The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Multi-Loaf Bread Recipe

Lee Ann's picture
Lee Ann

Multi-Loaf Bread Recipe

I'm looking for a good multi-loaf bread recipe with 50% or more whole wheat flour. I recently bought a Bosch Universal Plus mixer and the one recipe I found (half white, half whole wheat) turned out crumbly. That might be because the recipe called for all-purpose flour, though.

I'd like something that makes at least four loaves, and I'm fine with a sourdough, poolish, or 100% commercial yeast recipe. I know I can double one of my usual recipes, like the Approachable Loaf, but I thought I'd ask if someone here has one they like.

Thanks!

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Salutations, Lee Ann.

Any formula that lists the bakers percentage can be scaled up or down. From one loaf to one thousand. Or from 1,000 down to one. Smile...

Edited to add.

Any formula can be converted to the bakers percentage. Even one that was originally in volumetric format only. However, I am not up to the task of properly explaining such things. Read up on bakers percentage, should be your first step if you are unfamiliar.

 

Best regards,

Will F.

 

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

You may want to try one of these two "original" recipes.  These date back to the late 0's-early 80's when Bosch was (primarily/exclusively??) sold out of private home sales projects.  The equipment was demonstrated in in-home kitchens and these were frequently used to demonstrate mixers and mills in action.

Best of Luck
OldWoodenSpoon

CalBeachBaker's picture
CalBeachBaker

Lee Ann,

This is my 'go to', I bake this every 3 weeks and freeze. 4 loaves @ 1000g each. You could adjust it to have more whole wheat but I have gotten many complements on the taste as it is.

Good luck.

Tony

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72152/sourdough-bread-prebiotic-soaker

clazar123's picture
clazar123

When whole wheat bread is crumbly, it means that the branny bits were not allowed to soak up and fully hydrate during the dough phase, so it soaked all the moisture from the crumb after it was baked. Any amount WW flour in a loaf needs to feel slightly sticky after the first mix, be allowed to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes to become tacky (like a post-it note) and then proceed. It is also important to mix until windowpane is achieved-even with 100% WW. I used to mix my WW dough in the evening, put it covered in the refrigerator overnight and then shape/proof/bake the next day. Nice hydrated, soft 100% WW bread. 

Search box-search my name (clazar123, whole wheat or WW) , soft whole wheat, TxFarmer whole wheat milk bread, Reinharts 100% whole grain, shreddable WW,....etc,etc.There is a LOT of info on this.

HERE is my favorite 100% WW bread. 

TxFarmer 100% WW Hokaido Milk Bread. An enriched WW loaf.

What a wonderful new toy to play with! Have some fun but any whole grain flour NEEDS to have a soak built in of any kind-autolyse,preferment,retard,etc.

Have some delicious fun!

Lee Ann's picture
Lee Ann

I've been making whole wheat bread with freshly ground wheat for years, but this is the first time it's been this crumbly. I will try an autolyse (which I always do for sourdough) and also plan to use bread flour instead of all-purpose, which the recipe I tried called for. Thanks for the tips.

mariana's picture
mariana

 

Lee Ann, try Memo's brown bread posted here by Zolablue. Original version is 30% whole wheat, but it works with 50% wwf as well. It's a remarkable bread, unforgettable, a very good recipe for 2 loaves baked in 9"x5" pans. It can easily be doubled, of course.

rainydaybread's picture
rainydaybread

This recipe is a combination of two other recipes and a happy accident, but it has turned out to be my favorite basic whole wheat recipe. It doesn’t last long at my house.  It is only 45% whole wheat, but you could probably modify it to suit your tastes.  It makes 2 large loaves.

