More rise?

[curt]

I have been baking our bread since last October. I took my wife's whole wheat recipe, and starting adding ingredients a little at a time until I got the blend I wanted. It worked great, but over time our 30+ year old Kitchenaid started to grumble a bit. I purchased a Bosch mixer, which is working very well. When I switched mixers, I also changed up the process a bit, going from a double raise to a single raise. It works ok, but I don't get quite as much raise as I would like. I will share my process, and would appreciate suggestions to achieve a little more rise.

I start with hot tap water, yeast, sugar and salt, mix well and add some white flour. I place this in a warm, moist environment for about 30 minutes, then add a mix of hot water, brown sugar and vegetable oil and mix well. Then I add seeds and wheat germ, and whole wheat flour, and with the mixer running, continue to add white flour until I get the right consistency. I divide and place into oiled loaf pans, and put into a 200 degree oven with near boiling water in a pan in the bottom. I turn the oven off before I put the loaf pans in, and turn on the oven light.

I haven't tried extra yeast. I did try adding wheat gluten last time, but it was pretty old. I didn't see any change. My results are still very tasty; I would just like it to rise a little more. Thanks for any help!

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum!

You could try doing a slower raise - ie cooler and longer. So to do that you could use cool water instead of hot, and leave the dough somewhere cool / room temperature for as long as it needs. Might be worth a try - it would definitely result in a tastier loaf, but whether you'll get more of a raise - only time will tell!