I really like this recipe. It's soft, rises well, tastes good, and is whole wheat. I've been using the stretch and fold method instead of hand kneading as this dough is very sticky and I don't have a stand mixer or food processor. I do three stretch and folds on a greased counter (well everything is actually) each followed by 45 min of rest in a covered bowl prior to forming the loaf. It seems to work just fine. I've been having one problem though. The dough never really becomes especially elastic. It just seems to get tough and tears easily. Every time I form a loaf no matter what method I use, the top of the loaf always tears leaving a rather ugly loaf. I don't know if I am conditioning the dough too much or if I need to do another stretch and fold, knead by hand, or what. Any help would be appreciated. It sounds like a case of aggressive kneading. Try to be a little more gentle with the dough and remember that bits of bran and germ in the flour are going to cut your gluten strands shorter, so that will effect the elasticity of the dough. MJ

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