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.
PizzaParty
joined 2 years ago
Awesome work! I want a huge one in this style to hang on my wall.
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.