100% Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread

At last! After months and months of experimenting I’ve finally nailed the 100% Whole Wheat Bread baking.

If you’ve browsed through the archives you may have noticed my obsession with bread making. And not just any bread making but the no-knead technique brought to the attention of the masses (I’m totally the masses and love it!) by the New York Times back in November 2006.  I’ve baked many many loves.  For the most part they have all been delicious but have varied in success based on my flour ratios, add-ins, moisture etc.  The goal has always been to make a fabulous all whole wheat loaf.

After A LOT of research I came across a site (mentioned in my last post about the bread) that suggested using Gluten Flour.  At the time I hadn’t even heard of gluten flour but I went over to my local Bulk Barn and picked some up and got to baking.  I tried it first on a loaf with a white/whole wheat mix.  The loaf was great and rose very well.  I knew that 100% would be next.

For my maiden voyage into the 100% whole wheat effort I used of course 3 cups of whole wheat flour, about 3tbsp of gluten flour, just shy of 2 cups of water and the usual recommendations for salt and yeast.  I have to say the results were great.  The loaf wasn’t too dense but it had the great nutty whole wheat flavour.  The loaf rose well, not as great as my last mixed loaf but pretty impressive for the whole wheat.  Part of me thinks that I left it to rise for too long.  I didn’t time things out properly so the first rise was about 20hrs.  Next time I’d monitor it more closely so that I wouldn’t lose any height in the first rise.

Definitely delicious and a great alternative to buy airy supermarket loaves with HFCS.  Also a great alternative to buying $6 loaves at the bakery or gourmet shop.  Now that I think of it… I kind of want to put another loaf together…