Sunday, September 27, 2009

BBA Challenge Week 18—Light Whole Wheat

LtWW-crumb

Recipe #18 - A delightful sandwich bread that I foresee being an excellent dinner roll - Light Whole Wheat.


I'm baking my way through Peter Reinhart's award winning book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, along with 200+ other amateur bakers. Want to join in the madness, or just learn more about this semi-crazy undertaking? Check out the following links:
Light Whole Wheat bread is meant to be a one day bread, but I ran into some problems. I wasn't able to bake over the weekend like I normally do for my BBA Challenge breads, so I improvised. Shocker.

1-LtWW-ingredients

1-LtWW-kneading

I had enough time to mix the dough and let it go through it's first rise but not enough time for a second rise and bake. So I took a chance. I shaped the loaf, put it in the prepared pan — and put it in the refrigerator. I'd planned on baking the next evening but didn't think it through. I should have refrigerated the dough UNshaped, saving that step for the following evening.

When I opened the refrigerator the next morning, I noticed a problem. The dough rose more than expected and was cresting well over the top of the pan. I knew if I let it go until I got home from work, it would be over proofed, so I rolled the dice and took a gamble.

I pulled the pan from the fridge, popped it in the oven and fired it up to bake, letting the bread sit in the oven while the oven preheated. Normally you need to let the dough warm up to room temp before baking but I didn't have the time to wait. I set the oven for 350°F and went about my morning routine, checking on the bread along the way. Once the internal temperature reached the required 190°F, I pulled it out of the oven.

LtWW-OH-slice

It worked! I successfully baked a loaf straight out of the fridge—and had VERY fresh bread for breakfast. The perfect way to start the day, as far as I'm concerned. You can see from the pictures that the top part of the bread, the part that rose in the fridge, is less dense that the rest of the loaf. But that's the ONLY thing I notice that shows me that I took a proofing short cut. The taste was fantastic. It was terrific all on it's own, as toast and as sandwich bread. But I think this would make an ideal dinner roll—soft, flavorful and easy.

LtWW-sliced2

6 comments:

  1. It would be terrific toasted with some of the apple butter I made this weekend! It looks fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another great job, Kelly! I wish I had your fortitude, but I think I'll stick with buying the ready-made loaves. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susie- I LOVE apple butter! Do you make yours on the stove or in a crock pot? Do you can or freeze? I need to pick up a bunch of apples because I want to can some, but I'm thinking some apple butter would be awesome, too. Email me your recipe when you get a chance. Pretty please *bats eyes*. ;)

    Jodi- Thanks! Shhh, don't tell. But I've purchased bread since starting the challenge. Mostly in bun form, though. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice looking loaf. Crazy about the density in the rising. I would never have noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your breads are so high and beautifully textured! Even the slices are perfect. What kind of knife do you use to slice?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Linda - I use the Pampered Chef bread knife. This one: http://qurl.com/jp8dz

    (I just looked for it on their site but it's not there. I don't think they discontinued it, though.)

    It's AWESOME. I love it. Sharp and strong, I've even used it to peel and slice a whole pineapple before I got my PC santoku knife. A great deal at $9 - IF they still have it. I did see listings on ebay.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! Please note that I moderate comments so yours won't show up right away, but do know that I read all of them!

I will gladly answer any questions you have right here in the comments. If you would prefer a reply back via email, just let me know and include your email address. Or you can email me directly at info_kellyluna {at} frontier {dot} com.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...