourdough starter, and accept how it comes out flat, there you are.

[keychris]

Now, I notice there's a pinch of instant yeast in the sourdough starter. Heresy?

IMHO, yes. There's really no need to add commercial yeast to a wild yeast starter, unless you don't want to call it a true wild yeast starter anymore.

[piracer]

I've been making my sourdough based on a relatively aggressive method that i saw on a youtube video (

) and whilst the kneading itself lasts about 15 mins for me, the technique i learned that i thought was particularly useful was the 'tension pull' which creates a really tight skin to the dough.

Whilst the recipe calls for 4 parts bread flour and 1 part whole wheat, i now do 3.5 parts bread flour and the remaining 0.75 parts of rye and whole wheat which i think gives the best flavor and texture.

I do have a problem in my starter not being as sour as i'll like it to be. Also when scoring my bread, its almost like everything explodes (its about an 75% hydrated dough).

Overall though, i'm pretty happy with this bread. I do think it tastes better than the no-knead dough that Bittman wrote about and for a long time before i got my starter from a friend, that was all i was making.

[HungryC]

I guess it might be considered new ground if you've read absolutely none of the better books on baking published in the last decade or so. I don't find much new ground, as stretch and fold or slap and fold techniques never disappeared from baking. What's changed is the US taste....ppl are far more accepting of a crustier, rustic bread these days.

Re commercial yeast in a sourdough, if it works for you, then do it. I'd call it a preferment, because sourdough to most ppl means wild yeast.

Hamelman, Reinhart (esp in his whole grains book), Suas, Hitz, Laurels Kitchen bread book, Ortiz....plenty of excellent baking info out there. To me, Bittmans writing for the non bread baker.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I grind flour using the Wolfgang Mock grain mill (http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B001DZ6TGA/) and sieve out the bran using a drum sieve. The Mock mill is expensive. I don't regret the expense (even if only for fresh pasta) but rather the wasted money on inferior solutions before biting the bullet. The bran makes whole wheat flour taste like a roll of unbleached paper towels fell in; after sieving the flour handles like a sturdier white. Something (germ?) remains, for this flour oxidizes and goes bad in a matter of days once ground, which store bought whole wheat doesn't. It also has a substantially better flavor.

That is a pretty mill. I bake bread often and I also enjoy Cream of Wheat, polenta, and pasta. How is the Wolfgang for milling corn? Other than the choice of wheat is there any method to control the protein and ash content of the flour?

I thought flour had to be aged. Raymond Calvel says: "Flour reaches its optmal level of maturation after a cold-weather rest period of 20 to 25 days." Do you age your flour in the refrigerator when you grind it at home?

[Syzygies]

That is a pretty mill. I bake bread often and I also enjoy Cream of Wheat, polenta, and pasta. How is the Wolfgang for milling corn? Other than the choice of wheat is there any method to control the protein and ash content of the flour?

I thought flour had to be aged. Raymond Calvel says: "Flour reaches its optmal level of maturation after a cold-weather rest period of 20 to 25 days." Do you age your flour in the refrigerator when you grind it at home?

Oops, I'm just seeing this now. I wish I'd seen it when you wrote it.

The Wolfgang Mock mill isn't so great for corn; I've used a hand mill, or a hand mill first. One can adjust to a coarser grind (the mill must be running as one pours in harder grains) then grind again finely if desired; this could do the trick for smaller corn kernels. The broad kernels as one uses for masa are a no-go.

One can control extraction by the choice of sieve, and how many times one sieves. Fantes.com has a selection; I prefer a 12" sieve over an 8 quart stainless steel bowl, for throughput. The finest sieve for pasta, a coarser sieve for bread. As for ash, protein? Yes, grain choice.

I found out about aging flour in Suas (some say he borrows freely from Calvel). Since then, I use 40 parts per million ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in my artisan hearth loaf breads. Yes, this little, and it has a dramatic effect. So dramatic that the idea of taking a gram for health sounds like poisoning myself; I've seen what it does to bread dough. How does one do this? Cut 20:1 with white flour, sieve seven times (like my math paper on card shuffling). Cut that 20:1 with white flour, sieve seven times. One now has a 400:1 blend, and the amounts called for by my spreadsheet are easily measured by an ordinary digital kitchen scale, to sufficient accuracy for the purpose.

I found this topic again, searching eGullet for ruis bread (Ruisreikäleipä). Yes, after the first day from the farmers market (http://www.nordicbreads.com/) it "evolves", there are some hilarious accounts of the stages, online. That hole in the middle is for storage near the kitchen rafters. In parts of Finland where the heating stove was the baking stove, one baked regularly. In parts where there were separate stoves for each purpose, one kept ruis bread a long time.

This account is interesting: http://uralica.com/leipa.htm

I like the bit about shaving bits into a bag for people with poor chewing abilities. I'm reminded of how the invention of masa added a decade to the life expectancy of new world inhabitants, a sacred food if there ever was one.

In any case, I finally made ruis today, and the depth of flavor blew away the farmers market version. I'm rarely this excited by first versions of breads. There is a dearth of actual recipes online, and those that one can find are suspiciously adulterated, e.g. more white flour than rye. (If that's ruis bread, then a French recipe using a teaspoon of curry powder is a curry.) But how much can one say about baking ruis, for an experienced baker with some practice at flatbreads, once one says it is a flatbread made only from 100% rye, salt, water, wild yeast?

I went with 85% hydration, which could actually be low, using water from boiling potatoes. I'd seen potato water online somewhere, and there was a faint but distinct note from the potatoes in the fermentation aroma, which contributed to the depth of flavor. I used 25% starter, converting my usual starter to 100% rye several days earlier. I used 2% salt (all bakers percentages, where the flour is 100%). Autolyse, very long bulk ferment, rolled to 3/4" flats, long proof, baked around 400F for 40 minutes on a stone outside in my ceramic charcoal cooker (http://www.komodokamado.com/, because I have it, an indoor oven would be fine).

Not sure what I'd even change, next time. I believe I'll be working with execution for a while, before adjusting this recipe. I worked by hand, and the dough is sticky, like Marin mountain biking in mud season; use a stand mixer. One is unlikely to develop gluten, but kneading serves also to wet every flour particle, and to create air pockets for the yeast. Controlling what happens to the starch is probably critical here, and for now I have no idea.

[patrickamory]

Fascinating, Syzygies! I urge everyone to click on the Leipä link above - incredible food tradition stories, and a view into a different world.

[nibor]

OK patrickamory, I clicked the Leipä link. Wow, on many counts. At one point they mention "pine flour." What???

So I looked around. This page tells you how you make pine flour for your Finnish bread, as well as other ways to consume a pine tree http://wildblessings.com/2013/03/19/pine-is-fine/