Wheat track: lean artisan programme
This page sets the standard for the lean artisan wheat track. It must no longer be only a baking journal. The journal stays, but every recipe should work as a lesson: theory, hypothesis, one controlled experiment, measurements, tasting and a decision for the next step.
The overall map of all tracks lives separately: Bread Lab curriculum. What remains here is wheat bread without enrichment: flour, water, salt, yeast or a little sourdough starter, fermentation, shaping, steam and crust.
What modern schools teach
Looking at SFBI, EIDB, Richemont, K-State, AIB and Weinheim, strong bread teaching is not built around random recipes but around repeatable skills.
| Block | What we study in our course |
|---|---|
| Formula | Baker’s percentages, scaling, water, salt, yeast, preferments |
| Flour | Protein, water absorption, dough strength, extensibility, flour flavour |
| Mixing | Hydration, gluten development, dough temperature, risk of overheating |
| Fermentation | Bulk fermentation, proofing, control jar, preferments, cold retard, sourdough starter |
| Handling | Dividing, pre-shaping, rest, shaping, tension, gas retention |
| Baking | Steam, stone, temperature, crust colour, internal temperature, mass loss |
| Sensory | Aroma, taste, crust, crumb, texture, aftertaste, food pairings |
| Quality control | Reference photo, defect table, repeatability and conclusions |
Sources for the course frame: SFBI: Artisan Bread I, SFBI: Artisan Bread II, EIDB, Richemont: sourdough excellence, King Arthur: Artisan Bread II, King Arthur: whole grain artisan breads, Le Cordon Bleu: natural ferments, AIB: applied baking technology, K-State: bakery science, Weinheim: bread sommelier.
Home adaptation
The wheat track must remain a home programme even when the methodology comes from professional schools. The constraints of the course:
- a 400 to 500 g flour batch so the lesson can be repeated often;
- a regular oven with a stone, steel or heavy tray, manual steam and a probe thermometer;
- a formula free of improvers, enzyme additives and rare equipment;
- one controlled variable per lesson: poolish, cold, flour, hydration, shaping, steam or sourdough starter;
- a mandatory sensory record after full cooling, not only a photo.
Control questions
Before the next S1 lesson, answer:
- Is it clear which flavour or texture this lesson should improve?
- Are several causes mixed at once: new flour, new water, new mixing and a new bake regime?
- Is there control over dough temperature and the signs of bulk fermentation and proofing?
- Can the lesson be done without a professional retarder, mixer and steam-injected oven?
- What is the next lever if the flavour does not improve?
A new lesson standard
Every wheat track lesson must include:
- A teaching topic. For example: poolish, cold fermentation, flour, shaping, steam, sourdough starter.
- A hypothesis. What should change in flavour, crumb, crust or workflow.
- One principal variable. So that after the bake it is clear why the result changed.
- A measurement map. Temperatures, sample mass, rise during bulk fermentation, proofing, dough mass, bread mass, mass loss, internal temperature.
- A sensory card. Crust aroma, crumb aroma, sweetness, acidity, salt, moisture, chew, aftertaste, overall score.
- A decision for the next lesson. Not simply “repeat” but a concrete next lever.
A route through modern flavourful breads
The wheat track should introduce not only basic white bread but also modern breads that are genuinely interesting to eat.
| Lesson | Bread | What we study |
|---|---|---|
| S1-C1 | Basic lean white | Process control, measurements, honest tasting |
| S1-C2 | White bread on poolish | Preferment as flavour and aroma without enrichment |
| S1-C3 | White bread with cold retard | Slow fermentation, overnight schedule, aroma |
| S1-C4 | Rustic wheat bread | A small whole grain share and deeper flavour |
| S1-C5 | Baguette-batard on poolish | One larger piece, elongated shape, scoring, steam and crust |
| S1-C6 | Ciabatta | High hydration, folds, open crumb |
| S1-C7 | Batard on old dough | Salted old dough, total baker’s percentages, maturity and shaping |
| S1-C8 | Sourdough opara with backup yeast | Sourdough flavour with a predictable rise, autolyse and cold proofing |
| S1-C9 | Wheat bread with soaked seeds | Flavour of additions, seed soaker, moisture balance |
| S1-C10 | Pure sourdough wheat bread | Clean sourdough fermentation without commercial yeast |
| S1-C11 | Sourdough wheat with 30% whole grain | Bran water absorption, grain flavour, more careful fermentation |
| S1-C12 | Wheat-rye hearth loaf | Rye flour in a wheat scaffold, stickiness, acidity, doneness |
Soft white bread on tangzhong no longer sits inside S1. It belongs to a separate soft wheat track S2: moisture retention, dairy ingredients, sugar, fat, shelf freshness and the even crumb of a pan loaf.
How to evaluate flavour
A score of “2/10” is useful, but beyond that we need a language. After each bread, record:
- crust aroma: faint, roasted, nutty, caramel, bitter;
- crumb aroma: floury, milky, yeasty, slightly sour, grainy;
- taste: sweetness, salt, acidity, floury note, emptiness;
- texture: moisture, rubbery, tender, chewy;
- aftertaste: vanishes immediately or a bread flavour stays;
- comparison with the previous lesson: what got better, what got worse, what did not change.
That is how the wheat track moves towards flavourful bread through understandable skills, not through random additions of yeast or enrichment.