I made bread from stone ground whole wheat flour using the following recipe in a 1 pound Panasonic bread machine:
The bread rose only to about half the size of a regular bread flour bread. It is edible and tasted good but a bit dense and heavy. I used the whole wheat cycle.
Is this normal? What should I change to get it to rise more? Thanks for any help. Nathan
Yes, it is normal. 100% whole wheat bread will never rise as much as white flour or mixed white/whole grain loaves. Basically the bran present in the whole grain interfers with gluten development. (Minor side note - many people confuse a high protein flour with high gluten. Not the same. Gluten is formed by the hydration and kneading action to form the protein molecules into long gluten chains. If you lack proper hydration, complete kneading or have something like bran in the dough that interfers with gluten development, you won't get a high rising dough even with a high protein flour.)
Some people add extra vital gluten to their dough to help (though apparently that didn't satisfy your objective.) Others use a mix of white/whole grain flours - a 50:50 mix still gives a very good rise but give a good whole-grain taste. Or you can just accept that a 100% whole grain bread is just going to be different than a white bread.
Hi Nathan,
In a word: "Yes."
What you describe seems pretty normal to me. Breads made from whole wheat (that is, with no added white flour) are typically much more dense then those made with the addition of white flour.
I have read that the reason is that the bran is rather sharp (mt the microscopic level) and cuts into the bubbles that would otherwise contain the gas produced by the yeast.
HTH,
But 1.25 C water vs 2C flour, which is already in the high percentage to me. 1.25C=300g water. I'm not sure about the weight of your one-cup flour, but it can't be more than 150g/cup, can it?
I think you already have more than enough. My standard, never fail whole grain ABM recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of water to 1 pound (~4 cups) of flour. That would be 3/4 cup in your 1 pound recipe. Too much water will cause the bread to collapse back after rising. I also use 2 tablespoons of oil, which would be 1 in your recipe.
My two-pound recipe:
1 1/2 cups of water 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 2 tablespoons oil 1 pound whole grain flour (I use 2 ounces of oats and the rest whole wheat flour) 2 tablespoons powdered milk 2 tablespoons sweetener (sugar, honey, molasses) 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (not gluten flour) 2 teaspoons yeastWith the oats I like to use the timed cycle and have the oats go into the water first so they can soak.
Karen
One cup of AP flour is 120 or 125g/cup depending on who you ask.
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