A friend who does not have access to the Internet, asked if I would find a bread-making recipe for brown bread that incorporates whole wheat flour.
Her current recipe which makes a batch of four loaves, uses white flour and oatmeal. She wants to experiment and produce a brown bread that will be healthier, and uses whole wheat flour.
Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.
Yours, aye
Mike Campbell
The so called special recipe is a myth... breadmaking is 10% theory and 90% practice. If she already understood the basics of breadmaking then she can easily adapt the recipe she is used to variations in flour compositions. There is no specific recipe for such bread,it ....it is just like any white bread, but you just have to exercise the same care as with your oatmeal and white flour blend That is mixing the dough may not be extensive as with using pure white flour. You can add your own ingredients such as honey or molasses,butter and even nutmeats to contribute some difference in taste and texture. Let her try using wholewheat flour or much better the coarser wholemeal flour and replace part or totally all the white flour in the recipe. For a start let her use the 60/40 blend by weight of white flour and whole wheat. flour She may have to add more water as they whole wheat flour ( to get the desired dough consistency is absorptive )if compared to white flour. use the hardwheat wholegrain flours and not the softwheat wholegrain flours as that has stronger gluten quality. It is best also to use a strong white flour in admixture with wholegrain flours to get better bread volume. Once she succeeded with partial replacement of white flour with whole grain flours she can increase the ratio of the latter until she reached the point that she is using 100% of the wholegrain flours in her favorite recipe. Its better for her to learn the feel of the dough gradually with her recipe than' jumping to use ' a different recipe she is not familiar with. Roy
Start replacing the oatmeal with WW flour a half cup at a time. Making ALL WW flour bread has never worked for me...since it is so heavy the yeast can't raise the flour.
Experimenting and a couple of dozen batches will get to the exact formula she will like.
The Fine Art of Cooking involves personal choice. Many preferences, ingredients, and procedures may not be consistent with what you know to be true. As with any recipe, you may find your personal intervention will be necessary. Bon Appetit!
As a number of people have commented, making an all whole wheat bread isn't easy. However, it is far from impossible.
I'll give you three pointers. Two are to recipes on my web site. The first is for Myrtle Allen's Brown Bread, a nice and easy yeased recipe from James Beard's "Beard On Bread". I use it as a part of my "Introduction to Baking" section. Look at
Thank you, Roy, Ida, and Mike for your comments, suggestions, and for the Myrtle Allen Brown Bread recipe. All were appreciated and will be passed on to my friend. This is a superb group. The wealthy of knowledge and the generosity with which it is shared is wonderful. Thanks again.
Mike Campbell
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.