In the Kitchen - Bread Saga Continued

In my pursuit to make a perfect (or even good) homemade whole wheat bread, I have encountered many failures.  Those sit in my freezer right now waiting for Thanksgiving to make into stuffing, so I have not felt entirely defeated as I have high hopes for each subsequent batch of bread.

I shared my honey wheat bread recipe several posts back and continued to work with that recipe, attempting little additions or changes to make it better.  Whole wheat bread seems to have a tendency to get hard and dry.  For people that are used to "Wonder Bread", this whole wheat bread leaves something to be desired.  I have learned a few things in my journey, including things about my own appliances.

A few years ago, we had to replace the lower heating element in our oven.  Other than that, the oven is in fantastic shape so there was no need to waste the money on a new one.  It has worked well ever since except I noticed a tendency to burn things like cookies.  I bought an oven thermometer to compare the "actual" temp to the temp setting I was choosing on the oven and I found that when I set my oven to 350 degrees, it was actually reading 400 degrees on the thermometer inside.  No wonder I was burning stuff!  So clearly, I need to set my oven temp to a lower target and check the internal temp to see what it really is before attempting to bake my bread.

I discovered Wheat Gluten.  Yes, we still eat wheat.  I think if you soak, sprout, and grind your own wheat, there is a good nutritional content to it and it is good for you.  I don't think the flour you buy at the store is very nutritious, as it has been treated to prevent it from going rancid on the shelf and gives many people stomach aches, even if they are not gluten intolerant.  In fact, Celiac disease is not as common as many would think.. more people avoid wheat products and go gluten-free due to their gut reaction to processed flours, not due to an actual gluten intolerance.  I am very supportive of folks that go gluten-free but my family does not need to at this time, as we have fixed the gut issues in the quality of the wheat flour we use.  So why wheat gluten?  Because whole wheat flour does not have a lot of gluten in it and sometimes does not rise as well in yeast breads.  This creates a denser loaf than I like personally so about 1 teaspoon of wheat gluten per cup of flour produces a good rise in my recipes and a softer, airier loaf.

The pan you use can make a difference too!  I only owned glass loaf pans until yesterday when I found some pretty good metal ones at a thrift store for 99 cents each.  I priced the metal ones at Bed, Bath, and Beyond yesterday and they were running 15 - 20 dollars each.  Ouch!!  When baking in a glass pan, it is recommended to lower the temp of the oven by 25 degrees from what the recipe is calling for.  I have practiced this religiously since I have a tendency to burn things but this makes it even more complex for me when already having to adjust for my oven temp issues.. so I am switching to metal pans.

I have also discovered that adding a "dough enhancer" to homemade bread is helpful.  These are ingredients that improve the texture, taste, and crust of the bread.  They include Gluten, acid, starch, and sugar.  We have the gluten as above, the sugars are in the form of honey.  We just need a little more acid and a little more starch.  Yesterday I used a bit of homemade yogurt as a dough enhancer and even though my bread clearly had issues coming out of the oven, it was one of the best tasting breads I have made to date!  There are many items in your kitchen and that you can buy to enhance your dough.  I am going to experiment with yogurt, vinegar, eggs, gluten, and other items.  You can find recipes for dough enhancers on the web that include gelatin, citric acid, powdered milk, ascorbic acid, pectin, ginger, and other ingredients that I don't readily have in my kitchen. 

So yesterday's experiment with bread was a new whole wheat bread recipe.  It had basically the same ingredients as my previous one in the same proportions.  The difference was the addition of a bit of "greek yogurt" as a dough enhancer.  I had some homemade yogurt in the refrigerator so felt lucky!  The baking was a little different in that it asked me to put the loaves in a cold oven and set the temp to 350, calling for a baking time of 32 - 40 minutes.  I followed directions to a "T" and checked the bread at 35 minutes.  Clearly not done.  Did not sound hollow enough when tapped on the top and the crust was not brown enough.  Back in the oven for 10 more minutes....  when removed that time, I checked it with a thermometer for the internal temp, which on wheat bread should be 200 - 210 degrees.  The smaller loaf read the appropriate temp but the bigger loaf did not.  Back in the oven for 10 more minutes with the bigger loaf.  Here is what happened to those loaves.

This is the smaller loaf that showed the correct internal temp.  This was taken about 1/2 hour after removing from oven.  See the dent on top?  That has happened to every loaf that has come out undercooked in the middle.  I fear it might not be done all the way through but the crust was plenty done.  Gave this loaf to Grandpa and Grandma last night.

The bigger loaf was put in longer and when removed I only let it cool for about 20 minutes before trying to remove it from the pan.  Big mistake.... here is the result.  The "muffin top" came off!

You might be able to see that the very middle was still apparently not baked completely through.  There might have been too much rise in it and maybe too airy and light?

Since this last episode I have read that you should not disturb or cut your bread for at least 2 hours after removing it from the oven.  That may have been why my bigger loaf broke and because I did not disturb my littler loaf for about 3 hours, it may be fine when my grandma cuts into it.

But I will tell you this:  That yogurt in there sure made the consistency of this loaf heavenly!  I will use dough enhancers from now on!  And I will not cut my bread or remove it from the pan early.  The quest for the perfect baked loaf of bread in this house continues and I only have one more week to find something valuable to do with the ruined loaves...unless I make Christmas stuffing too! 

If you have any hints for making the perfect loaf of bread, include some comments below.  BTW:  I only used 1/4 cup of yogurt for my 2 loaves of bread, in case you are wanting to use it as a dough enhancer yourself!!