Whole wheat bread without kneading.

The technique is to bake a biga for country-style bread without additional flour and water, at high temperature within an unglazed clay cloche, a glazed casserole dish, or heavy cast iron pot with a lid but without any plastic handle. If your heavy pot has a plastic handle, then unscrew it so that it doesn't melt.

The dough is exceedingly wet. That is what makes it work. The heat high as your oven will go so the bubbles inside will expand quickly to maximum before the surface sets. The enclosed vessel helps the dough stay wet long enough to behave like a balloon. More like thousands of tiny balloons contained within the skin of the loaf.

This technique advances the results of the home baker to that of professional bakers.

Biga started anywhere from 8 -- 12 hours in advance. Proofing initiated with only 1/4 teaspoon yeast.

Whole wheat bread is never 100% whole wheat or else the loaf will turn out like a brick. It is too heavy and dense so all purpose flour is included to lighten the loaf. Usually no more than 50% whole wheat and that is pushing it. This is more than 1/3 whole wheat but less than 1/2. This is a difficult thing for beginner bakers to accept, but that is just the way it is, so get over it. 

By weight: roughly 14 oz. water, 4 oz whole wheat flour, 10 oz

By cup: 1 + 3/4 cup water, 1 C whole wheat flour, 2 + 1/2 C all purpose white flour

1 T salt (added at the beginning retards the yeast somewhat) 

This sticky wetness is what allows the dough to rise beyond regular dough. The wetness of the spongy dough makes it somewhat more difficult to manage. To handle it, flour your hands and your bench scrapper, and touch it as little as possible.

An entire side is lifted from the work surface and pulled away from the body, then folded back to the edge. This stretching along with the extended time proofing is what constitutes kneading and substitutes for working the dough. It also forms a skin on the underside. Stretching redistributes the yeast cells inside putting them in proximity with like-type cells allowing them to reproduce sexually as well as simple budding.

A full side is lifted and pulled to the right in the same manner, then folded back..

Then the opposite side is lifted and pulled and folded back. The flattened dough is being stacked, the stretching produces a skin.

The front is pulled, stretched and folded the same way. Now the flattened dough becomes a stack of wet layers inside. It is much more wet than usual dough. Flour sprinkled on the surface so that it can be pushed around and shaped with the bench scrapper. 

The pile is pinched around the edges to seal it. This is showing ↑ the size of the dough in relation with the bench scrapper, 6 inches.

This is showing ↓ the loaf expanded somewhat after it is covered and rested, the yeast redistributed inside, proofed for some 20 - 30 minutes the yeast becoming active again, while the oven and clay cloche with its lid are heated to maximum oven heat, about 550℉, the numbers go only to 500℉.

Baked for 30 minutes then uncovered and baked an additional 10 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 200℉ thereabout. When tapped the loaf will sound hollow.

Man, is this good. The tomatoes are perfect and so is the bread. 

Large photographs here.