More Whole Wheat...

I've posted a few times about successes baking with 100% whole wheat flour.  It's definitely different from white flour, and I don't do it that often.  However, every couple of months I find myself baking with it again.  White whole wheat is pretty easy to eat, though still dense; a 100% loaf with red wheat is intense.

I used to use vital wheat gluten, but haven't put that into my loaves in the last couple of years. It helps somewhat, but not all that much.

My most recent effort was in mid-May, with white wheat.  Although it was a cool early May (with a near-freezing low the second week), the house temps had warmed to the low 70s, allowing the overnight rise to accomplish something without supplemental heat.

The crust actually broke along the top.  This very rarely happens with 100% whole wheat (at least for me).  While this was a nice surprise, it's still a pretty dense loaf:

I still stick with about 3 3/4 cups of flour per loaf, 1/4 cup of sourdough starter, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt; the amount of water varies according to the flour mix and coarseness of the whole wheat, but is usually about 1 2/3 cups.  This mix with whole wheat leads to about 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour per two slices, or 200 calories, 32 net grams of carbs and 8 grams of fiber (according to the Fat Secret site).  That's pretty decent.