Another fresh yeast loaf, this one needed quite a bit of preparation. Wheatgerm toasted and wheatgrains simmered, while I prepped the water, orange juice, honey and flour. The advantage of this loaf, though, is that it needs virtually no kneading! Just 10 seconds, rest for 5 minutes, knead for 10 seconds, rest for 5 minutes, knead for 10 seconds and rest for a final 10 minutes. Then shape and leave in the tin to rise (final prove). The reason for this is that kneading and rising for extended periods will lead to the bran tearing the gluten (apparently!) - wholemeal flour plus wheatgerm doesn't give enough stretch to cope with the 'normal' breadmaking process. So I learned that wholewheat flours should be treated as if they contain less gluten, which means handling the dough less and giving it a shorter initial rise.
The photo below shows my loaf ready for it's final prove - which only took an hour (including the time to cook the wholewheat grains)...
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| ready for final prove |
Final prove was meant to take 1.5hrs but after that time the loaf seemed to have risen v little... Hmmm... Well, again, oven-spring did the trick!!!
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| wheatgerm loaf |
A lovely loaf! Couldn't taste the orange juice, but it was slightly sweet thanks to the honey, and had a nice dense crumb.. but definitely NOT a "brick" :-)
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