It's been months since I bought bread, I have been baking my own 100% Whole Wheat Bread or Atta Bread. I tried this and that and finally settled down with this recipe, even then, I had some flops and then found my mistakes and corrected them. I have given a list of errors that we have a chance to make and end up with a dense and flat bread in the 'Note' section, do read it before baking. Since I have used Atta for baking the bread and no added gluten, the bread might be a little crumbly when compared to White Bread, but otherwise it came out soft and had the porous texture..
Need To Have
- Whole Wheat Flour/Atta - 3 cups
- Instant Yeast - 1 teaspoon
- Sugar - 3 teaspoons
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- Oil - 2 tablespoons plus some for greasing the pan
- Curd/Yogurt - 2 tablespoons
- Hottish Water - 1 cup + 2 tablespoons
Method
Add the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar to a bowl, add 1/2 cup of hottish water. Wait till the yeast bubbles up, then add the remaining 2 teaspoons of sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons of water and 1 cup of the flour. Whisk it to a smooth mixture, cover and leave it in a warm place for an hour.
After and hour, you'll see the mixture has frothed up. Now add the salt, 2 tablespoons of oil, curd and the remaining 2 cups of flour. Bring everything together to form a sticky dough, then knead the dough well for about 10 minutes. The dough should be manageable now but at the same time soft and not totally without moisture. Apply some oil and make a ball with the dough.
Roll out the dough into a rectangle, fold a little on both sides like shown in the picture. Then fold it one more time and pinch the edges. Place it in a greased loaf pan and flatten it gently with your hand.
Cover and leave it for an hour till the dough has risen a little above the edges of the pan ( about an inch and no more, measuring at the center of the loaf ). Now the loaf is ready to be baked, bake it in a preheated oven at 200 C for 30 minutes. Remove, let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and cool it completely on a wire rack and then slice it.
Note
When making the dough, if after kneading for 2 to 3 minutes, the dough is still very sticky, then add some more flour but don't add too much. Usually, if you measure your flour properly, you'll not need it.
The dough shouldn't be dry like we do for rotis, it should still be soft but not sticky and not a wobbly dough.
If after applying a little oil on the dough after kneading, if the dough is not sticky but very soft and wobbly, then the dough will rise and fall flat once you put it in the oven for baking.
If the dough is very stiff and dry, then the bread will be very crumbly.
I have used a 81/2" x 41/2" pan, if you are using a bigger pan, then increase the amount of flour accordingly.
The timing given for the dough to rise is just a guideline, it might rise faster or slower depending on the temperature of the surroundings.
Likewise, the water quantity that I have given will be correct, but sometimes depending on the humidity, it might be a little more or less.
When I say hottish water, I mean the water should be slightly hotter than warm.
Always wait for your yeast to bubble up, that way you'll know whether the yeast is working or not.
If you fail the first time, don't give up, just find out your mistake and fix it, you'll get the hang of it after a couple of times.
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