No Knead 40% Whole Wheat Bread

I love whole wheat and multi-grain bread!  It is a must have for my power sandwiches packed full of fresh vegetables, sprouts, thinly sliced meat and cheese with just a little homemade mayonnaise and a smidgen of mustard.   Whole wheat and multi-grain breads tend to be dense breads with a low rise and small pores.  There are a few ways to improve the rise and pore size in homemade whole wheat and multi-grain breads (eg. add gluten or lecithin, use part all purpose flour).  I decided to make a batch of 40% whole wheat dough for cold fermentation. 

40% Whole Wheat Artisan Dough
(cold fermentation)

2 c whole wheat flour
4½ c unbleached flour
1½ tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp instant yeast
3 c warm water

Mix the dry ingredients.  Pour in the water and mix well.  Let sit lightly covered until bubbly.  Place in refrigerator with lid on container but not snapped tight.  Cut the desired amount off to make a loaf of bread.  Shape into boule on floured board then transfer to lightly floured parchment paper.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Let rest for at least 2 hours.   During the last half hour of the dough resting, heat oven to 425° - 450°F.  Pour about 2 c of water into enamel coated cast iron Dutch oven.  Preheat the Dutch oven in the oven for 30 minutes.  When the Dutch oven is preheated pour out any remaining water.  Slash the top of the dough.  Carefully pull the corners of the parchment together to form a sling.  Transfer paper and dough into the Dutch oven.  Cover and bake 40 to 50 minutes depending on size of loaf.  Remove the lid and continue baking until crust is golden brown.
 

The 40% whole wheat dough was sticky but not as sticky as that made using only unbleached flour.   I cut a generous portion of dough from the refrigerated cold fermented dough.  I formed it into a boule on a lightly floured board then gently rocked the top of the dough back and forth in a mixture of unbleached flour and oats for the topping.  I covered the prepared boule with plastic wrap then let rest for 3 hours.

During the last half hour of the dough resting, I preheated the Dutch oven at 425°F.  I find I am getting nicer results baking at 425°F rather than 450°F that some are using.  Quite often the temperature has to be adjusted slightly to get the desired results with your oven as ovens do vary slightly.  Ovens can also have hot spots that will require shifting baking vessels and pans to prevent burning.  This is less of a problem with newer ranges especially those with convection ovens.  It may take a bit of trial an error to get the temperature just right.  Start with the recommended 450°F and adjust as needed from there, starting by reducing the uncovered bake time from 15 minutes. 

I was impressed with the results!  The loaf of no knead 40% whole wheat bread had a tantalizing aroma.  Even though it was a smaller loaf of bread, the crust was nicely baked to a golden brown with no scorch marks.  I was rather pleased with the way the slash came out.  It had a nice homemade rustic look with the rolled oats topping.  Doesn't it look delicious?

I could not wait to cut into this gorgeous loaf of bread but had to wait until dinner time.  Once the bread had cooled, I carefully wrapped it in a t-towel.  This kept the crust  crispy and interior tender until ready to cut.

As expected the pores in the no knead 40% whole wheat bread were small, indicating a dense loaf.  However, the interior was soft and tender contrasting nicely with the crispy, chewy crust.  The bread was nicely flavoured as well.  The flavour differed from other homemade whole wheat breads that typically have honey or molasses as an ingredient which adds to the flavour.  This bread had more of the wheat flavour.  It was a very lovely loaf of bread that was declared a keeper in terms of flavour, texture and appearance.  The only thing I would tweak with this bread is perhaps adjusting slightly to get a bit larger pore formation. 

The more that I have worked with the cold fermented doughs, both unbleached all purpose and whole wheat based, the more I like them.  Most bread recipes make a specific sized loaf of bread, not that you can't divide it down to make two smaller loaves, but once the dough is made it needs to be all baked at the same time.  During the week it is usually just the two of us with a routine of eating dinner out Tuesdays and Fridays most weeks when home, and averaging 4 dinners out a week when at our vacation home.  The majority of our breakfasts and lunches are not eaten out at either home so we still go through a fair amount of bread.  Homemade bread is best used the same day or the next but it does not keep well.  It can be froze but I prefer not to use my valuable freezer real estate for freezing breads.  The beauty of the larger batch cold fermented doughs is you cut off the amount you need which works well for us.  I can make a smaller loaf of bread that will get used up within a day but if need be make a larger loaf using the same dough simply by cutting off a bigger piece of dough.  In that respect, the cold fermented doughs are very well suited to cooking for one or two people. 

