Baguette Pane Integrale

We both love baguettes but also like whole wheat bread, so why not attempt to combine the two? 

For the first attempt, I used 1/3 whole wheat flour to 2/3 bread flour (high protein).   We used the Kitchen Aid dough hook for the first time and it worked beautifully.   The dough was so perfect that I hardly used any flour to knead it.   One important note is that I needed a bit more liquid to form the dough due to whole wheat flour and bread flour absorbing more water.

The most challenging part was managing the three risings.  

For our next attempt, I will slightly increase the amount of yeast and monitor the temperature of the room where the dough is resting.  Also, I would recommend closely watching the oven temperature.  While the recipe I used stated to bake the baguette at 425 F for 10 minutes, then drop the temperature and bake at 325 degrees.  I will try limiting the initial baking to more like 7 minutes and then dropping to 350 for another 20-30 minutes.   Also, we need a longer baking sheet for the baguettes, but for now we’ll settle for shorter loaves.  It is important to brush the bread with cold water just before baking and every time minutes during baking to ensure you have that classic crisp, crunchy crust. 

Our bread turned out beautiful and tastes wonderful, so we look forward to fine-tuning our results.  

Ingredients:

¼ cup + ¾ cup lukewarm water

1 package dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white bread flour

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon melted butter

2-4 tablespoons of milk

In a 2-cup bowl, mix ¼ lukewarm water, dry yeast and sugar.  Stir gently and let sit for 15 mins

Melt the butter and look cool.  When cool to the touch, add the melted butter and remaining water to the yeast mixture.

Add the flour to the bowl with the dough hook.   Turn the mixer on low and begin adding yeast/water mixture slowly making sure you get liquid to the bottom of the mixing bowl.   Add a few tablespoons of milk if needed to moisten the last bit of flour on the bottom of the mixing bowl. 

Once your dough is formed, remove and knead until smooth and elastic and no longer sticky.  For first rise, let the dough double, punch down and reform into ball.  Let dough double in size again, form into a baguette and place on lightly greased baking sheet.  Make a ¼ inch deep x 1 inch slashes at 2 inch intervals along the length of the baguette.  Let rise 1.5 hours, brush with cool water and bake.