Yup, I found the Tassajara recipe. And the yeast packets that had been relegated to the back of the baking cabinet behind the fancy chocolate chips. And I did it. It had to rise four times, but I have that kind of time. I want to make fresh crostini with it, maybe this chickpea recipe, but that’s another story. Here’s to getting flour everywhere and making sandwiches with fresh whole wheat bread. If you are feeling too lazy right now, make this recipe instead. But if you are game, keep reading:

I stood in front of the faucet for a while making sure the water was actually “lukewarm,” and a little on the warmer side at that so that it would still be warm by the time I got the yeast packets open. I took photos at various phases in the process when I didn’t have too much dough on my hands. I was very surprised by how natural kneading felt, from mostly having watched it in the past. At every step, I felt shocked that the bread actually did what it was supposed to–I expected failure at every step. This time, I won the battle.

Tassajara Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 2 loaves, adapted minimally from the Tassajara Bread Book (namely the tattered original one in my mom’s kitchen).

Ingredients:

Stage 1:

3 cups lukewarm water (feels warm against your wrist)
1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast (2 packets)
1/4 cup sweetening (honey, molasses, or brown sugar)
4 cups whole wheat flour (can substitute 1 c of this with white flour for it to be a little less dense)

Stage 2:

4 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup olive oil
3 cups additional whole wheat flour (can substitute some wheat bran, oat bran,oats,  millet, other flours, etc. Don’t do more than 2 and try to keep it under 1 cup total or it may become too dense)
1 cup whole wheat flour for kneading

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in water. Stir for 2 min. Stir in sweetening. Stir in the 4 cups of whole wheat flour to form a thick batter.  Beat well with a wooden spoon (100 strokes…I counted). Cover loosely with a towel. Let rise 45 minutes. 

Should look like this after the first 45 min.

Fold in the salt and oil. Fold in an additional 3 cups of flour until the dough comes away from the sides of bowl. In this case, I used 1/3 c each of cornmeal and oat bran. Knead on a floured board, using more flour (about 1 cup) as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the board, about 8 to 10 minutes (time yourself…the first 2 min do not count as 1o min), until the dough is smooth.  Let rise 50 to 60 minutes until doubled in size. 

This is post-kneading, before I covered it with the towel.

Punch down. Let rise 40 to 50 minutes until doubled in size.

Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans.  Let rise 20 to 25 minutes.

This is before it rose for the last time in the pans.

Brush tops with additional olive oil (or egg wash). Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until golden brown. Take out of the pan soon and, once cooled, make sure to wrap tightly with foil so that the bread doesn’t get dry.

Advertisement