100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread–Very soft Bread with sponge and soaker

 

In one line about this bread is - "One of the best breads I have baked"... Whenever I make whole wheat flour for breads, it is notorious for its dense and heavy texture.. But this bread will change all that... It was super soft, perfect texture and was delicious... I am sure I will baking this quite often.. Thanks to Aparna for choosing this bread for this month's We Knead to Bake from the very famous Chef - Peter Reinhart. This also goes to this month's BM for Your favorite celebrity chef recipes..


Ingredients for the SoakerWhole Wheat Flour - 1 3/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
Water - 3/4 cup
Vinegar - 1 table spoon
Ingredients for the Biga / SpongeWhole Wheat Flour - 1 3/4 cup
Instant Yeast - 1/4 tea spoon
Milk - 3/4 cup
Vinegar - 1 table spoon
Ingredients for the doughAll of the soaker
All of the Biga
Vital Wheat Gluten - 1 table spoon
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon to 3/4 tea spoon
Whole Wheat Flour - 1/3 cup
Instant Yeast - 2 tea spoon
Oil - 2 table spoons
Honey - 3 table spoons
Method
Mix all the ingredients of the soaker well and keep it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 12 - 24 hours on room temperature
Mix all the ingredients for the biga and keep it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 8 - 24 hours in the fridge. This can be stored for up to 3 days.
On the day of making the bread, remove the biga from the fridge at least 2 hours prior to starting.
Cut the biga and the soaker into 12 parts each with a sharp serrated knife. So now you have 24 pieces of dough
To a mixer, add the biga and soaker pieces and knead it well for 3 minutes
Now add all the ingredients of the dough except the flour and knead it until it is all well mixed
Now add the flour slowly and knead it for 3 -5 minutes until when the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl.
Grease a bowl with oil and keep the dough in it for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until double in volume covered with a plastic wrap
In the middle, slowly fold the dough over itself once and keep it back covered loosely with a plastic wrap.
Grease a 9x5 loaf tin well and set aside.

Punch the dough and pat it to a rectangle of 8x12
Fold the dough tightly like a business letter to 8x4 size and place it in the oiled loaf tin
Cover it loosely with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour or until it rises an inch or two above the loaf pan
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Bake it in the preheated oven for 40 - 45 minutes until the top is deep golden brown and a hallow sound comes
Allow it to cool completely for about 2 hours and then slice..


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#33.