My 105th experiment: Rustic whole wheat bread

Recently, I noticed that the quality of my homemade bread has been declining. I blame it on the lack of time and attention. The loaves have become too dense to be appetizing. It almost defeats the purpose of home baking. So I decide to go back to delayed fermentation again. In this experiment, I am trying out a wet dough. This is an adhoc loaf. It turns out to be a little too wet, but not bad. This is probably the way people made rustic loaves in the past.

Recipe: Rustic whole wheat bread (1 loaf)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups KAF whole wheat flour
- 1 tp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tp salt
- 5 TB buttermilk powder
- 1/4 can guinness beer
- water

Procedure:
1. Sieve whole wheat flour, active dry yeast, salt, and buttermilk powder.
2. Add beer. Mix. Then add water to make a wet dough.
3. Chill overnight. Then allow to warm up.
4. Dust the wet surface of the dough with rye flour. Place in greased pan to proof.
5. Brush top with water.
6. Preheat oven to 425F. Then bake at 375F for 30 minutes.

Results:
Day 1, 3:43pm, initial mixture:

Day 1, 4:04pm, final dough before chilling:

Day 2, 4:07pm, dough after overnight chilling:

Day 2, 4:07pm, dough's height after overnight chilling:

Day 2, 7:10pm, dough warmed on counter for 3 hours, then dusted with rye flour and allowed to warm on stove top:

Day 2, 9:00pm, dough warmed 2 hours:

Day 2, 9:03pm, dough poured into greased pan:

Day 2, 9:03pm, dough's height in pan:

Day 2, 9:09pm, dough's surface moistened:

Day 2, 9:10pm, oven preheating to 425F:

Day 2, 9:10pm, dough to bake at 375F:

Day 2, 9:39pm, loaf baked 29 minutes:

Day 2, 9:40pm, loaf's top:

Day 2, 9:41pm, loaf's internal temperature:

Day 2, 9:45pm, loaf's bottom:

Day 2, 10:45pm, loaf's interior:

Day 2, 7:35am, loaf cut and sliced:

Observations:
1. This loaf has a rich flavor of wheat, beer and buttermilk. The texture is a little chewy. But it's nice even when left overnight. In fact, the slightly sour and grainy taste makes a great sandwich with ham and pickles.

The evening I bake this loaf is a tuesday. Dough has been feeling a bit gassy after a huge drunken rib eye at lunch. So hubby decides not to have dinner. When I start baking this loaf, it's past 9 pm. It's ready in 40 minutes. Since it's fresh, I place it in front of hubby so that he may have a bite if he wants. Then I go off to make a call as he starts tearing off bits and pieces to munch on. When I return, he has finished nearly half the loaf. The remaining half is left on the counter overnight. It remains pretty good, and goes into his lunch box as a sandwich. I think hubby likes it.