Any bakers in the room?

[bobchitown]

I wouldn't start with whole wheat, that's not baking 101 - hard to get right. The recipe above is a good one to try, I'd get regular flour down first, and then begin to substitute some whole wheat in the mix for subsequent loaves until you get the result you're looking for.

[+ newatthis]

That's why most "whole wheat" bread recipes call for a mixture of regular and whole wheat flours.

 

You might want to try this recipe from the NY Times. I know from a friend's experience that you can vary the flours and use sourdough starter instead of yeast. Perfect crust and absolutely delicious.

After posting this, I went back and re-read the recipe more carefully. There are many helpful comments following it. There is also a follow-up article by Mark Bittman in which whole wheat is discussed.

[jawjateck]

I'm not much of a baker, and never tried bread, but I can roll out old-fashioned biscuits, dumplings, and tea cakes. And I don't use any of that awful whole wheat stuff either. All-purpose self-rising flour all the way. And the secret to baking southern style......lard.......purchased from my local abattoir.

 

I'm gettin' hongry.

[GBoi]

King Arthur makes a white whole wheat that is a good compromise if you want some of the nutrition but aren't quite used to the bitterness in regular whole wheat.

 

The hard part of making SF style sourdough is getting the crispy/chewy, blistered thin crust. Without a steam injection oven, you can try all sorts of tricks with covering with a cloche, adding ice cubes, spraying water etc. I've found a baking steel works really well (and better than a baking stone) to help both the crust and oven spring.

 

Do be careful as your oven will probably be cranked to as high as you can get it!

[+ nycman]

And the secret to baking southern style......lard.......purchased from my local abattoir..

 

Thank you jjteck. I learn a new word today!

 

Not sure how I'm EVER going to work it into casual conversation.....

 

But WTF...Knowledge is Power!

[Rudynate]

I fiddled and fiddled with sourdough bread and was never able to produce a satisfactory loaf. Made my own starter, all that kind of stuff. Eventually gave up in frustration. There's some trick to it that I was never able to master. Sourdough behaves differently from yeasted dough - it doesn't rise as much.

[AndreFuture]

Thanks for the additional links, @newatthis. I think, in addition to the flour, I should have let the dough rise longer. I'm such an impatient baker, and use my intuitive/experimental/don't-read-the-instructions style of cooking when I bake, which works when I can adjust things on-the-fly on the stove, but it's not so good when everything has to be just so before it goes into the oven.

 

This time, the dough I mixed last night is still sleeping/rising in my kitchen as we speak. I'm going to read through more bread blogs to get this batch right this time.

[jjkrkwood]

I'm not much of a baker, and never tried bread, but I can roll out old-fashioned biscuits, dumplings, and tea cakes. And I don't use any of that awful whole wheat stuff either. All-purpose self-rising flour all the way. And the secret to baking southern style......lard.......purchased from my local abattoir.

 

I'm gettin' hongry.

 

http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/atrial_fibrillation_slideshow/getty_rf_photo_of_doctor_with_defibrillator.jpg

[AndreFuture]

Pictures of my first and second attempts at sourdough bread:

 

http://i.imgur.com/k3GVktU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yzEimBE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/mPbK5Vc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vDq9U4n.jpg

[+ Keith30309]

That looks yummy.

 

I'm a weenie and only use a machine....

[jjkrkwood]

Pictures of my first and second attempts at sourdough bread:

 

http://i.imgur.com/k3GVktU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yzEimBE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/mPbK5Vc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vDq9U4n.jpg

 

YUM, where's the garlic/herb butter ?