No Knead Raisin Bread

Bread making is very much trial and error when moving outside of your comfort zone.  I have made kneaded bread ever since being a newlywed.  When the kids were home, I made a lot more bread but now average 2 loaves a week, more if entertaining.  Back in the early 1990's, I modified some of our favourite bread recipes to use in a bread machine while still making bread by hand.   In early 2007, I was once again modifying bread recipes to use with my new Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  Up to the past couple of weeks, most of the bread I made was with the aid of the stand mixer which does indeed simplify bread making.  While making a wide variety of very good homemade breads, baking a good crusty bread eluded me until now.

When I made the first batch of no knead crusty bread (room fermentation) the five minutes a day artisan bread dough (cold fermented) I fully intended to do a bit of experimenting.  The artisan boule made with the plain dough was an amazing loaf of bread!  Encouraged by that and knowing that the dough would make an outstanding loaf of bread, I started experimenting with additions.  Next, I made a cheesy garlic onion bread that had excellent flavour but clearly showed the addition of cheese would require a few modifications.   Then I made a cheesy bread that my husband declared the best ever. 

Finally, I made a loaf of raisin bread and two crusty rolls to use up the remainder of the cold fermented dough.  The dough will keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.  I expected the sourdough tang would increase the longer the dough was in the refrigerator.  It did increase but the tang peaked then leveled off by the third loaf of bread.  That was a bit disappointing but my goal of experimenting with the cold fermented dough was to create a good crusty bread with crisp, chewy crust and soft interior.  At the same time, because the sourdough tang levels off, the dough is a bit more versatile with respect to adding extra flavours.

Raisin bread has been a traditional family favourite since those early newlywed days.  I have made it so many times, the recipe is firmly engrained in my head.  One of the sites I visited while looking for ideas using both fermented doughs mentioned using the dough for raisin bread.  I cut off a piece of the cold fermented dough then flattened it on a floured board with my fingers, sprinkled with sugar cinnamon and raisins then rolled the dough jelly roll style the way I would when making my normal kneaded raisin bread.  Then I tucked the ends and continued forming the boule.  In theory, this should have resulted in the sugar and cinnamon forming a swirl effect in the cut slices.  I didn't slash the bread but in hind sight should have as it may have prevented the formation of the large empty cavity at the top of the loaf.  I baked the loaf in a covered enamel Dutch oven for 40 minutes at 425°F then removed the lid and baked for 5 minutes.

The raisin bread had a nice flavour and the inside texture was soft.  The crust was more crisp than crisp and chewy.  I will try making another loaf using the cold fermented dough to see if I can improve the results.  I will modify the method of incorporating the sugar, cinnamon and raisins into the dough but first I would like to make one loaf using the same jelly roll method but slash the top to see if that helps.  I'll report back on the results.

Five Minutes a Day Artisan Bread

After one of my kids told me I could bake bread in my new enamel Dutch oven, I was on a quest.  A bit of research quick found Jim Lahey's No Knead Crusty Bread recipe that originally appeared in The New York Time's Minimalist column.  Others have used that recipe as a starting point, modifying the amounts of yeast, salt and water as well as adding a wide range of other ingredients but the basics of making this bread are the same.  Jim himself has modified the original method to shorten the fermentation time.  Jim's method relies on a lot of water to make a sticky dough, little yeast and a fermentation period of 12 to 18 hours then after forming the loaf, it is left to rise for 40 minutes and finally baked in a pre-heated Dutch oven.  My first loaf of no knead crusty bread was a huge success!  Searching for more ideas using Jim's method, I stumbled upon a YouTube video of how to make artisan bread in five minutes a day.  The no knead method was created by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe François who have written three cookbooks using their method.  Their method involves making a larger batch of dough, let it ferment 2 to three hours until bubbly then refrigerate the dough, cutting of a piece when you want to make a loaf of bread.  Well, that certainly had my interest!

