making wholemeal bread

[roosterroo]

help me,
I have a tricity(Tesco) breadmaker which is great except when I try to make brown wholemeal bread - I have some lovely brown flour but keep making bread which either deflates or dosent rise properly. Any experts who can explain where I am going wrong?

Hi, i don't use a breadmaker but my guesses would be...

Does your flour say strong, or bread flour on it? If it's just plain wholemeal it won't contain enough gluten to rise, though you can use it for soda bread.

Try adding a tad more water. I always find wholemeal needs this.

Wholemeal bread flour is lower in gluten by weight than white so it will never rise as much as a white loaf. I often use half white, half wholemeal unless i'm feeling particularily monastic.

Hth.

Use water that potatoes have been boiled in instead of ordinary tap water. It sounds bizarre but it does really work!

Add vitamin C.

It says in www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/24/foodanddrink.baking13:

"All wheat flour contains a naturally occurring chemical called glutathione in the starch, which is used by the seed as it sprouts and grows into a plant. But when we try to bake with wheat flour, the same chemical also stops some of that elastic stretchiness we want in the dough. If you use all white flour, the effect of this chemical isn't so noticeable. But change to wholemeal flour, which contains much less starch, and the effect can cause a heavy loaf.

Vitamin C has a way of stopping this chemical causing mischief."

That's science.

thanks , Its not me then!

I do have bread flour and have bought some multi grain to try next.

Is it the allison flour? Have always found it makes a very heavy loaf.