Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Delicious Whole Wheat Bread



















This bread is the best whole wheat bread I've ever had. My husband complained one day about how much I was spending on bread, so I decided to look for a recipe and try baking my own. I found this on http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/. This wonderful mother of 8, who makes her own EVERYTHING, and also home school's her children, developed this recipe. It is fabulous. I have altered it a little to fit my taste, so click on the link to see the original recipe. I haven't been baking because it's been so hot, but today I broke down and made 4 loaves because I missed this bread so much. The best thing is...it's SO easy!

You can get the wheat gluten at a natural food stores, or many grocery stores sell it too. I bought mine at Walmart. I ordered some white whole wheat flour online, and my favorite for this bread is 2 cups of red wheat flour, and 3 cups of white wheat flour. Here is a picture of the dough and a finished loaf.

Delicious Whole Wheat Bread
2 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1 T yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
2 t. salt
1/4 cup gluten flour
5 to 7 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour

In a large bowl or in a large mixer combine the water, yeast and honey. Let sit for a few minutes to give the yeast a chance to start working. Add the salt, oil, gluten flour and 3 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Continue to add more flour until the dough does not stick to the side of the bowl and does not feel sticky to the touch (about 5 ½ cups for me). Knead for 7 to 10 minutes in mixer. (This is the key! Knead lots!) When dough has finished kneading let it rise once until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough and divide it into 2 pieces and form into loaves and set in bread pans. Let it rise again in a slightly warm oven (this means that you turn the oven on for just 2 or 3 min. or until you can feel the heat and then turn it off, if it is too hot then it will kill the yeast) for 15 to 25 minutes or until the dough is ½ inch above top of pan. Turn oven to 350 (without taking bread out) and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Then, the key is to try not and eat a whole loaf while it's hot! I made the mistake of making some strawberry freezer jam a week after I discovered this recipe...wow...those are incredible together!

2 comments:

Jenny said...

Thanks for sharing some of this with me! I'll loan you my loaf pan anytime you want!

Marc was complaining about the money you were spending on bread?! What?! CRAZY!

Aubri said...

Well, I was spending $6 for two loaves of this good whole wheat bread at Costco, and we eat like 3 loaves every two weeks, so it was a lot to spend. Thank goodness for my penny pincher! I would have never found this yummy recipe!