Pane Integrale
by Jim Lahey with Rick Flaste
from My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method
(W.W. Norton, 2009)
Makes one 10-inch round loaf; 1 1/4 pounds

For this no-knead whole wheat bread, I use good-qualty whole wheat flour. White flour is made from the bulk of the wheat kernel, the starchy endosperm. Whole wheat flour takes more from the plant. In addition to the endosperm, it retains the bran, which is the fibrous outer husk of the kernel, and the germ, which contains the oil in the grain. Make no mistake: the endosperm of a wheat kernel is nourishing all by itself. But incorporating the bran and germ results in a more fiber- and nutrient-rich food. So I played around a bit with my basic formula.

First I applied my technique to 100-percent whole wheat bread, and while it made good toast, I found that it was too gritty, too dense for my taste. Whole wheat lacks some of the elasticity of white bread flours. So I kept cutting down the ratio until I got to around 25-percent whole wheat flour—and finally I was content. (Actually, before milling was as efficient as it is now, there was always a significant portion of the bran left behind in white flour, so this ratio more closely resembles preindustrial bread.)

I invite you to try the experiment yourself if you’re interested in finding your own favorite ratio. Go all the way with 100-percent whole wheat flour, then drop down to 85 or 50 percent, or lower. If you’ve got health reasons to get a lot of fiber into your diet, a high proportion of whole wheat might do the trick; so might adding other grains like flaxseed. And maybe you’ll actually prefer the taste and feel of this no-knead bread based on a higher ratio of whole wheat than the one I offer here.

convert Ingredients
2 1/4 cups bread flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
1/2 teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups cool (55 to 65°F) water
Wheat bran, cornmeal, or additional flour for dusting

Method
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, salt, and yeast. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.

2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

3. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475°F (245°C), with a rack positioned in the lower third, and place a covered 4 1/2-to-5 1/2-quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.

5. Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. (Use caution—the pot will be very hot.) Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

6. Remove the lid and continue baking the whole wheat bread until the loaf is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.

Recipe © 2009 Jim Lahey. All rights reserved.
© 2009 Leite’s Culinaria, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use.

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