I was also wondering this same question. I've been using a bagel
recipe that called for dry milk powder. I searched though these
groups for awhile and found out that the milk powder is supposed to
create a tighter crumb. I think the premis behind it is there are
still living enzymes in the milk powder that break down the gluten (I
think) so the weakend structure can't support the big bubbles in the
dough. Makes sense for bagels since you want a dense bagel. Not sure
what style of wheat bread your making, and there might be other
reasons for it.

Hope this helps...

Anton


(Deepak Saxena) wrote in message >...
> What is the purpose of non-fat dry milk in whole wheat loaves?
> I ask b/c I seem to have left my packet open and it's now an unusuable
> brick. Can I replace it with something else?
>
> ~Deepak