One of my all time favorite bread recipes first appeared in Brother Juniper’s Bread book. It is the almost legendary “Struan Bread”, a slightly sweet, delightfully toothsome, hearty bread perfect with so many meals.

Some say ‘struan’ means a confluence of streams and in this case, a confluence of streams of grain. The original recipe is somewhat like this version:

Soaker (allow to sit at room temperature for 3-24 hours before adding to dough) 3 tablespoons polenta 3 tablespoons rolled oats 2 tablespoons wheat bran 1/4 cup water

Dough 3 cups unbleached bread flour 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon instant yeast 3 tablespoons cooked brown rice 1 1/2 tablespoons honey 1/2 cup buttermilk 3/4 cup water

Reinhart has included this bread in various forms in many of his books and for Whole Grain Breads, he remakes it yet again using 100% whole wheat. It was with much anticipation that I made this bread again. I made it with brown rice, spelt, oats, polenta and honey using the soaker/ biga combination that seems to be Reinharts standard procedure in every recipe.

Be sure to get the book as it offers much more advice, photos and useful information than I can post here.


Multigrain Struan (makes 1 large loaf)

Soaker 56 grams whole wheat flour 170 grams cooked and uncooked grains (rice, quinoa, millet, polenta, etc.) 4 grams salt 170 grams milk or buttermilk. I used almond milk.

Biga 228 grams whole wheat flour 1 gram instant yeast 170 grams water

Final Dough Soaker + Biga 56 grams whole wheat flour 6 grams salt 2 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast 56 grams honey or brown sugar 14 grams melted butter or oil extra whole wheat flour as needed

DAY ONE
Soaker: Mix all of the ingredients ingredients to make a thick oatmeal-like dough.
Cover and leave at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours or refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Biga: Mix all of the ingredients to form a ball of dough. Knead for a minute or two by hand until all flour is fully hydrated. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead again for 1 minute. Place the dough in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

DAY TWO
Remove the biga and soaker from the refrigerator several hours before preparing the final dough.
Cut the biga into smaller pieces and combine with the soaker. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Knead by hand or machine for roughly 5 minutes until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Add additional flour or water to achieve the proper consistency (a slightly sticky dough that will hold its shape). I used about a cup and the dough was still pretty sticky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and allow to rise until 1 1/2 times its size, roughly 45 minutes to an hour. Shape the dough and place in oiled pans for the final rise.

Pre-heat the oven to 425 while the loaves are rising. I used a little egg white and oats for topping.

To bake, place the loaf in the preheated oven. After 5 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the loaf 180 degrees and bake about 20 to 30 minutes until the loaf is deep brown, makes a hollow sound when tapped on, and when the internal temperature reads at least 205 degrees.
Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool for at least one hour.

So Mr. Reinhart’s (are we on first name basis yet?) second recipe (or ‘formula’) in the whole wheat bible is for a ‘transitional’ sandwich bread. This is a bread that is about 56/44 whole wheat and white flour. I’m not sure if it was this formulation or actually following ALL of the recipe’s instructions, but the results were superior. I swear, the 2013 challenge might be RE-BAKING all 55 recipes and getting them right the second time.

This loaf rose better. The color is better. The texture is better. Does this come for sufficient kneading and not trying to turn them to charcoal at 500°F or the increased percentage of bread flour? All my readers are probably shouting the same thing, “It all matters!”

If 10 people made this bread using the baker’s percentage formula:

• Fresh milled whole wheat flour 56
• Unbleached bread flour 44
• Salt 1.8
• Yeast 1.5
• Milk (I used almond milk) 39
• Water 28
• Honey 8
• Oil 1.8

You would get 10 different breads. Why? Because ‘it all matters’.

Water temperature, order of adding ingredients, kneading time and style, fermentation time, etc. all matter. Change something as seemingly insignificant as when the salt is added to the dough or how many minutes you bench rest the dough before you do final shaping and you will change the bread.

I think the thing I still need to learn about sandwich loaves is creating sufficient tension in the final shaped roll. I’m casual about this and the loaf is not as springy as I would like. I would never dream of not tightening the tension on a hearth loaf, why am I not paying attention to sandwich loaves? The education continues.

With some fear of failure, I am embarking on the challenge of baking all 55 recipes found in Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread cookbook. This should be a good workout for my new grain mill and no doubt an education for myself.

The first recipe is 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich bread which Peter calls a "master recipe" because it is the foundation for many of the other breads in the book. I have learned so much by trying his "delayed fermentation method". The concept of a "soaker", for example, is that by allowing whole wheat flour to soak in a liquid, we start the enymatic activity that converts starch to sugars as well as softening the harder portions of the flour like bran so they do not puncture the delicate gluten structure we are trying to create. His unique "epoxy" process involves mixing almost equal parts soaker with aged biga (flour, water, yeast). I had never used many of these techniques in my usual breadmaking and found my education was well worth the minimal cost of tuition.

As I pulled the dark brick from the oven, I could hear Peter's words in my head: "If you approach these formulas with the mind-set that you already know how to bake bread and try to impose your previous ideas on these techniques, you will confuse yourself." While I had followed his directions to the tee on the formula and most of the mixing, I had shortened the kneading time and increased the initial temperature of the oven. These small changes, while they work for my usual recipe, were catastrophic for this new recipe. The 500°F initial temperature for my usual recipe works fine with a lean dough, this recipe had both oil and honey which made it burn more easily. Next time, I'll stick with the 425°F Peter recommends.

Next time, I'll add a bit more yeast and increase the kneading time to lighten the loaf. All these criticisms aside, this 100% whole wheat loaf was the best I had ever made. The flavor was slightly sweet, mild, wheaty and complex. A good first loaf and much was learned. Only 54 to go.