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this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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I havn't tried this, but one idea is to up the water percentage a bit, or a lot. Whole wheat can hold a lot more. I've found my NY dough process was a bit of a cross between baguettes and bagels so I looked up some good whole wheat recipes for both as reference and several push hydration all the way up to 80% with it still being manageable.
Thanks, good idea! This is already increased water from my standard 40% whole wheat recipe, but I could probably go even higher. I've found that a flour's hydration tolerance depends a lot on the type of whole wheat used. For instance, red whole wheat is thirsty, white whole wheat is less so, and something like einkorn even less. And of course it differs from brand to brand or source to source.
But what are you thinking with the increased water percentage here? Just that that'd make it easier to develop gluten? Or...?
Yeah, you're absolutely right, the hydration needed varies a lot depending on what whole wheat you're using. I even see measurable differences in different bread flours. That's part of the problem with those who focus too much on percentages alone. 3% salt is very different if you use, table, Morton, or Diamond Crystal.
Anyways, for this I'm really just taking guesses, but my understanding is whole wheat can take more water and more time to hydrate. I've seen others do autolyse for an hour to even overnight to make sure it's hydrated, then can develop more gluten. You mentioned your dough tore and it could be from overproofing, but maybe it didnt develop as much gluten to be stretched easily.
Got it, yeah, that makes sense. I think I'll go at it from both sides. Develop more gluten (perhaps by bumping up the hydration/autolyse as you suggest) and also make sure not to let the dough get over-proofed. Thank you!
I only experimented with adding wheat to my dough once, and then I only replaced 20% of my 00 flour. Since wheaty flour has a lot of 'sharp' elements of the grain, I read that it hindered the gluten to form tight networks. You already upped it to 40% so it seems, will try that as well.
Thanks for weighing in. (Heh.) Yeah, I've read that about the sharp elements in whole grain as well. But I make 100% whole wheat sandwich bread pretty successfully, so I figured why not pizza too?