my psychotic chicken little style rants and ramblings- while on the road to self reliance.

Monday, August 1, 2011

whole wheat bread that is really whole wheat bread.

I keep seeing recipes for whole wheat bread that call for 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed but even I realize that does not make any sense. I have a recipe that I love and I am going to share it:
1 1/4 cup hot water (110-114 degrees)
1 heaping tbsp yeast. (I am convinced SAF yeast is the best.)
1/3 cup milk. (I use powdered milk, and I don't mix it with water- just powder straight out of the can.)
1/4 cup veggie oil. (I use coconut oil)
1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour in the bread with and extra for dusting. I would just round it up to 3 cups to be safe.
I do not use a dough enhancer or vital wheat gluten. It is one more thing to buy and store and I personally believe it is an excitotoxin. You can read a little bit about those here

I mix all this in my Bosch- but I need to learn how to kneed it by hand. I know one day I will not be able to use a mixer.
Add all the ingredients in the mixer starting with the water and yeast, and on down the line. I mix it for 10 minutes.
It should be really sticky- I learned that from the bread master. She likened it to a cake mix, being such a wet batter and it makes a fluffy cake. I was having issues with my bread being too heavy, and she helped me realize I was adding way too much flour. Since this recipe does not use a dough enhancer you need to make sure and not add too much flour, or you will have what my husband called a "tasty brick."
All mixers are different but I use just enough flour till it pulls away from the side of a mixer for just a couple of turns.



After the 10 minutes of mixing I roll it out on a floured surface and give it a couple kneads by hand that will lightly coat the outside of the dough with flour.

This will make the outside of the dough not be sticky but the inside still will be.





 I then roll it out flat and then roll it up like a snake pulling the top roll of the sides down and pinching the end seam and the sides together.







The bottom seam goes on the bottom of the loaf pan. You do not have to roll it like a snake- you can shape it into a loaf, I like rolling it. It creates a nice round shape and I have had more luck with this technique then shaping it like a loaf. Rolling takes practice, if you roll it too loose there will be holes in the bread, if it is too tight it will have a hard time rising, or will not rise at all.
Place your loaf in a greased loaf pan. I oil the top of the loaf and place a towel over it to rise. Careful of the size of the pan- I was using a super huge pan before and could not figure out why my bread was not rising big over the top of it.
Let it rise for about 1 hour 15 minutes. It should be nice and round on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. I cover the top with foil after 20 minutes of it baking so the top is not to brown.
Let it cool on a rack and it is done. Yum.

I have also mixed this in a kitchen aid mixer and it worked just fine.

To have a loaf every day for a year you will need:
52 cups hot water *there are 16 cups in a gallon so you will need a little over 3 gallons
52 heaping tbsp of yeast
17 and 1/3 cups milk
13 cups oil
13 cups honey
65 tsp salt
156 cups of flour there are 10 cups in a number 10 can
* I am still trying to figure out the rest of the conversion. Like how many cups of dry milk in a #10, and how many tbsp are in a pound of yeast etc. If you know could you tell me please!

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