Small wholemeal bloomers

I thought I'd try the same recipe with wholemeal flour as I use with white flour.  I love home made wholemeal but have a bit of a block about the hand made variety.  In my breadmaker  wholemeal comes out beautifully - light and risen with a great texture.  When I have attempted to make it from scratch myself the results have been good enough to build a house with.

However, I have been encouraged by the success of the Hollywood bloomer and decided I'd have a go with wholemeal and more or less the same recipe.  In fact, I added a touch (really, just a pinch) more yeast and a little more water, just because of past experience.

The initial rising was quicker (not quick - that's not the idea at all) and I used this technique to shape the dough, having divided it into two first.  Click on the link and start the video clip.  Neat, isn't it?  Speedy and simple.

And here's the results.  I'm pleased with these.

Lovely texture - and it tasted rather good too!

I have wasted some time today costing out these loaves.  At a rough (very, very rough) estimate, the white bloomer made with white flour costs me around 44p plus the cost of baking while the wholemeal is around 71p.  The difference is partly because I had a really big bag of Allinson's strong white which is much better value than the smaller bag of Allinson's wholemeal.  I costed sachets of yeast whereas I use a packet of Dove yeast which is a lot cheaper.  If I used supermarkets own flour I reckon it would be less than that.

So each of these little loaves is around 35p.  Mind you, my maths isn't brilliant and I will cost it all out properly after a visit to Morrison's, using current prices.  But what I do know it that this really lovely bread is great value!

By the way, the ingredients are:
500g strong flour plus more for flouring before baking
A good tsp salt
a 7g sachet dried yeast (plus another pinch if making wholemeal)
30g oil plus a bit more for kneading and oiling the bowl
300g water (320 for wholemeal) plus a bit more if the dough needs it.