03/28/08

100% Whole-wheat Bread

I ran out of my regular white flour recently and on my way home from work, I stopped by Cold Storage Supermarket and bought myself 5 pounds of Gold Medal stone-ground whole-wheat flour. I thought I'd experiment with 100% whole-wheat flour since I have never made that before. When it comes to whole grain baking, what other reference is there except Laurel's bread book. However, I really wonder if there is a need to knead 600 times as she advocated.

Anyway, I decided to make the bread in my regular way and not knead 600 times. The bread turned out surprisingly well and the flavor is easily one of the best that I have tasted.  I was really afraid that I'll end up with a brick but the crumb was reasonably open and airy. Crust texture was also quite good and it is a lean bread without any honey, sugar or oil.