Application Guide

plastic spatula to move the dough so that the machine can do its job. I also dribble
some water onto the dough ball to soften it so that it can be kneaded more easily.
The more whole wheat flour you add to a recipe, the denser the baked
loaf will be, and bread machine whole wheat breads often fill only two-thirds the ca-
pacity of the bread pan when they are finished baking. To compensate for this, some
recipes call for more flour than usual, so don’t worry if the proportions in this chapter
look different than in the other recipes in the book.
If you are using the Basic cycle and find your whole wheat dough is
still a bit too dense, you can use the “extra knead” technique, developed by the Innova-
tive Cooking Enterprises group. This technique gives whole wheat breads, as well as
breads containing specialty flours and multigrain breads, a stronger structure during
their rising time and a lighter texture when they are baked. Simply let your machine go
through the Knead 1 and 2 segments of the cycle, then press Stop and restart the cycle
from the beginning, this time allowing it to continue until the loaf is finished.
Breads containing whole wheat flour will have a stiffer dough ball
than you are used to in all—white flour breads. When you check the dough ball, press
it with your finger. It should be firm yet springy, with plenty of moisture and rather
tacky under the surface. The moisture will be slowly soaked up by the grains during
the rises. Depending on the type of flour you have used, you will feel a smooth to
sandy texture when you run your fingers over the dough ball.
Adjust a dry dough ball—one that looks shaggy and leaves a lot of
flour around the edge of the pan—by dribbling water in on top of the dough ball in
1
/
2
teaspoon increments while the machine is running, rather like working with clay, or
else the water will splash up and out of the pan (I know this from experience). This
will slowly moisten the dough ball as it is kneaded.
If the dough ball is too wet, add flour in 1
1
/
2
-teaspoon increments or
sprinkle it in from your fingers, around the sides of the dough ball under the paddle,
while the machine is running. Be careful to avoid the rotating blade. The dough ball
will automatically pick up most of the flour. If the dough looks very moist around the
paddle, it is okay; this moisture will be absorbed during the remaining kneading time.
When you make your own whole grain breads, you get exactly what
you put into the machine—plenty of whole grain goodness, flavor, and nutrition with
minimal sweetness from sugar. The tastes of these grains and flours are natural and
earthy, and the aroma during baking is like no other type of bread. You can just inhale
the healthful, nutty sweetness.
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