Great! I’m always happy to see new whole grain recipes.
I’m not sure if this is the place to put it, but I’d like to add another suggestion for improving whole grain bread made from home milled flour. I use this technique for 100% whole grain breads of any grain as well as for the whole grain portion of breads made with mixed whole and white flour.
I’ve played around with various methods for blunting the negative effect of bran in whole grain breads with limited success. Several months ago, I was thinking about one of Melissa’s loaves where she added seeds to a loaf after doing all the stretch and folds and also reading on another site about the benefits of adding additions after the gluten is developed. I thought it might be worth trying the same technique with the bran.
So, now, after I mill my flour, I sift out the bran and add enough of the total liquid to moisten it in a small bowl. I let it soak while continuing to make the dough as usual. After I’ve finished the 3rd stretch and fold (or whatever method you use), I empty the dough onto the counter, spread it out and smear the moistened bran over the surface. Then, I roll it up jellyroll fashion and again roll the jellyroll into a snail shape. I’ve tried leaving it this way and proceeding but the bran layer was too noticeable in the finished loaf and sometimes caused the layers to split. So now, I knead it briefly until the bran is roughly incorporated into the dough before proceeding with the first fermentation.
This sounds more complicated than it is. I’ve been using this method for several months now and find that it works consistently to improve the spring, creating a plumper loaf and to improve the crumb considerably.
If you decide to try this yourself, I’d love to know how it works for you.