It is my homemade bread recipe. I make my own bread every week, and there has been some interest expressed from some of my friends and enemies about it. It is whole wheat bread that IS NOT DENSE, but turns out yummy and fluffy every time. I've experimented with quite a few recipes for several years and this is the winner. The instructions are pretty specific, but that's because I've tried to find the quickest, best way to make it, with the least mess. Here goes.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons active dry yeast, not for breadmakers. Or two packets active dry yeast.
1 cup warm water (11o* to 115*). It's important that it's not too hot, or else you will kill your yeast and it won't rise. If you don't have a thermometer, when you put your finger into it, the water should feel neither hot nor cold. A shade above room temperature.
1 cup warm milk. I've tried scalding the milk in a saucepan over the stove, but I think it actually works best to measure out 1 cup of milk in a glass measuring cup and microwave it for 45 seconds; then stir with your finger. Once you stir it it should have an even warmness. I use organic whole milk, which, if you've never tried it, is heaven itself. But you might get hooked, so be careful.
1/2 cup honey. Local is better, esp. if you have allergies.
3 tablespoons shortening. I use Spectrum brand organic shortening, but you can also substitute for lard (as long as it's not partially hydrogenated, check label) or sweet cream butter. No margarine allowed.
1 tablespoon salt.
1 egg. The more orange the yolk is, the better the egg is. We go over to a local farm and buy eggs 2$ for a dozen. So good.
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (hard white wheat tastes and rises better than hard red).
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour. Ben likes it when I use all-purpose flour, but usually I substitute whole wheat flour here, so that it's genuinely a whole-wheat bread. It still ends up fluffy.
Olive oil.
Directions:
1. Grind your grain. If it's already ground, good for you. Store-bought whole grain flours go rancid relatively quickly, but will work.
2. Put yeast in bottom of mixing bowl. Add water. Let stand for at least 5 minutes while you prepare the milk and measure out the shortening and honey. Add milk, honey, shortening, salt, egg, whole wheat flour, and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or again, I use the same whole wheat flour). Beat until smooth.
3. Add remaining flour to the top of the mixture. (I usually add about another cup and a half, and then about a 1/2 cup of ground quinoa and about 3 tablespoons of flaxseed. Did I mention I'm a health freak? Now you know.)
4. Put your wedding ring and other rings in your pocket. Dust hands with flour. Mix the flour on top of the mixture BY HAND, scraping sides and bottom of bowl with fingertips. Mix by hand until all the flour is mixed in, and dough is a sticky mess. Come to think of it, I only really use my right hand, leaving my left hand free to screw the top off the olive oil. Once dough is all mixed, knead the dough for another five minutes, in the same bowl. I'm assuming you know how to knead dough. Don't be tempted to add more flour, even if it's sticky. NOTE: DOUGH WILL NOT BE SMOOTH AND ELASTIC, BUT STICKY.
5. After kneading, try to lift all the dough into one sticky blob on your hand. There will probably be some dough left on the sides of the bowl, so pick out the big pieces and add them to your blob and leave the little ones. Quickly pour a tiny bit (maybe 2 tbl.) of the olive oil into the bowl and swirl it around the best you can. Let your dough plop! back into the bowl, then turn it once so that both the top and bottom of the dough are oily. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
6. In the meantime, grease two loaf pans. I like to use silicon loaf pans, but glass and non-stick will also work. Whichever kind you have, make sure you grease it with some shortening. I don't like the spray-on stuff, because oils just absorb into the dough. Lard works especially well.
7. Punch down the dough, divide in half with your hand, then take each half and shape it into a loaf. Put loaf in loafpan. Cover the pans with the samr dish towel, let rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes. If you let it rise too much (say, for an hour+), then it will probably fall after it's put in the oven. Then your loaves will look dead and only your husband will want to eat them. 45 minutes is just right for me; they continue to rise a tiny bit in the oven.
8. Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes or until golden-brown on top. Let cool for a FEW MINUTES, then remove from pans to wire racks to cool. I usually put mine in bags after about 3 hours so that they're pretty cool, but still retain some of the moisture.
It tastes the very best when it's still warm, with melted sweet cream butter and honey. I absolutely love this bread with honey. mmmmmmmmmmm.
Now, that was pretty complicated to write down and read, but the first part until when you let the dough rise only takes me about 20 minutes, and I pull my ingredients and put them away as I go. So once you get the recipe memorized, it's a cinch. I have a big wheat grinding extravaganza about every 3 weeks. Please let me know if you try the recipe, and let me know how it goes! I have always made this bread at sea level, so I don't really know if you need to change anything for high elevation. Happy Baking!
P.S. The quinoa adds a little bit of a nutty taste, which I really enjoy. You should try it sometime.
4 comments:
Sweet, I totally want to give it a try right now. Dan is kind of allergic to wheat though, do you think it would work with another kind of whole grain, like oat flour?
Oh, yeah. For awhile I was using this mixed grain flour because we ended up with a 50 lb bag of mixed grains, and it worked fine and tasted about the same. As long as it's fine enough, it should work. I hope!
I generally try to make our bread when I am not in school, so it won't be until December/January that I get a chance to try this. I'll let you know how it goes though. My mother-in-law has a great recipe, too, so the two of you may have to battle it out in my kitchen. Hahaha.
It does sound delicious though. Honey. Milk. Eggs. Butter. Can't go wrong.
I've decided this will be my next attempt at a yeast-product in my kitchen. Wish me luck. I'm a bit nervous. I've got some flaxseed on hand, but no quinoa. Any other suggestions for good uses for quinoa if I buy some?
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