Whole Wheat Country Bread [Amanda’s Kitchen]
Today we’re making a whole wheat country bread using a long-fermented poolish, with 40% whole wheat flour and 80% hydration. The dough is shaped in a natural rattan banneton and finally baked in a cast iron pot. After reading this, are there parts you don’t quite understand? If so, that’s perfect—I also find there are many confusing points when baking European-style bread. Don’t worry, after watching this episode of Amanda’s Kitchen, everything will become clear to you.~
Ingredients
Steps
Poolish: mix the flour, water, and yeast until evenly combined.
Ferment at about 20°C room temperature for around 12 hours, until the surface is covered with bubbles and you can see a bubble rise every 10–15 seconds. At this point it’s ready to use.
Pour 150ml of water into the fermented poolish, stir briefly, then pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add the whole wheat flour, bread flour, salt, and instant yeast.
Turn on the mixer and knead on low speed for about 5–8 minutes.
With a wet hand, reach under the dough, lift it up, and fold it toward the center. Rotate the bowl and repeat the folds several times.
Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough proof for the first time at 20–25°C room temperature for about 2–3 hours, until its volume increases to about 2.5 times its original size.
Transfer the dough onto a floured work surface, shape it into an oval, then cut it in half.
Fold each half and shape it into a ball, with the seam side down.
Place one piece of dough into a floured rattan proofing basket and let it proof a second time for about 1 hour, until it nearly fills the basket.
Place the cast iron Dutch oven into the oven and preheat together to 240°C.
Invert the dough from the basket into the cast iron pot, cover with the lid, and bake on the lower rack at 240°C for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes or so, until the crust is nicely browned.
Top a slice of bread with Brie cheese, apple slices, and slices of ham. Spread Dijon mustard on another slice, put them together, and you’ll have a delicious Brie, apple, and ham sandwich.