Do you know what time it is? It’s time for a long and terribly informative essay on wheat gluten, followed by a really great recipe and some pictures!
Gluten is the magical sticky protein that allows bread to rise, and some people to have horrible gastro intestinal problems. If you’re one of those people, I’m sorry. And you shouldn’t make the recipe that this is about, because it has gluten. For the rest of you, lets talk about the magical thing called gluten. It is naturally present in wheat and rye, and it’s how you get yeast risen bread. When developed, gluten forms long elastic protein strands that holds the bread together so that the gas bubbles made by the yeast are trapped inside the bread instead of just escaping (which would make weird dense bread).
Gluten is also why whole wheat bread is hard to make. Whole wheat has less gluten than white wheat. Gluten doesn’t exist in the germ or bran of wheat which is what is included in wheat flour that isn’t in white. So white flour has a much higher percentage of gluten than whole wheat. With a lower percentage of gluten it’s harder to hold the gas bubbles in so the bread is denser. So what many a recipe will tell you to do is add some vital wheat gluten. Don’t. No, no. What I suggest you do instead is go read Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book. It’s amazing. And you won’t need vital wheat gluten.
However, because I’m nice, I’ll paraphrase. Less gluten is not the same as not enough. You just have to develop that gluten a little more. Kneading is how you develop wheat gluten. Normally that means that you should knead whole wheat bread 100 strokes for each cup of flour, and then let it rise twice. Never having made regular old white bread I don’t really know how much you knead it. Less, and you only let it rise once. Anyway, you can get bread that is light and fluffy with this technique, and even fluffier if you do things like add eggs, milk/yogurt, or honey. But once again, read Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book.
There is one place the blessed bready bible has not gone though. No-knead bread. I just don’t wanna do all that work! I found many recipes for whole wheat that required vital wheat gluten. I don’t wanna go buy vital wheat gluten! I just wanna make bread! Apparently strategically letting dough sit, and adding a little more liquid than normal works to develop white flour gluten enough, but not for whole wheat.
But wait! As I was wiffling about in the Bread with beans section of Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book, I discovered an astounding thing. Soy flour helps develop wheat gluten faster. Fast enough that bread made with it only needs one rise (but still lots of kneading. But I though I’d give it a go. And what do you know, it worked. So with no more ado at all, here’s the recipe:
Gluten is the magical sticky protein that allows bread to rise, and some people to have horrible gastro intestinal problems. If you’re one of those people, I’m sorry. And you shouldn’t make the recipe that this is about, because it has gluten. For the rest of you, lets talk about the magical thing called gluten. It is naturally present in wheat and rye, and it’s how you get yeast risen bread. When developed, gluten forms long elastic protein strands that holds the bread together so that the gas bubbles made by the yeast are trapped inside the bread instead of just escaping (which would make weird dense bread).
Gluten is also why whole wheat bread is hard to make. Whole wheat has less gluten than white wheat. Gluten doesn’t exist in the germ or bran of wheat which is what is included in wheat flour that isn’t in white. So white flour has a much higher percentage of gluten than whole wheat. With a lower percentage of gluten it’s harder to hold the gas bubbles in so the bread is denser. So what many a recipe will tell you to do is add some vital wheat gluten. Don’t. No, no. What I suggest you do instead is go read Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book. It’s amazing. And you won’t need vital wheat gluten.
However, because I’m nice, I’ll paraphrase. Less gluten is not the same as not enough. You just have to develop that gluten a little more. Kneading is how you develop wheat gluten. Normally that means that you should knead whole wheat bread 100 strokes for each cup of flour, and then let it rise twice. Never having made regular old white bread I don’t really know how much you knead it. Less, and you only let it rise once. Anyway, you can get bread that is light and fluffy with this technique, and even fluffier if you do things like add eggs, milk/yogurt, or honey. But once again, read Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book.
There is one place the blessed bready bible has not gone though. No-knead bread. I just don’t wanna do all that work! I found many recipes for whole wheat that required vital wheat gluten. I don’t wanna go buy vital wheat gluten! I just wanna make bread! Apparently strategically letting dough sit, and adding a little more liquid than normal works to develop white flour gluten enough, but not for whole wheat.
But wait! As I was wiffling about in the Bread with beans section of Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book, I discovered an astounding thing. Soy flour helps develop wheat gluten faster. Fast enough that bread made with it only needs one rise (but still lots of kneading. But I though I’d give it a go. And what do you know, it worked. So with no more ado at all, here’s the recipe:
5c whole wheat flour (a fine grind works best, whole white is shown in the photos)
1 heaping table spoon soy flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp active dry yeast
½ c warm water
2tbsp oil (I used olive)
2c luke warm water
Mix the first three ingredients in a large glass or plastic bowl that has a cover.
Add the yeast to the warm ½ cup water and let it dissolve.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the dissolved yeast, oil, and two cups water.
Mix, adding more water if necessary. Should form a very sticky dough, like very stiff batter.
Let sit out partially covered for 2 hours, then transfer to fridge for at least another two hours.
When ready to bake, pull off a hunk of dough, as much or as little as you feel like (this recipe makes about two normal sized loaves). Form into a ball, or a loaf or whatever you like, and set out to rise for a half and hour. It won’t rise much. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. My favorite way to bake this is in a covered casserole. I grease the casserole, and let the bread rise in there. Then I pour two or three tablespoons of water over the loaf, put the cover on it and pop it in the oven. It usually takes and hour to bake. If you’re planning on baking the bread in a bread pan or on a stone, or some other uncovered method, place a pie tin full of water in the bottom of the oven to create steam.
If you’re uncertain about it’s done-ness, just thunk it with your finger. If it sounds hollow it’s done. Keep the bread dough in your fridge for up to a week.
Additions: You can substitute some yogurt for watter if you wish. You may also mix in all manner of herbs, seeds, roast garlic ect.
