Whole wheat bread: the recipe

At a glance

• Method: Preferment, without autolyse
• Preferment: Leftover dough — 25% of the flour
• Mixing: Stand mixer

• Number of pieces: 2
• Weight per piece: 680 g
• Preferment weight: 323 g
• Dough weight: 1034 g
• Total dough weight: 1360 g

Want to change the number of pieces, their weight or anything else? The calculator redoes the quantities. Open the calculator

Ingredients

Quantities for 2 pieces of 680 g, kitchen at 21 °C

Want to change the ingredients or use your own flour? The calculator redoes quantities and timing. Open the calculator

Method

1. Pasta di riporto: make it and let it ferment (at room temperature) (14 hours)

   • Weigh the ingredients
   • Make a mix with 1 ice cube and 106 g of water at room temperature (to get it to 18 °C)
   • Dissolve the yeast in the water
   • Mix until you get a smooth dough
   • Seal it airtight (a lid, or plastic wrap pressed onto the surface)
2. Weigh the ingredients and knead (30 min)

   • Use water at 22 °C

   Add the pâte fermentée last.
3. End of mixing, start of bulk rise (at room temperature) (2 hours)
4. Reinforcement fold 1 of 3
5. Reinforcement fold 2 of 3
6. Reinforcement fold 3 of 3
7. Divide/shape: weigh and form the pieces (5 min)

   • Divide into 680 g (1.5 lb) pieces, preshape lightly into rounds and place on a lightly floured work surface, covered with plastic.
   • When the dough has relaxed sufficiently (10 to 15 minutes), shape into round or oval loaves and place them into floured bannetons or between the folds of a floured linen couche, covered with plastic.
   • It can also be put in loaf pans or shaped into rolls.
8. Start of proofing (at room temperature) (1 h 15 min)
9. Ready to cook

   Slash the loaves as desired before loading the oven.

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Baking

1. • conventional oven, with steam
   • Overall temperature: 230 °C
   • Time: 40 minutes
   • Double steam (before loading and again right after). Once the loaves have taken on colour, open the vent to finish the bake drier — the honey brings a lot of colour to the crust, so lower the temperature by 5-10 °C if it's darkening too fast.

The calculator adapts baking times to the weight of your pieces. Open the calculator

Preparation notes

Bassinage

If mixing with a stand mixer or spiral mixer, pour in the last 20% of the water gradually, in a thin stream, only after the gluten network has formed.