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[Peaches]

Can anyone help? I've tried to make a wholewheat loaf (using Crank's recipe) twice now, but no luck. My sunflower seed and honey loaf basically does not rise and is so dense and flat.

 

I tried once with dried yeast, now with fresh yeast, same result. A very unappealing loaf. What is the secret to getting bread to rise? I can do it with white bread or white/wholewheat bread, but not with completely wholewheat loaf.

 

BTW - I don't have a breadmaker.

 

Thanks - desperate for a lovely, wholewheat loaf of bread.

[Space Chick]

I would mix the flour, as the wholewheat is probably too dense, I'd give it a go with a half wholemeal half wholewheat mix.

 

I have done this with wholewheat in the past, you still get a nice dark tasty loaf.

 

Keep us posted on how you get on

 

Top tip for a fabulous crust too, put a baking tray of boiling water on the bottom of the oven it creates steam in the oven which makes a fabulous crusty crust

[laurmurf]

try adding a bit of vitamin C? I've seen a few recipes suggest that.

[chickencam]

Wholewheat flour is much more difficult to make light bread out of. It has a lower gluten content because of the extra fibre. You need to get the water content just right, the dough should be tacky but not sticky when you have finished kneading it . I tend to use only up to a maximum of 50% wholewheat flour in any loaf to keep the texture lighter.

 

I use my Kenwood Chef to knead the dough for me and it makes much lighter bread than i could ever achieve by hand kneading.

 

Hand kneading is all very well if you are a tall strong baker man with big hands to slap the dough around, otherwise you need a bit of mechanical help I find.

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Also make sure you put it somewhere warm to rise.

 

When I make wholemeal flour I make it two thirds wholemeal to one third white and it rises much better. I cheat, I use a bread maker as I only have little girly hands ( I can't even stretch one octave on the piano) and I struggle to knead bread dough..

 

Why not ask around your friends and see if anyone has a breadmaker machine you can borrow.

[..lay a little egg for me]

Try the "sponge" method. It takes longer but you may get a better rise. Basically, mix half the flour with the warm water, sugar/honey, salt, fat and yeast, so it is the consistency of a sponge cake mixture (i.e., a soft dropping consistency). Cover and leave to double in size. Add the rest of the flour (add gradually until you get the right consistency), knead, leave to rise, knock down, knead, shape, rise, bake.

 

I discovered this method described in an old cookery book this summer and tried it. Very pleased with the results...much lighter bread. If your loaf is still too flat, and you don't want to try half white flour and half wholemeal as others have suggested, maybe try a quarter white and use half white half wholemeal for the initial rise (the "sponge" stage) and then adding more wholemeal after that.

 

Use water that you have boiled potatoes in as the liquid...it acts as a flour improver (not sure if it is because it contains vitamin C or because the starch in it is easily digestible for the yeast or both).

 

What recipe are you using? As a guide, your liquid volume should be about a third of the volume of flour. If there is too much flour the dough can't rise. I found using the sponge method made it easier to add the right amount of flour to the liquid -- maybe because it had already had risen once the gluten in the dough was partially developed made it easier. Also maybe because the flour that was used for the first rise had been able to swell and absorb liquid it prevents adding too much flour at the next stage.

 

Errm, other thoughts...I assume you are keeping the dough damp/oiled etc so it doesn't form a crust while it is rising? Also, the sunflower seeds can "cut" the gluten making it less able to hold the shape so make sure you are adding them last. How much salt is there in the recipe? Too much or too little can affect the rise. Same for the honey...too much might kill the yeast. I expect you know about these last points.

 

It could be that the recipe you are using is not correct...I was following a recipe the other day and it said to add 25 g or 12 oz of sugar..."hang on" I thought "25g is not 12 oz...hmmm"

 

Hope this helps!

[Rhapsody]

I do mine by hand all the time (breadmakers = but then I have killer upper arms from the farmwork) I use half again as much yeast as the recipe states, let the yeast activate until it looks like the mad professor's come to stay and let the dough rise until it doubles. I knead it like its my worst enemy then let it rise again before baking. never fails.

[Space Chick]

Another thought (which seems a bit like cheating to me and I have never tried it) is you can get dough improver, they sell it in Lakeland but it is quite pricey.

[chickencam]

Leaving the dough long enough to rise is important too. I just leave mine at room temperature and a first rise in the cooler weather can take 2 hours or so. the longer and slower the rise the better the flavour and texture.

[Peaches]

Thanks for all your excellent replies, peeps. I have printed them out and I'm going to amalgamate all your suggestions and get going again.

 

Will report back for duty!

 

Muchly thanks - Fiona