TWD: Whole Wheat Loaves

Let me just start by saying that my internet here su-----cks.  Seriously.  I have stolen Tyler's laptop and retreated to the back corner of our apartment to try and get the best signal.  This is part of the reason my posting hasn't been as frequent--but not to worry, I finally let the landlord know that it wasn't going to work.  And you all know how non-confrontational I can be.  It must have been pretty bad for me to say something (or text something, thank goodness for texting).  Anyhow, I will make it brief....

This bread was OK.  There was a time or two during the process when I was sure it would all end in disaster.  I didn't have malt extract and that probably would have helped things.  After the dough was mixed (I only added 3 cups of white whole wheat and 3 cups of all purpose flour, I didn't even do the extra half cup let alone the optional 1/4 cup) it was pretty dry and I was sure it was too dry.  I added a couple extra tablespoons of water and I probably should have added more.  After the second rise, it looked like this:

 Have you ever seen anything more ugly?    

After baking it looked better, especially if I pretended the other side didn't exist.  And if I didn't look at the other loaf.  It was even more ghastly.

 So by the time I sliced into it I was pleasantly surprised.  I completely expected it to be inedible and not worth the effort.  But alas, it was pretty good.

Would I make this bread again?  I don't think so.  Like I said, it was just OK.  Jenn has ruined me from all other forms of whole wheat bread.  I like the taste of her bread better, not to mention it's 100% whole wheat whereas this one is 50% (Jenn's recipe HERE).  And I think if I were going to go with a bread that has white flour, I liked this multi-grain bread better.  While this wasn't a huge winner in my book, it wasn't an epic fail either.  It might have been some user error on my part, especially since I didn't have all the ingredients.  But since I like the other two recipes I mentioned so much, I don't see the need to search the globe for malt extract.

If you'd like to try the recipe if nothing else to prove you can make it better than I can, you can get the recipe at the blog of one or both of our hosts for the week:

Veggie Nom Noms

or

The Family that Bakes Together

If you'd like to see what the other TWD bakers did this week, you can go HERE.