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I made the Whole Wheat That Rocks recipe again Thursday evening, but we were going out to eat, so I put the dough in a lidded plastic container and put it in the fridge overnight. Friday night, I took it out noticed that the dough was really dry, even though I had coated it in canola oil to prevent such a thing. I doubled the oats, but that shouldn't have affected much.

A cold front came through Thursday, bringing low humidity air. I'm thinking that the dry air and a low amount of water in the dough did me in. I added flour so I could knead without it getting stuck to my hands. I expected to bake that night, so I thought a drier dough would work out. But I had to put it in the fridge when I found out about dinner plans. The fridge sucks a good bit of water out of the dough which is probably why that book I got a year or so ago promoted wet dough.

Perhaps foolishly, I decided to only stretch out the dough into a log shape. I didn't punch it down and knead a few times. Over the next hour, the dough didn't change size at all. Even though I was preheating the oven to 375°F right next to it, which should have awakened the yeast somewhat. My guess is the humidity in the kitchen was really low and the outside of the dough continued to dry out. When that happens, I figure it can't expand.

I cut some slits in the top — the bread equivalent of pleats — and plopped it on the baking stone in the oven. As it baked, it expanded very little. It came out like a log. It requires a saw to cut. And yet it tastes very light. A miracle indeed.

I still haven't found the trick to getting good expansion and holes. Maybe there's just no hope of that as long as I'm using so much whole wheat flour. I think all the pros are big into all-purpose and bread flour.

As for what I could have done differently, maybe I could have punched down and kneaded the dough after it came out of the fridge. Maybe add a spritz of water while doing so. That would have exposed a softer surface for it to have some chance to expand and rise before being thrown in the oven.