Adjusting bread recipe for humidity?

<Mitch@this_is_not_a_real_address.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My wife had finally achieved the Holy Grail of 100% whole wheat bread.
I'll post the recipe below.

Recently, it's not rising nearly enough. It's still fluffy, not
dense, but it doesn't rise nearly as much as it did.

We're wondering if it's the low humidity of winter.
If so, is there an adjustment to be made?

By the way, we've added ground flax seed and oats, and this bread
absolutely rocks.

2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup milk
1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs gluten
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten

I don't know if the problem of not rising is low humidity, but I will post
my ingredients for my standby no-nonsense 100% whole wheat bread and it has
more 1 cup more whole wheat flour than your recipe, as well as less yeast
and probably less liquid ratio, no eggs or milk, but a little more
sugar/honey.

By the way, two other things you can add which are easily found, are barley
flakes and rye flakes.
If you add flax or barley or rye or oat flakes, be sure to decrease your
flour a little.

13 oz. water

1-3/4 teaspoons salt

4 Tablespoons of Honey or Molasses

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon of Hodgson's Wheat Gluten

2 teaspoons fermi instant yeast

Dee Dee

Quoted message said:

I don't know if the problem of not rising is low humidity, but I will post
my ingredients for my standby no-nonsense 100% whole wheat bread

Thanks alot...I passed this on to my wife.

On Sun, 01 Jan 2006 15:23:28 GMT,

Mitch@this_is_not_a_real_address.com said:

My wife had finally achieved the Holy Grail of 100% whole wheat bread.
I'll post the recipe below.

Recently, it's not rising nearly enough. It's still fluffy, not
dense, but it doesn't rise nearly as much as it did.

We're wondering if it's the low humidity of winter.
If so, is there an adjustment to be made?

Is the rise itself different within a fixed time period, that is, did
the bread usually rise within one hour and now takes two or is the
rise just not happening?

If a tried and true recipe is not working as usual, the ingredients or
surroundings can be investigated.

Check the freshness of your yeast. That is always simple and easy to
do, though I admit to having yeast in the fridge that is a good two
years old and still very active. Have you changed brands or types of
yeast, i.e., fast rise to regular?

If you have no proofing box, you can raise the ambient humidity for
the rise by placing the dough bowl in the oven with a pan of warm
water.

Think about temperature, too. If your kitchen is warmer during the
summer months, the dough may rise more quickly than it does in a
cooler kitchen. Ultimately, the rise would be achieved in cooler
temps, but it will just take longer

Have you changed flour brands?

Boron

<Mitch@this_is_not_a_real_address.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My wife had finally achieved the Holy Grail of 100% whole wheat bread.
I'll post the recipe below.

Recently, it's not rising nearly enough. It's still fluffy, not
dense, but it doesn't rise nearly as much as it did.

We're wondering if it's the low humidity of winter.
If so, is there an adjustment to be made?

FWIW -
1) In the old white bread recipes, I have seen about a 20% range in the
amount of flour in each recipe (e.g., 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 c flour), the range
given supposedly because of variations in the humidity in the flour swelling
the wheat flour.

2) One would expect that a slow yeast or insufficient other ingredients
would give a denser loaf - since you believe the bread has the same texture
(as you say - still fluffy and not dense) and thus the loaf is not denser
but apparently the same just smaller, one would certainly look to the amount
of flour.

The only way to be sure is to increase the amount of flour and see.

Quoted message said:

By the way, we've added ground flax seed and oats, and this bread
absolutely rocks.

2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup milk
1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 Tbs gluten
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten

1 In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar and yeast in warm water.
Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl,
combine the yeast mixture with the milk, vegetable oil, gluten, 2 ½
cups of whole wheat flour, and the salt; beat well. Add the remaining
flour, ¼ cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the
dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface
and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Oil a large
bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover
with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in
volume, about 1 hour.
2 Grease two 8x4 inch bread pans. Deflate the dough and turn it out
onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces
and form into loaves. Place the loaves into the pans. Cover with a
damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush the
risen loafs with lightly beaten egg. Bake at degrees F (200 degrees C)
for 30 minutes, or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when
tapped.