One thing I have noticed is regardless of who created the original method, the amount of yeast invariably is modified by whoever is making the dough.  Basically, if they don't get a good rise the first time, they increase the yeast.  A low rise can be due to insufficient fermentation period.  Even though a recipe says to let the dough rise 40 minutes, there is no problem with letting it rise longer.  In fact, the recipe I used for the no knead crusty bread was 40 minutes but I found several who were letting it rise as long as 2 hours.  The gluten content in the flour can also affect the rise.  I use Canadian flour made from Western hard wheat which is superior to flour made from soft wheat for bread making.  Getting a good rise with any yeast dough has never been a problem for me.  If you have a problem getting a good rise from the dough, adding gluten flour or lethicin granules to the dry ingredients will remedy the problem or you can use bread flour. 

I modified a recipe that had been modified from the master dough recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe François.  That recipe had been modified to use a bit more yeast and the method modified to use a Dutch oven.  Jeff and Zoe use a tray of water in the oven under the baking loaf of bread.  I modified that recipe to use unbleached flour, instant yeast and sea salt and like the video, I just cut off the amount of dough I wanted to use rather than weigh it out.

Basic Five Minute a Day Artisan Dough

6½ c unbleached flour
3 c warm water
2 tbsp instant yeast
1½ tbsp sea salt

[method as follows in the commentary]

I had to buy a larger covered container for this dough as it does double in size at the stage before being refrigerated.  I bought a 5.74 L (24.26 c) BPA free, food grade plastic container to use for this purpose.  I liked the lower design of this label but in hindsight one of the smaller plastic pails from the doughnut shop would have worked as well except I didn't have an empty one.

After dumping the dry ingredients in a , I mixed them together with a fork.  Once the dry ingredients were mixed, I poured in the warm water and started mixing with a fork.  It quickly became apparent that the best way to mix this dough was with my hands.  It was a bit slow going.

Once the dough was fully mixed, it was definitely sticky with a shaggy appearance.  It was just slightly stiffer than the no knead crusty bread dough but not by much.  At this point, I covered the container with the lid but did not snap it down tightly.  This allowed the gases to escape during the fermentation period at room temperature.

The two characteristics of this bread dough that set it apart from kneaded bread doughs is the shaggy appearance and high moisture content.  The moisture content is what will create the crispy, chewy crusty and moist interior of the bread.  Like the no knead crusty bread, the best way to achieve these results is baking in a Dutch oven although Zoe uses the water in a tray under the baking loaf of bread method. 

I let the dough sit for about 2½ hours at room temperature until it was nice and bubbly.  The key thing to look for is this bubbly appearance before refrigerating.  It may take more or less time depending on how warm your kitchen is.  Don't rush it!  Once the dough was nice and bubbly as pictured, I put the lid on the container but did not snap it down and put the container in the refrigerator.

In all honesty, the Five Minutes a Day is a bit misleading, actually quite misleading.  To use this dough, you cut off a piece the desired size then shape it into the desired shape.  So that part does take about five minutes.  However, the shaped dough must then sit for at least two hours to rise, then it bakes for a total of 65 - 75 minutes.  In terms of time, a kneaded bread (and I do make a lot of kneaded) can be made in that same time frame.  In short, there is no time savings at all.  The only thing eliminated is the kneading.  The second observation with this method is the container is large, and it has to be large to accommodate the bubbly dough.  A container this large takes up a lot of refrigerator space that can be a problem for some.  However, there are two benefits to using the Five Minute a Day Artisan Bread method. 

The long, cool fermentation results in an outstanding bread with a nice flavour and rise.  As the dough continues to ferment in the refrigerator it develops the tang of sourdough, becoming stronger the longer it fermentss.  So, this is a very easy way to make faux sourdough bread.  True sourdough bread uses a starter without any additional yeast added.  Ideally the Five Minute a Day Artisan Bread method is meant to make five loaves of bread over five days.  In reality, this is not feasible for some folks, including ourselves as we use three to four loaves of bread per week.  I actually made my first loaf of bread from the fermented dough two days after it first went into the refrigerator.  Now, the no knead crusty bread (12 - 18 hr room temperature fermentation) was excellent but the loaf made with the cold fermentation (Five Minute a Day method) was outstanding!

Both the no knead crusty bread and five minute a artisan day bread dough methods have their pros and cons.  Both give above average results.  I am now on to experimenting with both recipes, tweaking bake times and temperature just slightly to get the bottom crust just right.  I am also experimenting with additions.  I will share the results of the experiments as they become available.