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I've spent part of this drizzly day paging through Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. I found a recipe that I would like to try, Dark Grains Bread, in the Blended Grain Breads chapter (223-225). He says of this bread--which has wheat germ, buckwheat flour, rye flour, and whole wheat flour, along with some bread flour--"It must be kneaded by hand, being too heavy for a dough hook or food processor."
The book was published in 1987. I'm thinking that 31 years ago, no home mixer could handle such a dense dough, but is that still true today? We now have the modern spiral kneaders that have replaced the former dough hooks. We also have more powerful mixers. My mixer is the 7-quart Cuisinart. I am thinking of trying this recipe with the mixer. I'd do the initial mix that creates the "batter-like" dough using the flat paddle. I'd then switch to the kneading spiral for the bread flour.
Any thoughts on that?
Thanks, Mike and Wonky.
Bernard Clayton does not give weights--no one did back then. I'll list the ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups water
1/3 nonfat dry milk (I'll probably replace with a cup of buttermilk, and reduce water to 1 1/2 Cups)
1/4 Cup molasses
1 Tbs. salt
1/2 Cup wheat germ
1/2 Cup buckwheat flour
2 pkgs. yeast
2 Tbs. shortening (I'll probably use butter)
1 Cup rye flour
3 Cups whole wheat flour
1 to 1 1/2 Cups bread or AP flour.My mixer is listed at 1000 Watts. It does have an automatic shut-off, but I've never had it do so. I've done some three loaves recipes in it: Grandma A's Ranch Hand Bread (with about 60% whole wheat and additional flax meal) and Marilyn's Oatmeal Bread (KAF) with 2 cups whole wheat flour substituted.
I usually proof the yeast, mix the liquid ingredients, and then mix in the whole grains with the paddle. I do a rest period of 15-20 minutes before switching to the dough hook and adding the white flour with the salt. I adopted that technique after making the Grandma A's bread, and it seems to help the mixer incorporate all the flour more easily, and it gives the whole grains a chance to hydrate, so that I do not add too much additional flour.
I have found that when making bread dough with my mixer, I initially need to stop it and use the dough scraper to turn the dough over to make sure all the flour gets incorporated, but that does not seem unusual to me.
Bernard Clayton adds the salt with the yeast mixture. I usually hold it back and add it in with whatever white flour I'm using. I'll probably do that here.
I'll likely try this recipe, which makes two loaves, on Friday or Saturday, by which time we should be finishing up the last loaf I baked.
The bread has a chewy crust, a firm yet soft interior, and a moderate open crumb. I see why Bernard Clayton recommends it for open-faced sandwiches. I like the overall flavor, except that I find the molasses somewhat strong. I'll bake this bread again, but I will probably cut back the molasses from 1/4 cup to either 2 or 3 Tbs. I had the bread for lunch with a one-egg omelet (flavored with Penzey's Mural Seasoning and some sautéed onion) on top of a slice. It pairs well with the more savory filling. I like the grain mix, and except for 1 1/2 cups bread flour, it is completely whole grain.
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