Whole Wheat Bread

This week I felt like a baking rockstar.
I've only had my blog for about two weeks, but after receiving such positive responses about it, I just felt like handing out my URL to everyone I saw- "here, look at this, its my blog!" and "did you know I had a blog? well I do! check it out!"

So, i guess i got a little ambitious. I decided to try out Peter Reinhart's whole wheat bread. Even though I don't own any of his books (yet), I already know that Peter Reinhart is the bread baking master, with five books about bread baking published and a huge following.

I found this recipe online, and although the soaker/biga method looks difficult and strange, it is SURPRISINGLY EASY. all you do is mix the biga and soaker separately the night before you want to bake the loaf, and then the next day, mix and knead everything together. Even without a kitchenaid (*sigh, i hate being a poor student), it was simple:

Soaker:

• 1 3/4 c (8 oz) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 t (.14 oz) salt
• 3/4 c + 2 T (7 oz) milk, buttermilk, yogurt, soy milk or rice milk

Mix together in a bowl about one minute, leave at room temp. for 12 to 24 hours covered loosely with plastic wrap. Any longer than that, place it in the fridge.

Biga:

• 1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
• 1/4 t (.03 oz) instant yeast
• 3/4 c (6 oz) filtered or spring water (room temp)

Mix all ingredients into a ball then knead with wet hands 2 minutes. Dough will be tacky. Let rest for 5 minutes, then knead again 1 minute. Place in fridge covered tightly with plastic wrap for minimum 8 hours to 3 days. Remove from fridge 2 hours before mixing dough.

Dough:

• all the biga
• all the soaker
• 7 T (2 oz) ww flour
• 5/8 t (.18 oz) salt
• 2 1/4 t (.25 oz) instant yeast
• 2 1/2 T (1.5 oz) honey or agave nectar or 3 T sugar or brown sugar
• 1 T melted unsalted butter or 1 T vegetable oil
• extra flour

1. Chop up the biga and soaker into 12 pieces each and place in a mixing bowl. Add in all other ingredients except extra flour and mix together until combined-(if using a mixer- one min on low, then 2-3 mins. on med. low.)
2. Remove from bowl to a floured work area and knead for 3-4 minutes adding extra flour as needed to get a tacky, but not sticky dough. Let rest for 5 minutes, then knead another 1 minute. Place in an oiled bowl and let it rise for 45-60 mins until it's about 1 1/2 times the original size.
3. Form into whatever type of loaf you wish. If using a pan, use a greased 4x8 1/2" loaf pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise again 45-60 mins. until 1 1/2 x's it's original size.
4. Preheat oven to 425° and place loaf pan in the oven. Immediately turn the temp. down to 350° and bake for 20 mins. Rotate the loaf a complete half turn and bake another 20 to 30 mins. or to 195°

wasn't as fluffy as i would have liked- might be because its 100% whole wheat, may be because of my inexperience with this technique... guess ill have to keep on baking to find out!

I'm submitting this to yeastspotting- http://www.wildyeastblog.com/yeastspotting

yay yeastpotting!