Kneading at the beginning won’t harm anything, just extra work!

Thanks! Zoë

Thanks again for all your help and responsiveness — it’s amazing to have this kind of contact and help from an author.

–Matt

The addition of VWG is something that is done in commercial bakeries, but really only necessary at home when you are skipping the kneading and letting the dough store for up to 2 weeks.

The oils in the ww flour will prevent the crust from ever getting as crispy as the breads made with white flour. I wonder if your breads aren’t slightly under baked, which will effect your crust. The loaf will still release steam as it cools and it softens the crust, but once the loaf is completely cool it should crisp back up. If this is not the case your loaf may be slightly under baked.

Thanks, Zoë

1. I DID use the 4 T of VWG that the recipe called for, but in my other bread recipes I usually use 1T for each cup of flour, so I will try doubling it next time.

2. I DID add an extra half cup of water to the 4 the recipe called for, but next time I will add another half cup to make a total of 5c.

3. i don’t think my fridge is unusually cold, but will try letting the bowl sit out 15 min before pulling out a handful.

I can’t help but wonder, though, how our ancestors managed to get their breads to rise in the days before processing, when all flour was stone-ground whole wheat and you couldn’t buy VWG to add in.

I also plan to try the next batch in my cast iron dutch oven to see if that makes a better crust. Have you ever gotten a crust that stays crusty with 100% WW (I never have), or am I tilting at windmills here?

It will probably be a week or so before I can report back, as I still have a lot of this first batch to use up, and I hate to waste food.

Thanks! — Matt

It sounds like your dough is too dry and the gluten didn’t have enough water to form long strands. You can try adding more water. Did you also add additional vital wheat gluten to the dough? I have found that many people who grind their own flour tend to need a touch more VWG to get nice gluten formation. The home ground flour tends to have larger pieces of bran, which cuts through the gluten and reduces the stretch.

There is also the possibility that your refrigerator is set cold. When my dough is in my basement fridge I often lose some of the stretch. After leaving the bucket on the counter for 15 minutes the dough has a chance to warm up and the stretch comes back.

I suspect it is a matter of the dough being too dry. Add a few more tablespoons of water to the dough and see if that helps.

Thanks, Zoë

The crust softened as it cooled, as always seems to happen with my WW breads — I was hoping this method might produce a crustier crust.

In any case, I still don’t know why there was no gluten development, or whatever you’d call those strands you have to cut with a knife.

–Matt

Just took out the first handful to try baking, and it came right out of the bowl in a lump — no gluten strands, no need to cut it, just came right out in a handful. Any idea what I might have done wrong?

Thanks,

Matt

Thank you for the note, we are thrilled that you are giving the recipes a try. You are right, the US tablespoon is equal to 3 teaspoons.

Are you using the recipes from Healthy Bread in Five? If so, can you find the vital wheat gluten?

Thanks, Zoë