With only two breads remaining at the end of the BBA Challenge, I was hoping for something wonderful to say about Reinhart’s version of whole wheat bread. But unfortunately, this bread fought hard for last place with the now infamous 100% sourdough rye.
I wasn’t the only participant to have problems with this recipe; you can jump to Oggi’s blog for her comments about it. At some point I’d like to improve at breads with low to no white flour, because they consistently provided lessons on humility. So, without further ado, here are the proofs of my crime, with apologies to Mr. Reinhart.
The dough was sticky, grainy and generally unpleasant to work with. The crumb was tight, as expected for this variety, but the taste was just plain bland. Even my husband, who eats all my failures with a smile (while saying that I’m too hard on myself…violins playing, please) told me “if a bread isn’t even good with butter and this awesome fig jam, then something’s seriously wrong with it”.
I will be making croutons… (sigh)
Life goes on, so does the challenge. I’m anticipating the final two breads, which look like masterpieces… Stay tuned!
Bewitching Kitchen 
Sally, I’m with hubby-bubby. You are too hard on yourself!
I wonder would this be good with a slice of sharp cheese melted over? Or, perhaps, sliced thin and spread with a salty-savory meat spread like deviled ham?
I’d eat it.
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Well, Michael… too late! They were “croutonized” and we had some at dinner last night, in a Caesar salad of sorts… 🙂
Honestly, I see no hope for that bread, but I won’t give up….
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I’m so sad that this one isn’t getting better reviews . . . I was really looking forward to a whole wheat bread that was a little heartier than the light whole wheat.
In other news, my dad clicked on the link from my blog to your post about meeting Peter Reinhart. He read about P.R.’s new book in your post and bought it for me for my birthday. So thank you for inspiring my birthday present! =)
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Ditto what Abby said. I was looking forward to a real wheat bread but not so much fun. It still looks good though!
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@ Abby & Amanda: I am officially on a quest for a great whole wheat bread myself! It’s gotta be there somewhere…
Abby, how cool that my post made your Dad buy the book for you, it’s a nice book, I ‘m sure you will love baking from it!
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Croutons! Say it isn’t so.
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It hurts, doesn’t it? Could be worse, though… bread crumbs!!!! 🙂
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Croutonized, that’s funny.:)
At least we’re done with it and your loaf looks lovely.
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Indeed…. at least it’s over! I am already getting the starter ready for next bread….
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I had a look at this recipe, I have the book though I rarely bake from it. Not sure why I don’t.. Is your wholewheat flour a high protein variety? It might be something to do with the flour itself, also PR makes it in a tin I think, which will help the dough to rise, crawl up the sides, hanging on by its teeth and so on 🙂 But there is no ‘this is what it should look like picture’ in the book that I can see. But, I confess I am not a fan of wholewheat breads, much prefer rye or white and rye/white/spelt/grain combinations. Have you ever made a bread with an old bread soaker though? That’s a good thing to do with a bread that is a bit dense. Cut it up into small chunks and freeze it and then you add it into the new dough. I just made a bread using a huge quantity of seeds and grains and very coarse chopped rye and an old bread soaker, looks nothing like dough as we know it, more like porridge with bird seed in it, but makes a wonderfully fragrant and delicious bread for eating cut very thinly with good butter and cheese or salami…. Have you tried the golspie loaf in The Handmade Loaf – that has a lot of wholemeal in it and you cook it in a springform tin, it’s quite fun to make!
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Golspie loaf…. gosh, I cannot quite remember what that one looked like, and I don’t have the book with me here
I will look into it – I also never made a bread using old bread soaker, seems pretty interesting!
I swear, I need another 24 hours AT LEAST on each day (sigh)
Thanks, Zeb – my interaction with whole wheat bread are just beginning!
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Sally I have sent you an email to the sallyparis email address. Is that still a valid one? all the best Zeb
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Got i! Just replied to it…. THANKS!
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Sorry Sally, I have to admit that’s one sad looking loaf. Well, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger (or something like that!) On to bigger and better loaves.
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It is indeed. I don’t even like to look at the picture, it gives me shivers up and down the spine.
Well, if THAT did not get me banned from the BBA Challenge, I guess everyone else should not worry 🙂
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Oh dear, another sad Whole Wheat loaf. I mean it does look great in the first pic, but the second one betrays its density. I am totally dreading this one based on what you and Oggi wrote.
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