Going WITH the Grain – How to Think About Bread – Part 3: Making Whole Wheat and Rye Breads

Now that we have examined the basic ingredients in a loaf of bread and experimented with using some milk and oil to soften the texture of bread, I want to follow-up with a short post on how to adapt this information to the baking of whole wheat and rye breads. In order to do this, I need to start by addressing the role of gluten development in bread dough.

I’ll try and make this the world’s shortest introduction to gluten: Flours made from grains like wheat, barley, and rye are composed primarily of starch and proteins. Two particular proteins, glutenin and gliadin, form a network called gluten in the presence of water – so technically, flour doesn’t contain gluten, but gluten begins to form when flour is mixed with water (or other liquid). This network we call gluten is what gives bread dough elasticity (its ability to stretch without ripping) and it is this elasticity that can trap bubbles of carbon dioxide from yeast activity to give bread its desirable rise. Gluten does not form instantly – instead, it develops over time and its formation is greatly accelerated through the process of kneading dough.

“Protein Content” in flour is a way of predicting the extent of gluten formation once the flour has been hydrated – so wheat flours are separated along a spectrum of protein content (i.e. based on their capacity to generate gluten). Pastry flour (a.k.a. cake flour) has a low protein content (typically 8% by weight) – so pastry flour is intended for use it in situations where gluten development is undesirable. Bread flour and all purpose flours have a higher protein content (typically about 13% and 11% respectively) – so these flours are intended for use where gluten development is more desirable.

Bread flour and all purpose flour are wheat flours, but not whole wheat flours. What separates them from whole wheat flour is that they have the fibrous wheat germ and bran removed – the germ and bran of whole wheat flour are responsible for its characteristic taste and texture. Unfortunately, the bran fibers in whole wheat flour can tear-at the gluten structure in dough, thereby weakening its elasticity and interfering with the rise.

Whole grain rye flour also presents this same problem: the bran in rye flour has the tendency to cut the fabric of gluten in dough and interferes with the rise. Also, rye flours have a lower protein content than wheat flours and do not support the formation of a strong gluten network.

Goal – I want to make a loaf of whole wheat and a loaf of rye bread from basic ingredients.

This time, we’ll go back to the hydration from our loaf bread post, and adapt it based on what we covered in the pan pizza post. So, here is my working model expressed using Bakers Percentages:

Total Flour – 100%
Total Liquid – 65% (of the total flour weight)
Yeast – .5% (of the total flour weight)
Salt – 2% (of the total flour weight)
Oil – 6% (of the total flour weight)
Sweetness and Other Desirable Flavors – Within Reason

I’ll be using my 1 lb. loaf pound again here, so let me start with 1 lb. of flour:

Total Flour = 16 oz.
Total Liquid = 65% x 16 oz. = 10.4 oz.
Yeast = .5% x 16 oz. = .08 oz. (I went with 1 tsp.)
Salt = 2% x 16 oz. = .32 oz. (I went with 2 tsp.)
Oil = 6% x 16 oz. = .96 oz. (I went with 1 oz. or about 2 Tbsp.)
Sweetness and Other Desirable Flavors – I’ll address these separately for each type of bread

Here are my working guidelines for baking with whole wheat and with rye flours.

Guideline 1 – Since whole wheat and rye flours generate problems with gluten formation and rise, use bread flour for at least 1/2 (or 50%) of the total weight of flour going into your dough to improve the amount of gluten formed. For rye breads, it is probably better to use bread flour for at least 3/4 (or 75%) of the total flour weight.

Guideline 2 – To compensate for the damaging effects of the bran on the formation of a gluten network in whole grain breads, consider supplementing the protein content in your dough with a little bit of vital wheat gluten. A little bit goes a long way – for these single loaves of bread I made, I included a single tablespoon of vital wheat gluten in the whole wheat loaf and two tablespoons in each of the rye loaves. Because I use such a small amount, I do not bother to include the weight of my vital wheat gluten addition as part of my total flour weight.

Guideline 3 – We covered this in the last post, but I want to mention it again – using milk as your liquid softens the texture of your baked loaf and brushing the exterior of the dough with milk prior to baking softens the crust. I tend to use instant nonfat dry milk mixed with water (I have a large bag of the instant stuff) but you can use your regular milk from the refrigerator if you scald it first and allow it to cool back down to room temperature.

