WHOLE WHEAT BREAD WITH POOLISH

The homemade bread with whole flour is my favorite bread. When I taste it, my imagination flies to the corn fields, barns, to the land. In my opinion this is the best bread in the world, but I'm quite sure you already have your favorite ones. 

Using my bread machine it comes very good and I save a lot of electric power. Good for my pocket and for the environment.

Whole wheat flour rises easily, but we should remember this kind of flour is a strong one - see  my flour guide - we should give it time to mature, doing things with precision and passion. 

STEP 1: the poolish

This indirect process of fermentation with the poolish is really great and I always used to make bread with my machine.

Some cultural notes: poolish comes from Polish. It was indeed the  pre-fermentation technique, discovered by the polish bakers to get a very soft bread. 

Poolish is not the chariot and not yeast. It is a method of leavening indirect that involves the use of flour and water in equal quantities.  

Yeast is added in small doses and the fermentation process can take many hours, even more than fifteen, according to the quantity of yeast and the type of flour used.  

POOLISH INGREDIENTS

- 300 g of warm water 
- 200 g Whole wheat flour
- 100 g superfine (all-purpose) flour  
- fresh or dried yeast - half a gram 

UPDATE: This bread is already delicious but,  after many try, and different combinations of flours, I would suggest you to replace the superfine flour with the semolina: the result is a lighter bread, softer and with a taste that leaves ecstatic! Someone may wonder why I mix flour instead of directly bread 100% whole wheat flour. At first it was an economic reason, my whole wheat flour has a slightly higher cost because organic, so I tried to mix it to preserve it as longer I can. after trying the bread 100% whole, however, I realized my bread came out too heavy, both in flavor as in consistency. 

Could be my flour too powerful? What do you think, do you like the 100% whole wheat flour bread? 

WARNING : Half a gram of yeast is not a joke but the dose sufficient for proving optimal result and a very digestible. Seeing is believing. Since it is not easy to weigh an amount so small you can find here a visual demonstration: 

• Quantity of fresh yeast  
• Quantity of dry yeast 

We pour water in the basket, add the sifted flours, and on top of them the half a gram of yeast. 
Use the program "only mixture" for a few minutes and remove the flour deposits in the corners using a silicone spatula. Now we can leave our poolish to work alone for 12 hours. 
I used to prepare my poolish late in the evening, after dinner, and in the morning I find it nice and swollen mature. Look at the pictures of the poolish first and after maturation. 

STEP 2: DOUGH - RISING - COOKING 

Once you get your poolish ready, add the following ingredients:

- 150 g of whole wheat flour

- 50 g of all-purpose flour or semolina

- 2 teaspoons of sugar

- A full teaspoon of salt

- Two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil

I entered the program standard, dark crust, size of 750 g. 

The program lasts 2 hours and 53 minutes, which is only an hour to bake the bread.

Halfway through cooking, I removed the basket and made ​​the technique of piercing & overturn.

After folding the loaf, I did bake until the end of the program, then I entered the program only cooking and cooked for a further ten minutes. Alternatively, you can use the standard program for bread 1 kg which has a cooking time longer. Just check your machine use-book to be sure.

I recommend you to try this bread, is simply divine!

I know how directions could be easier when we have already tried them. At the same time I could write a thing in a way that looks clear for me but not for a reader which doesn't know what I'm talking about. 

If something seems unclear, please, feel free to ask me any questions you want. 

I will be very happy to help you.

See you soon and good job with your bread-machine.

Silvia Green