One of the biggest problems that bakers encounter when using whole wheat flour is a lack of volume in the final loaf. The dough never really rises as much as they would hope or they end up with dense bricks and are baffled as to why. The truth is that getting a whole wheat dough to rise properly can be a little tricky and the more whole wheat you use in your dough the more difficult it becomes.

This problem occurs due to the bran and germ that is present in whole wheat flour. You see, when you are mixing your dough and kneading or folding it you are aligning and strengthening the gluten strands in the dough. These strands give the dough its strength and are what allow the dough to trap the gas produced by the yeast which results in volume. The bran flakes and germ in whole wheat flour act like tiny little razor blades that shred these strands, inhibiting gluten development. The more whole wheat flour you use the more bran and germ there is in the dough and the more the gluten gets shredded. This is why as you increase whole wheat flour you usually must expect a decrease in loaf volume.

But don't let this scare you away from baking with whole wheat! This issue can be dealt with. One way is to blend the whole wheat flour with white flour(something we will do in this lesson). Blending whole wheat and white flour creates an easier to work with, lighter textured and tasting loaf that will produce decent volume. Blending is a great way to start out working with whole wheat flour and allows you to progressively increase your whole wheat with each successive loaf until you are baking with 100% whole wheat.

Folding and Shaping

Because of the weakened state of dough made with whole wheat flour it is important to handle the dough gently. When shaping, the dough will have a tendency to tear much easier than when using only white flour and you will not be able to get the dough as tight. Adjust by shaping a little more loosely than you would with white bread.

The same principles apply when doing your initial folds. You will not be able to stretch the dough quite as much without tearing it and as a result the folds should be a little looser.

FERMENTATION

All other things being equal, a dough made with whole wheat flour will ferment faster than one made of white flour. The reason for this is simple: whole wheat flour contains more nutrients for the yeast to feed on than white flour. If you are not prepared for this it is easy to over ferment your dough. In order to compensate for this effect a baker must either shorten fermentation times or reduce the temperature of the dough.

https://www.abreaducation.com/content/baking-bread-with-whole-wheat-flour

I realize whole wheat doesn’t rise as much but is my machine’s 3.5 whole wheat cycle too short?