I have tried baking whole wheat bread a number of times, but was never quite happy with the texture. It was too dense for my taste and liking. I saw this boule on Sujit Sumitran’s blog here and was tempted to give this a go. Since my oven is small, I made small rustic loaves rather than the boule.
Honey and whole wheat are a match made in heaven and this bread has a beautiful earthy and nutty flavour. I sit chomping on a slice with my evening coffee and relish the joys of baking bread at home.
The other fun part here is,this is a no-knead bread. Just mix, rest and bake! I do sound like an instant food advert here but yeah, it is that simple!
So here goes
Aata /whole wheat flour- 3 1/3 cup
Salt- ¾ tsp
Instant Yeast – ¾ tsp (Use 20 % more if using active yeast- approximately 1 tsp and a pinch)
Lukewarm water- 1 cup plus (keep half a cup handy if more needed while mixing the dough)
Lukewarm milk- 1 cup plus (keep half a cup handy if more needed while mixing the dough)
Sugar- 1 tsp
Honey- ¼ cup
Olive oil/vegetable oil- 2 ½ tsp
Sooji/semolina and whole wheat flour to dust the surface and the loaves
Add the yeast and sugar to warm water and rest covered in a warm place for 10-15 minutes till it froths well.
Mix the flour and salt in a large lidded plastic container. It should close well but not be airtight.
Add the honey, milk and oil to the frothed yeast mixture.
Add the liquid mixture to the flour and stir with a wooden spatula to get a goopy, loose mixture, almost like a batter. Add more milk and water slowly, if needed, to get the like consistency. I had to add about half a cup more of the liquid (I made a milk water mix) This takes just five minutes as no kneading is required.
Rest covered for two hours.
Transfer to the refrigerator for 8 hours. I kept it overnight. This dough can be kept in the fridge for up to five days.
Remove and transfer to a surface well dusted with sooji/semolina. Either wet your hands or dust will flour to shape the bread. It is a very loose dough and will be very tough to shape unless then hands are wet or floured.
Shape into a boule (ball) or as I did, three loaves.
Leave to rise for another 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Sprinkle with flour, slash the bread with a knife (score) and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 20 minutes till the base sounds hollow when tapped.
Cool, slice and enjoy.
