Easy Soft bread with whole wheat flour

A lot of kids eat my whole wheat bread and a lot of oldies eat my organic stone ground bread and a lot of everybody eats my bread and the loaf they request most often is CC’s Soft Sourdough Bread.

It is still made with the stone-ground, locally grown flour. Still organic. Still whole wheat. Still simple. Still made by hand in a bowl. Still has that delicious crusty crust but is soft on the inside and the crust is not so crusty-tough that it will pull your dentures out. (And no – none of us have dentures!) YET!!

But we do love a loaf of wholesome bread with a crackly crust on the outside and a soft moist pillowy bite to the inside.

Ingredients:

Starter

• 50g fresh or tired starter

Tangzhong

• 1/3 cup of flour
• 5 x 1/3 cup of water (this is the easiest way for me to remember this ratio) (1 flour to 5 water)

Bread Dough

• 1040 g flour (4.5 cups)
• 780g water ( just under 3.25 cups)
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon ground salt

Instructions:

Sourdough Starter

• 50g fresh starter

Fresh or tired is fine. If you do not have a sourdough starter make a sponge the night before with 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup water and a pinch of yeast. This will add strength to your dough and a little sourness.

OR miss this ingredient out altogether. It is not critical. The sourdough in this recipe is purely to add an additional layer of taste. When adding a tangzhong to a dough I always add yeast to lift it.

Tangzhong

In a little pot whisk together until there are no lumps.

• 1/3 cup of flour (I used Black Emmer but any flour will do).
• 5 x 1/3 cup of water (this is the easiest way for me to remember this ratio) (1 flour to 5 water)

Heat, stirring all the while, until the roux is just thick enough to leave a clear pathway on the bottom of the pot as you stir. COOL.

Final Dough

• 1040g flour (4.5 cups)
• 780g water (3.25 cups)
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground sea salt

Add the water to a well in the flour then add yeast to hydrate. Sprinkle the freshly ground salt all around the dry outer edges. After the yeast is puffed up add the tangzhong to the water and yeast in the well.

Begin whisking in the middle of the well as though you are making a batter, (this will easily combine the roux with the water) then as you whisk; the liquid will slowly collect up more flour. Change to a spatula or your hands and combine.

Remember – there is always a chance you will need a little more water or a little more flour depending on your conditions.

Combine until the dough is forming a ball and coming away from the walls of the bowl then allow the dough to REST.

Stretch and Fold

Rest the dough until it is relaxed and spreading out.

Then Stretch and Fold 3 times in the next hour and rest in between. Place the bowl upside down over the top of the dough when it is resting.

Divide into two loaves. Shape and place in two oiled bowls with wet T Towels on top.

The long pause – to rise

Allow to rise for another hour or two – honestly; proofing times depend entirely on your kitchen, climate, season, altitude, humidity and even air pressure has a lot to do with proofing. Not to mention the protein level in your dough and the freshness of your yeast. Organic stne ground flour will behave differently from a roller mill flour. Your mood too. Do you think your mood affects your dough? I really do. So I will never tell you definitively how long a dough needs for a final proof. But I began to make this dough at 9.30 am, my stretch and fold period was one hour and I finished baking at 2.30 pm.

If you can poke a floured finger into the dough and it does not rise back up fast then you are close.

Score and Bake

Score. Bake at 460F – 480F (depending on your oven) for 50 minutes. Start with the lid on the Dutch Oven and remove the lid after 25 minutes.

Turn the oven on before you think you need it. I bake in cast iron Dutch Ovens so I want these to be super heated.

The bread is baked when you can knock on the crust and it sounds like a wooden door.

Freshly Ground Salt for Bread Making

I always freshly grind salt. I have no interest in the pre-ground packaged salt – it has a nasty metallic taste that I hate plus anti caking agents and bleaching, etc.

Freshly ground pure sea salt from a reputable source is a taste I find hard to describe. It is the epitome of sweet and salty. I much prefer it. Grind the salt in a mortar and pestle (I even have a small travelling ortar and pestle because ALL spices taste better freshly ground). No smashing it up with blades and machines. Stone on stone is best.

Freshly ground salt adds a high salty sweet note to the ‘pallette for the palate’.

Yesterday I found some Celtic Sea Salt in my son’s cupboards. Organic Celtic salt comes from France and though packaged in North Carolina is still imported. But it is so sweet you can lick it off your fingers (and I do!) I am a fan. (Imported though, which is a mark against it but it was in the cupboard already!). 😂

The problem with bread – of course – is I love to eat it.

Today I am eating it with good butter and marmalade. What’s your fav today?

Saint Cecilia

Third son put Saint Cecilia back together again. He will get the right adhesive and is going to make a metal tray that she can slide into. (He can make anything out of metal) That way she cannot be bent so far she breaks again.

Do you see the former break close to her head? My grandfather mended her that time – about seventy years ago – and now his great grandson will mend her again.

I am travelling back to Illinois tomorrow. So I am not sure if I will have time to post. As usual I have to rise at 3.30AM to get to the airport on time. Yikes!

Love Love

Celi