Whole Wheat Bread: It's In the Flour

If you are trying to make whole wheat bread and all you are ending up with is whole wheat lumps, the culprit might be your flour. While different bakers have different preferences when it comes to flour, I prefer to use the most finely ground whole wheat flour that I can. It makes amazing bread that is soft, smooth, and loved by everyone in my family. If you are grinding your own flour, then you can usually control how fine you make it. However, not all commercially ground flour is the same. Before I was grinding my own, I definitely had a preference for a certain brand.

You can test your flour by rubbing it between your fingers. If it feels gritty, you might want to consider running it through your grinder again on the finest setting. (*Note, it won't ever feel as powdery as white flour. You won't want it to. It's called fiber and nutrients, and that's GOOD!) If you have already gotten it as fine as you can (or you have purchased flour) and it still doesn't feel smooth, never fear. You can still use it. You can: 1) Sift it to get out the larger pieces. 2) Use less wheat flour and more white flour in the recipe. Start by doing a 50/50 split, then gradually increasing the percentage of whole wheat you use each time you make it to see how much you can get away with. 3) Increase your initial mixing time with the dough. This is the part where you add about half (or more, if you have a stand mixer that can handle it) of the flour and then mix and mix and mix in order to cut down on your kneading time. This creates the "gluten chains" you need to keep your bread from falling apart. In my experience, it also makes it softer and helps it rise more quickly.

#wholewheatbread #bakingtips #wholewheatflour