My 8th baking experiment - Transitional whole wheat bread

Practice makes perfect. I'm trying the transitional whole wheat bread of Peter Reinhart's again. This time I'm using much less water. I am also going to let the biga have a longer retardation period, around 24 hours.

Recipe: Peter Reinhart's transitional whole wheat bread (1 large loaf)

Ingredients:
Soaker
- 1.75 cups grocery store brand whole wheat flour
- 0.5 tp kosher salt
- 3.5 TB buttermilk powder
- 1/2 cup + 2 TB water
Biga
- 1.75 cups gold medal brand unbleached bread flour
- 1/4+1/8 tp active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup + 1 TB water
Final dough
- all of the soaker
- all of the biga
- 3.5 TB whole wheat flour
- 5/8 tp kosher salt
- 3 tp active dry yeast
- 2.5 TB honey
- 1 TB oil
- 1/4 cup cooked wheat berries
-1/4 cup water
- 1/2 TB oil to grease the resting bowl

Procedure:

Day 1
1. Mix all the dry ingredients of the soaker. Then add water progressively while mixing, until a dough is formed. Use about 1/2 cup + 2 TB of water.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients of the biga. Then add water progressively while mixing, until a dough is formed. Then knead the dough for 10 minutes.
3. Sprinkle water on top of biga and soaker doughs. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge. Allow to rest for about 24 hours.

Day 2
1. Take the biga and the soaker out of the fridge at least 2 hours before starting to work on them.
2. Mix 3.5 TB whole wheat flour and salt in a large bowl. Break the biga and soaker into bits about the size of a thumb. Add 1/4 cup cooked wheat berries.
3. Add about 1/4 cup water to 3 tp yeast. Allow to bubble a little. Add to the mixture in the large bowl.
4. Use hands to mix all the ingredients, rubbing the biga and the soaker into each other. The biga may have developed much more gluten than the soaker. Extra strength may be needed to rub the soaker in.
5. Knead for about 15 minutes. The lean dough will develop great strength. Allow to rest for a few minutes and knead again for 5 minutes.
6. Mix oil and honey in a medium bowl. Transfer the fully kneading dough to the medium bowl. Rub in the oil and honey.
7. Allow to rest until dough has expanded to 1.5 times its original size.
8. Punch down and allow dough to rest again in oven at slightly below 150F until it has expanded to 1.5 times its size again.
9. Transfer to loaf pan. Sprinkle water and toppings. Allow to proof until it expands to 1.5 times its volume. Then score it with a sharp knife.
10. Preheat oven to 450F. Place loaf in middle rake. Bake for 20 minutes. Then rotate the pan by 180 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes.

Results:

Day 1
12:11pm, soaker mixed:

12:30pm, biga mixed:

12:38pm, biga and soaker just before chilling:

Day 2
8:28am, biga and soaker after about 20 hours of chilling:

11:00am, biga and soaker after warming up on the counter:

11:04am, soaker's texture just before mixing:

11:10am, biga's texture just before mixing:

11:26am, biga and soaker mixed:

11.46am, the strength of the lean dough (forgot to add honey and oil) after 20 minutes of kneading:

11:58am, the strength of the dough after honey and oil were rubbed in:

12:01pm, dough started to rest, since it just had a lot of kneading and had stored up plenty of heat, it is allowed to rest on the counter:

12:18pm, dough rose rapidly within 17 minutes:

12:51pm, dough rapidly doubled its volume in 50 minutes:

12:51pm, dough's height after rested for 50 minutes:

12:53pm, dough's texture after rest:

12:53pm, this time the rest does dough plenty of good; dough's strength after rested for 50 minutes:

12:56pm, dough after being punched down:

12:57pm, dough allowed to rest again, but in the oven a little below 150F this time:

1:08pm, dough rapidly rising again after 11 minutes in the oven, absorbing much of the oven heat:

1:15pm, initial size of dough when being proofed in its loaf pan:

1:19pm, dough topped with cooked wheat berries and oat bran, continuing its expansion:

1:19pm, dough's height 4 minutes into proofing:

1:23pm, dough has risen so much, I decided to score it and bake it once the oven is heated to 450F:

1:24pm, this time I let the knife do its job. Scoring was easy for this loaf because of the texture. Once the knife slid through, the dough opened up and continued expanding:

1:29pm, after only 14 minutes of proofing, dough continuing to expand:

1:29pm, dough's final height before entering oven:

1:29pm, loaf started baking:

1:51pm, loaf baked for 22 minutes, time to rotate:

2:09pm, loaf baked for 40 minutes (in the last 5 minutes, top was covered with foil to prevent over browning:

2:09pm, loaf's height when out of oven:

2:10pm, loaf's bottom:

2:11pm, loaf's side:

3:00pm, the loaf was still lightly warm when slicing.  The bread held its volume while a very soft crumb. Observe how the slices bent:

3:06pm, observe the crust, thin and hard:

3:07pm, one loaf yieling 18 slices:

3:07pm, a center-of-loaf slice:

3:07pm, an end-of-loaf slice:

3:07pm, the pure joy of a bite of rich subtlety, with a complex mix of sweetness:

Observations:

1. This time I used very little water to prepare the biga and the soaker. The biga developed very good strength overnight.
2. During the mixing of the final dough, it was really hard to rub the soaker into the biga because the biga is so much stronger in its texture.
3. I forgot to add the honey and oil at the beginning of the mixing of the final dough. So the final dough that was mixed was very lean at first. It also had a lot of strength. Once the honey and oil was added it, the dough became much more smooth and tender.
4. This time, dough rose very rapidly during the two resting times and the proofing. The oven spring was spectacular.
5. I think the reason for such a great spring is the composition of the recipe. When I made this loaf the first time (in my 4th baking experiment), the resultant loaf was similar, even though the procedure had some differences here and there.
6. Moistening the yeast (which I did not do in previous experiments) may contribute to some of the rapid rising. Warming the dough in oven also made great contribution to the speed of rising. But I think the primary cause for the volume was still the composition of the dough. 
7. The wheat berries on the top of the loaf became really hard after baking. It may not be a good idea to have them on the surface after all. The ones inside the loaf turned out pretty soft and chewy.
8. What cannot be captured by pictures is the excellent taste of the bread. That's perhaps because of the fermentation.

I like this loaf very much. It has a very pleasant complex taste, mixing the flavor of wheat with a subtle sweetness of honey. It's an excellent loaf in every way.