Everyday Bread #29 - Whole Wheat and Flaxssed from HBin5minday

100% Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Bread

from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

This counts as another bread fail.  I originally wanted to try out the barbecue, Dutch Oven method again.  The 5 min/day bread people (Jeff & Zoe) have a video out now on how to use the barbecue grill to bake bread in a cast iron Dutch oven.  This links to a video and some extensive forum commentary on bread on the barbecue.

In his comments, Jeff says that the first 2/3 of the baking should be done with the lid on the pot: so is you bake for 30 minutes, the first 20 are covered.  This presupposes that you can accurately gauge your barbecue's temperature (which so far, I have not yet been able to do).
 

I decided to try it. I mixed up the 100% Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Bread. I don't think I've ever made it before. The picture of the ingredients here is just prior to my grinding the flaxseeds and turning them into flour. I use my Country Living Grain Mill for the purpose of grinding the seeds. I think that this is the best way to enjoy the Omega-3's of the flax anyway; I could buy the meal, but the oil would likely be rancid.

This dough sat out until the cat woke me up at 0215.  I should have put it in the fridge at 2100, so it had already sat out about 5 hours too long. I am sure that this affected the later rise and shaping of the loaves.  Rather than rise, they just sagged and pulled their gluten apart.

The First Loaf:

The first loaf I shaped according to the 5min/day people's instructions, and it was a disaster on all levels: the barbecue wasn't hot enough, and the bread sagged in the pot even more than it did while proofing.  The crumb was wet on top, a sure sign that the barbecue wasn't hot enough, or the bake wasn't long enough.

I ate it anyway, since I needed bread this weekend while working.  It didn't taste too bad, but I had to throw away a lot of the soggy stuff.

The Second Loaf:

I baked the second loaf in the oven, in a casserole dish.  I flattened the dough and formed it according to Reinhart's methods, so I expected a tighter loaf.  It was, but after the 2 hour proofing, it also was sagging and pulling its gluten cloak apart.  I coated the top with water and put sesame seeds on it during the last 30 minutes of the rise while the casserole dish was preheating.

This loaf looks better, and the crumb is moist but baked.

Still, not a loaf I'd present before anyone except my immediate hungry household.  I find nothing special in the taste of this loaf.

Notes to Myself:

• Turn a single barbecue burner on to MAX, and put the Dutch oven over it to preheat, but onto the other, unheated side, for the actual baking.  See if that provides the temperature you are looking for, the next time you bake bread on the barbecue.
• Don't eat wet dough.  It doesn't sit well in the gut.  Cut it off and throw it away.
• Don't leave your HBin5Min/Day bread dough out on the counter for longer than they say (2 hours, or until it doubles in size, flattens or falls on top).
• Check the hydration of the HBin5Min/Day dough: perhaps you are continuously way too wet, and that is why your bread dough sags so much.