National Loaf...recreation

Maybe I should have used a better bread knife

This is a continuation of the story of the National Wheatmeal Bread which was on sale across Britain in World War II. Had an attempt at a reproduction of said loaf. I made a 1kg bread machine version. I was in pressed for time and bread machines once loaded with the ingredients do all the work and release wonderful baking aroma in the kitchen. It was made to check the taste, crumb structure and crust. The result was just fine. Good for a sandwich. Dense, moist inside, with a firm thin crust. But as you can see from the photo it does make a few loose crumbs when sliced.

Essentially I followed the wholemeal recipe for the bread machine using a flour mix with the following percentages :
75% lightly sieved 100% wholemeal.
The original used 85% wholemeal, usually called wheatmeal. I didn't have any so I bolted some of the bran out of a flour produced by The Watermill. They use organic English wheat, and yes it is milled by water power.
15% of strong Canadian white (the item that was in short supply in the war)
5% potato flour (really it is just a starch filler)
5% wholegrain barley flour

I'll have another attempt but trying a hand made version using fresh yeast and a longer proving time.
Links : Previous posts about The National Loaf.