Sunday, April 5, 2009

have not been experimenting much with bread these days...

... probably because i've been baking the same recipe over and over again!

can't seem to tire of current favourite. with more practice and experience, every loaf is getting more and more consistent! also, realized that we have gone 100% white flour free!


100% no white flour, wholemeal and rye bread
  • 3 cups of wholemeal (whole wheat) flour
  • 1 cup of rye flour
  • 1-2 tbsp of honey
  • 1/2 tsp of instant yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • about 1 cup full of seeds - sunflower seed, pumpkin seed and flaxseed.
  • approximately 2 cups of water
have been using the same  recipe above for couple weeks now. only differ in the technique.

  1. if you have time... try the biga method. mix 1 cup of rye flour, 1/4 tsp of yeast and 3/4 cup of water. let it sit overnight (12-16 hours). then mix the rest of the ingredients the next day.
  2. if you don't have time at all. use the same above but increase to 1 tsp instant yeast. go for single rise.
  3. if you have some time but not too much. then mix all the above. let it sit for 3 hours or until doubled in size. then stretch the dough and let it sit for another hour. go for 2 rises.
in all cases, i don't knead at all! there's not much gluten as there's no white flour at all so save your energy. instead let the yeast, water and father time do the work. you'll notice the dough will be kind of wet anyway so you still want to knead this glob of mess?

err, the amount of water is just a rough guide. the dough should feel kind of wet. if it looks a bit dry, add 2 tablespoons of water. in any case, should you decide you need more water, add in increments of 2 tablespoons.

before baking, sprinkle a liberal dose of seeds on top of the dough. some rolled oats look really good too!

as before, bake in a covered tin pan at 180C for 30 minutes, then remove cover and bake for another 15 minutes.

sorry, no pics. by the time i finished this loaf, it was kind of late. but it looks not much different from the other loafs of the approximately same recipe.

12 comments:

  1. Hi BG: I shall try this recipe because I loved the bread you gave us! And no kneading. Cool! But first I must go find my rye flour and wholemeal flour in Jusco. I'm a big cake fan so if you want some easy peasy cake recipes, I can give you some haha.

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  2. i didn't know whether you two will like the bread, so passed only 3 pieces. had i knew... would pass the whole loaf!

    i'm sure very soon you'll bake a much better bread than mine.

    happy baking! and nice to have you guys over!

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  3. BG: I made this bread! You are right. It was so easy...too easy in fact that I felt a bit guilty not having to knead any dough. Nic and I both love the nutty flavour and dense texture. I must try the biga method with this recipe and see if the flavour's any different. On the whole, a success on the first try. Thanks so much for the tips on bread-baking. You are my bread sifu!

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  4. congrats! i baked 2 loaves over the weekend but ran out of rye so went for 100% wholemeal. i think it rose higher than the addition of rye but with rye, there's more depth to the taste.

    enjoy!

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  5. Hi i interest to make this bread, can i subsitute the honey with brown sugar? How many tsp to replace the honey?

    Thank you in advance.

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  6. no problem. brown sugar is fine. i won't lose sleep over the slight loss of liquid. if that bothers you, add back the equal amount of water.

    yeast is quite forgiving.

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  7. Hi I was referred by Maya to seek advice from you. I saw this bread receipe from her blog and have tried it last week. I will say it's almost 90% successful as it looks almost the same as those sold in bakery shop. However the only different is the texture as I find it a bit moist inside when I sliced it. Funny thing is the moist is scatter on few batches or lumps (not the whole bread) as if it is not evenly cooked. I’m not sure what has gone wrong or what is missing, appreciate if you could advise me or give me some pointers to improve.

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  8. hi

    ok. thx for trying out the recipe.

    may i know more details about the type of ingredients you used? type of flour etc? brand?

    did you wait for the bread to cool off completely before slicing? if you were to slice it when it's still hot, then it's definitely moist inside.

    also, did you bake it in the oven for that long? 180c for a total of 45 minutes. 30 minutes cover closed and remainder 15 cover removed.

    the moist part... did you stir the dough mixture properly? i hope there's no clumps of flour inside.

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  9. Thanks for prompt reply. I can't remember the brand of the flour but I did follow exactly the flour that required in your recipe and also all the steps as this is my first time making bread so better not to be too creative. :) Yes I sliced it after it is cool, the moist still exist even I sliced it the next day. The bread was bake for 45 mins BUT it was not baked with covered as it is just a normal loaf tin without cover.

    I also did not notice any clumps in the dough .. but the dough was quite moist and like other bread dough which is dryer, is that correct?

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  10. i meant did you use 100% wholemeal or 50% wholemeal mixed with 50% white wheat flour?

    if you are using 100% wholemeal, the above recipe should work fine.

    anyway, does your oven have a top and bottom heating element? some ovens have this and you have to adjust them to get an even heat throughout the oven.

    i remember i tried using this sort of oven once at my parents' place. the bread turned out to be burnt at the bottom but the top is still not fully cooked. another possibility.

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  11. Hi I just tried it again yesterday using your first method. Have the rye flour sit for an overnight and mixed with the rest of the ingredients and bake it this morning. Using 100% wholemeal wheat flour plus covered the dough when baking unfortunately it turned out the same. The outlook looks good but the bread inside is very moist and sticky. Really don't know what has gone wrong as I have followed each steps closely ... :(

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  12. what's your number? or you could call me at 010-2316026.

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