I found that preheating the pot isn’t necessary. The recipe I use (above) also calls for a second rising; I don’t do that, either. I just quickly plop the raised dough (from the first and only rising) onto the parchment paper and shape it into a ball (with floured hands), and then carefully lower the parchment paper/dough ball into the pot. I trim any parchment paper hanging over the side, then put on the lid and bake.
The bread is so delicious that I don’t make it much anymore. My family can eat it all in one sitting!
Anyone done a good whole wheat recipe? I tried 100% WW flour plus a bit of oats and honey, very dense and not much flavor, I need to make some adjustments
Recipe #2, which I baked today in my cast iron pot:
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (this flour I ground myself from durum wheat berries)
1 cup blanched almond flour
2 tsp kosher salt
1.5 tsp yeast-- I upped the yeast slightly by rounding the measuring spoon instead of leveling it
1 and 2/3 cups water
Both came out very tasty and not very dense.
The almond flour makes a softer crumb and adds both protein and healthy fat.
I like using parchment paper under the dough for the second rise whenever I use almond flour in any significant amount as it contains no gluten so doesn’t add structure to the loaf. It’s easy to pick the loaf up and just put it in the hot pot, parchment paper and all.
I’ve been experimenting, making a variety of loaves, keeping records of each experiment and modifying as needed to improve them.
Sometimes I use a Lodge cast iron 5 quart Dutch oven (not clad with enamel) and sometimes a granite ware enameled steel roaster, which is lightweight and does not need as much time to heat in the oven. The results with the lightweight enameled steel roaster are really good-- it’s this one:
I found using just a cup of whole wheat made this recipe (the no-knead crusty one) at least palatable.
But it’s not as good and I decided that I’d get my nutrients elsewhere.
I find the flavor and texture of bread made with wheat I grind myself is better than the very finely ground whole what flour from the store. I used to use my Vitamix to grind the wheat berries but recently I switched to a coffee grinder that I only use for that, and I don’t grind it too fine.
I think a more WW recipe needs fat/butter and a good amount of salt, maybe not kosher. I’ve used cracked wheat 50-50 with white. I love the little crunch.
When people are saying it doesn’t turn out well with WW flour, is this flour from a bag from the store? I used to bake bread all of the time (at least 8 loaves a week), but I have gotten out of the habit. This recipe looks wonderful, but I always bake with freshly milled wheat. I have never had WW impact my bread negatively, but I also have a DLX and knead my dough. I also always add lecithin bc I like bread texture better with it.
We are actually moving today. Yikes! But our new home has double ovens and I can’t wait to get settled in and start baking. I have bookmarked this recipe to try once we have settled in. I would be interested to know if anyone has used freshly milled WW flour before I try it, though.
This recipe appeals to me bc I wouldn’t have to use my DLX. That is the part that takes effort (and that is really only bc I have to attend it and then clean it up.)
I’m stunned to read posts by two CCers who mill their own flour. I know very, very few people who actually do this. I have a mill and mill my flour for bread baking. When my kids were growing up, I baked weekly for our household needs. My WW bread recipe made 5 loaves at a time. I have an electric mill which can mill 5 lbs of flour in 5 minutes. Super easy.
I recently made this recipe with 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat. While we eat whole wheat bread all the time (meaning that I’m used to the flavor of WW bread), I wasn’t very excited about this particular recipe when done 1/2 and 1/2. I thought that the all white flour version was better.
I’m curious to try @CTmom2018 's version with almond flour.
@bookreader, of the two versions, I liked the second one better. Blanched almond flour is very mild flavored-- you’re not going to taste almonds (that is, it’s not an amaretto or marzipan flavor). It just makes for a lovely texture and a moist and nutritious loaf.
In my home growing up, my mother made all our bread. But she just used white flour. I really enjoy using my own home-milled wheat.
I was the one who started it, I used WW flour from a bag and I used 100% WW flour, added some oats and honey, the same amount of salt as the white flour recipe. The bread was super heavy, super dense (which I don’t mind) but there was something unappealing about it, like the WW just absorbed all the flavor, no salt, no sweet, no flavor. Since my try was just taking the white flour recipe and switching in the WW flour, I thought it might be prudent to ask y’all if there was a best combo to start my new experiment.
