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A light dough using whole wheat flour?
A while back I was watching this TED talk about bread where Peter Reinhart talks about how to make a light dough using whole wheat. He calls his method: the Epoxy Method. Because you do 2 batches of goo and mix them together, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I must say I obsessed about it, and after a few tries I was able to make a pizza dough using the Epoxy Method.
After a few tries I was able to get there
Baker's percentage primer:
Assume that 100% means the the total percentage of flour by weight
Every other ingredient weight is measured in percentages of total
Ingredients:
For this pizza dough I'm using
60% bread flour
40% whole wheat flour (fine ground)
80% water
2% salt
Don't be afraid of the 182%, it is in baker's percentage (see comment for more info)
Instant yeast (reasonable amount)
So assume that you plan to use 1000g (1kg) of flour (combined bread and whole wheat)
You would have:
600g bread flour
400g whole wheat flour
800g of water (or 800 ml as water has 1:1 ratio volume to mass)
and 20 g of salt
All that and 2 packs of instant yeast for that amount.
And that is all that you need for this.
A while back I was watching this TED talk about bread where Peter Reinhart talks about how to make a light dough using whole wheat. He calls his method: the Epoxy Method. Because you do 2 batches of goo and mix them together, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I must say I obsessed about it, and after a few tries I was able to make a pizza dough using the Epoxy Method.
After a few tries I was able to get there
Baker's percentage primer:
Assume that 100% means the the total percentage of flour by weight
Every other ingredient weight is measured in percentages of total
Ingredients:
For this pizza dough I'm using
60% bread flour
40% whole wheat flour (fine ground)
80% water
2% salt
Don't be afraid of the 182%, it is in baker's percentage (see comment for more info)
Instant yeast (reasonable amount)
So assume that you plan to use 1000g (1kg) of flour (combined bread and whole wheat)
You would have:
600g bread flour
400g whole wheat flour
800g of water (or 800 ml as water has 1:1 ratio volume to mass)
and 20 g of salt
All that and 2 packs of instant yeast for that amount.
And that is all that you need for this.
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Signing UpStep 1The morning before pizza time
Making the first goo: The Soaker
Lets assume that you are using my 1kg as the full weight of flour.
In one bow add all the whole wheat flour and the same weight of water (400g)
Important: No yeast on this bowl, only water and flour.
Cover and reserve.
This mix will soak water but not grow, so there's no need for a huge bowl.
The second goo: Biga
Now, here you need a large bowl.
Add the same weight of flour and water and one pack of instant yeast, mix with a fork and leave covered in a warm place.
This is called biga in bread making in Italy or (Tuscany at least)
Keyword: large. This biga will grow and might overspill
Let both bowls rest until the afternoon when we make the dough
But why?
The idea is autolyse. That happens when the enzymes alter the proteins of the flour and specially of the bran.
Autolyse releases flavor and also make the water be better absorbed.
The resulting dough very relaxed, pliable and elastic.
Lets assume that you are using my 1kg as the full weight of flour.
In one bow add all the whole wheat flour and the same weight of water (400g)
Important: No yeast on this bowl, only water and flour.
Cover and reserve.
This mix will soak water but not grow, so there's no need for a huge bowl.
The second goo: Biga
Now, here you need a large bowl.
Add the same weight of flour and water and one pack of instant yeast, mix with a fork and leave covered in a warm place.
This is called biga in bread making in Italy or (Tuscany at least)
Keyword: large. This biga will grow and might overspill
Let both bowls rest until the afternoon when we make the dough
But why?
The idea is autolyse. That happens when the enzymes alter the proteins of the flour and specially of the bran.
Autolyse releases flavor and also make the water be better absorbed.
The resulting dough very relaxed, pliable and elastic.
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I copy now from there:
Working with Baker’s Percentages
From a physicist point of view a baker’s world is a very odd one percentage wise.
It is a place where a recipe can be made with 70% of this plus 50% of that and 120% of another that; and all seems normal. But there’s a trick to it: Bakers bake; More to the point bakers bake flour with stuff.
All comes down to flour in a baker centric view. In any recipe the weight of the other ingredients must be comparable to the amount of flour. So for the sake of sanity someone decided that total weight of flour is always 100%.
A regular bread is 100% flour, 60 to 70% water, 2% salt and some yeast(yeast is a cheater). Do that with 1kg of flour or 10kg the ratio keeps the same.
This dough is somewhat wet. we are doing 60% bread flour, 40% whole wheat flour (hence the 100%) and 80% water (which normally would be a lot), 2% salt and 2 doses or packs of instant yeast.