Wholemeal Pullman Loaf

I haven't been updating this blog because I have been suffering from baker's block. Everything I baked turn out bad, even my regular cinnamon roll. This changed when my neighbour, Iris, gave me a recipe for banana bread which turned out wonderful! Details of this in my next blog.

I want to share this recipe for wholemeal pullman bread. This is modified from Alex Goh's book "Bread". This recipe is different from other pullman bread because it uses whip cream. This gives the bread extra flavour and softness. I have substituted most of the flour with organic fine stoneground wholemeal flour for added goodness.

Sponge Dough:

2g fresh yeast (or 1/2 tsp instant yeast)
1 tbsp water
75g 12% high protein bread flour
75g fine stoneground wholemeal flour
87ml water

Main Dough:
5g fresh yeast (or 1/2 tsp instant yeast)
100g fine stoneground wholemeal flour
15g sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp milk powder
100ml whipping cream
15g butter

Method:

1. Mix ingredients for sponge dough and leave in a covered bowl for 4 hours.
2. Add all other ingredients to sponge dough except salt and butter. Add salt after mixing the dough for 5 minutes. Knead for another 10 minutes and add butter.
3. When a smooth dough has formed, cover it in a bowl and leave to rise for 2 hour. I usually put it in the refrigerator because my kitchen is warm (84 Fahrenheit).
4. Put the dough on a flat surface and do a stretch and fold. This is done by gently flattening the dough and pulling one side of the dough over to the other side about 2/3 of the way. Pull the other side over to overlap the first fold. Do the same for the top and bottom sides of the dough.
5. Cover the dough in a bowl and leave to rise for 1 hour. Repeat the stretch and fold and leave to rise for another hour.
6. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and round them up. Rest the pieces for 15 minutes.
7. Flatten the pieces of dough and roll them up swiss roll style. Rest for 10 minutes.
8. Repeat the flattening and rolling. Put the pieces in a loaf pan. I use a half sized loaf pan, 5.5 inches all round. The loaf does not reach the top even after baking unless I use more bread flour instead of wholemeal flour.
9. Cover the pan and proof for 45 minutes.
10. Bake at 200C for 35 minutes.
11. Close your eyes and enjoy the taste and smell of fresh bread!