Guideline 4 – A little bit of sweetness works well with whole grain breads – but use it conservatively. I like a little bit of honey in whole wheat breads and a little molasses in rye breads. I don’t like the taste of sugar in basic bread loaves – with sugar, I find that the flavor either disappears or tends to make the baked bread taste sugary (as opposed to sweet).

Guideline 5 – Flavoring Rye Bread – Part of the characteristic flavor of rye bread comes from the addition of caraway seeds – they have a very distinctive sour smell and taste. I add some fennel seeds to my rye bread dough as well – fennel seeds smell like anise (licorice) and give the baked bread a fantastic aroma. Also, to boost the “tang” of rye bread, it is a common practice to use some sour pickle juice as part of the liquid in the bread. Finally, following a recommendation I saw in a recipe years ago, I add a tiny amount of cocoa powder to my rye bread dough – no, it doesn’t make the bread taste chocolate-y, it just adds to the aroma – if you don’t have any cocoa powder or you think cocoa is a stupid thing to add to bread, then just leave it out.

For each of my whole grain breads, I followed the procedure I outlined in the posting on basic loaf bread. For brevity, I’ll verbalize the steps in my procedure below without pictures. I’ll reserve the pictures to show my results.

(1) Make a poolish using half of your flour + an equal amount (by weight) of milk + the yeast + some vital wheat gluten (if you don’t have the vital wheat gluten, simply leave it out – I used 1 Tbsp. for the wheat bread and 2 Tbsp. for the rye breads) – allow this mixture to preferment at room temperature for 10-24 hours. Use the bread flour for this prefermentation to maximize gluten development and retention – by excluding the bran-laced flours here, you prevent sabotaging the gluten structure during this stage of dough flavor and structure development.

Specifics: 8 oz. bread flour + 8 oz. milk + 1 tsp. yeast + optional 1 or 2 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten

(2) The next day, measure out the remaining ingredients (remaining flour, remaining liquid, oil, salt, other flavoring components) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead on low speed for about 10 minutes. Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an oiled bowl and allow it to rise. Dough made using whole grains will not rise as well as dough made using bread flour alone. The bread I made with 50% whole wheat flour rose to about 175% of its initial mass after about 2 hours (doubling in mass would have been 200%). The bread that I made with 50% rye flour barely rose at all – I’d estimate it at only 120% of its initial mass. I also made a 25% rye bread (75% bread flour + 25% rye flour) – it rose better than the 50% rye bread, but still only rose to about 150% of its initial mass.

50% Wheat Specifics: poolish + 8 oz. whole wheat flour + 2.4 oz. milk + 2 tsp. salt + 1 oz. olive oil + flavor (= 2 Tbsp. honey)

50% Rye Specifics: poolish + 8 oz. rye flour + 2.4 oz. pickle juice + 2 tsp. salt + 1 oz. olive oil + flavor (= 2 Tbsp. molasses + 2 Tbsp. caraway seeds + 2 tsp. fennel seeds + 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder)

25% Rye Specifics: poolish + 4 oz. bread flour + 4 oz. rye flour + 2.4 oz. pickle juice + 2 tsp. salt + 1 oz. olive oil + flavor (= 2 Tbsp. molasses + 2 Tbsp. caraway seeds + 2 tsp. fennel seeds + 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder)

(3) The rest of the process carries-on as before. After the dough rises, transfer the dough to the counter and fold it over onto itself a few times (called deflating the dough – what many recipes refer to as “punching-down” – don’t punch your dough – be nice to your dough). Form a dough loaf by rolling the dough into a log shape and placing it into your greased loaf pan. Allow it to rise again – because of the whole grains in the dough, it won’t rise as well as the loaf we made in the first bread post. Before baking, slash the top to enable a full rise in the oven. Added Step – Brush the top of the risen and slashed loaf with milk to insure the crust will be soft. Bake at 425° F for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375° F and continue baking until the internal temperature of the bread is between 195°-200° F (another 30-35 minutes or so – don’t go by time, go by temperature). Cool for about 30 minutes and remove the bread from the loaf pan – then allow the freed loaf to cool for another 30 minutes or so before slicing.

———————

The results are in – here are what my different loaves looked like.

50% Whole Wheat Bread – made with 50% whole wheat flour + 50% bread flour.

Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures of the wheat loaf prior to baking.