How to bake your homemade wholegrain bread

Wholegrain bread is a well-known suggestion for a healthier nutrition, replacing the less nutritious white flour one. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s difficult to find it. Even worse, wholegrain breads are often sold like that but have actually a small real proportion of that flour. But now we will have the solution in our hands. Literally.

With these proportions, you get a loaf of bread of approx. 3/4 kg.

I have to admit that it takes a bit of practice to master the kneading and baking technique. Along the way, we may make mistakes that harm or even ruin the final result, but I hope to be able to give you here all the advice from my experience in order to minimize the risks.

Procedure:

Put the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl. Mix and create a hole in the center to pour half of the water into it. Mix briefly with a spoon and add the rest of the water. Continue mixing until having incorporated all the flour. At that point, continue kneading by hand on a clean wooden board. For this, I usually spread my hands with a few drops of olive oil, in this way the dough doesn’t stick and the work is much easier.

After a few minutes, the dough will be completely integrated. Sprinkle with a little flour or brush it with olive oil, and put it in a bowl. Coating it with this layer will prevent it from sticking. Cover with food film to prevent it from oxidizing due to contact with the air, and let it rest for at least half an hour in a warm place. After that time, the dough will have fermented and doubled in size.

Again, sprinkle a little of flour over the wooden board and knead for a few minutes with movements like folding the dough from the outside to the center. With this movement we manage to avoid losing the air inside the dough, which will be responsible for making the bread more fluffy. Remember to sprinkle a little more flour if the dough starts to stick. When the “bun” has a smooth, even texture, it’s ready.

Finally, arrange parchment paper in the oven tray (although I like to use a mold) and form the loaf of bread. I usually brush it with a little extra virgin olive oil, since this way the crust browns better. Cover with a kitchen towel. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 degrees, and when it’s really hot (and not before) bake the loaf for approx. 50 minutes.

By then, the crust will have browned. But to check if the bread is done inside, prick it with a knife or toothpick, which should come out clean. Also, when you flip it over and tap it lightly, the sound should be dry and hollow.

When it’s ready, don’t rush to cut it. Let it rest on a rack to let it warm up and let the residual heat inside finish doing its job.

Tips and tricks:

1. The lukewarm water in the kneading allows to activate the yeast, which does not happen efficiently when the water is either too cold or too hot.
2. Replace part of the water for full-fat milk, to obtain a fluffier bread.
3. It is important not to use more liquid than the indicated proportion (70% hydration of the flour), since we would obtain a hard and pasty dough. As a result, the bread will not bake completely and will be raw inside.
4. If desired, add a little extra virgin olive oil to the bowl while kneading, although for some people this is actually more typical of pizza dough.
5. After having let the dough to rest and having kneaded the „bun“, depending on each school, it’s possible to repeat the previous steps (let it rest for a new fermentation and knead one or even two more times). Some bakers boast of letting the dough ferment for up to 24 hours.
6. When baking the loaf, it is advisable to put it next to a small bowl with a little water, so that moisture circulates through the oven during the baking process.
7. Once you have mastered the steps, you can experiment and divide the dough into different shapes and sizes, add olives, seeds, etc. Just keep in mind that the smaller the loaf, the shorter the cooking time.