INGREDIENTS

  • Bread Flour - 500 g
  • Whole Wheat Flour - 500g
  • Water - 665 g
  • Salt - 22g
  • Instant Dried Yeast - 5g to 6g
  • Honey - 42g
  • 6 or 7 day old unfed starter - 200g

Total Dough:  1935 g (4.27 lbs)

*Starter is 100% hydration high protein white flour

  1. -Combine flour in Cambro tub. Stir or shake to mix flours
  2. -Put 42 g of honey in a large measuring cup. Add 665g water and stir well to combine. Pour into bowl of Bosch Universal.
  3. -Add 5g to 6g of instand dried yeast to liquids. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes.
  4. -Add 200g of 6 to 7 day old unfed starter to Bosch.  Mix starter into liquids.
  5. -Add flour and mix 30 seconds until you get a shaggy mess.
  6. -Cover and autolyse for 20 to 30 minutes.
  7. -Sprinkle 22 g salt across the dough in the mixer bowl. 
  8. -Knead for 6 minutes of speed 1 or 2,
  9. -Put dough in 6 qt. Cambro tub.
  10. -Bulk ferment at 70° to 76° room temperature until 1/4 inch below the 4 qt. line.  It usually takes 2 hours but could go up to 3-1/2 hours.
  11. -When dough is ready, divide, shape, and put in loaf pans.  (I use the Lodge cast iron pans that are 4.5 x 8.3 x 2.75 and get a tall loaf.
  12. -Proof in loaf pans for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
  13. -Bake at 425° for 35 to 40 minutes until browned and internal temperature is 195°.
Lee Ann's picture
Lee Ann

Thank you, everyone! All of these recipes look great. I will probably try a non-sourdough recipe first since sometimes my husband gets a little tired of sourdough (inconceivable!). The one with the soybeans sounds intriguing, but I don't think my Whisper Mill can grind soybeans. Or I could double my Approachable Loaf recipe.

I really should learn to use baker's percentages, too.

I very much appreciate the help and suggestions.

louiscohen's picture
louiscohen

"Bread" by J Hamelman, is aimed primarily at commercial bakers.  Most of the formulas are given in metric and traditional units for 7 - 25 loaves, as well as a home batch of 2 loaves (in traditional units only; very annoying).  I usually work with the metric commercial formulas, divided by 10.

In any case, you should be able to get any batch size you like by scaling the formula by weight (strictly speaking, by scaling each ingredient by its percentage of the weight of the total flour).   So if a formula calls for 60% water, 2% salt, and 2% yeast, use as much flour as you like (I figure single loaves at 450g of flour) and get the weights of all the other ingredients from their percentages. 

Here are a bunch of formulas with percentages  Bread Formulas.  I mainly use the formulas from "Bread"  and "The Rye Baker".  I typically make one double loaf, which fits in the KA mixer and is enough for the two of us for a week. 

Lee Ann's picture
Lee Ann

What a comprehensive list. Thank you!

louiscohen's picture
louiscohen

I bake Hamelman's 100% whole wheat "workday" bread every other week; the Better Half likes it with 15-20% walnuts, or a flatter holiday season version with 10% each walnuts and cranberries - 5% dried cranberries, soaked in hot water while the levain ferments to double in weight.  

workday whole wheat formula

The base formula is 80% hydration; it's a little more open with 85% hydration but needs more folding during bulk fermentation.  

Lee Ann's picture
Lee Ann

Looks good, thanks.

Lee Ann's picture
Lee Ann

Sorry for the delay in responding. Thank you all for the suggestions and recipes. I very much appreciate the help.

I ended up choosing the first recipe from this link: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20534/wanted-original-bosch-ww-bread-recipe-80039s-one-demonstrators-made. I used approximately 50% freshly milled Turkey Red WW flour and 50% King Arthur all-purpose flour, did an autolyse with 6 cups of flour and the water for 30 minutes, then added about 3 T of vital wheat gluten, 2 1/2 T yeast (I live at a high altitude), molasses because I didn't have enough honey, and started mixing, adding the rest of the flour gradually.

It turned out really well - no crumbling, sliced beautifully, and tasted great. It still felt a little delicate so next time I will add another T of vital wheat gluten.