Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Bread Making 101: Whole Wheat Loaf

We love fresh made sandwich bread. Making your own at home provides a much healthier loaf than anything you can buy at the store, organic or not, and usually costs much less (especially if you're paying over $3 for an organic loaf.)
This recipe is super easy, it only has 6 ingredients, and turns out well. The combination of wheat and honey gives it a hearty, sweet taste.

Today we're going to cover Phase 1; Gathering and mixing your ingredients.















You'll need:
Whole Wheat Flour; I use Hard White Wheat since it still offers enough gluten to allow the bread to rise/bake well along with a lighter color and texture thanks to the white wheat as opposed to the red wheat.
Sea Salt; this is real salt, not fake salt like the table salts you'll usually find in your grocery store for about .65 cents a container.
Honey; I like locally harvested, raw honey.
Oil; I use organic sunflower oil for this bread, found at my local health food store at a very reasonable price. Stay away from conventional vegetable oils.
Yeast; I use Saf yeast and have found it to be the best.
Warm Water; We're on a well so our water is free of chemicals and additives. I've never baked with treated water so I don't know if it would make any difference.

This is going to make 1 large loaf plus a smaller loaf. We use the large one for sandwiches and the smaller one that night at dinner.

In a large bowl and in this order, pour in 1 1/4c warm water (water that's about 110 degrees,) add 1 1/4 c flour, add 1/2tsp salt, add 1/4 c oil, add 1/4 c honey, and sprinkle 1/2 TB yeast over top. Mix with wooden spoon until well mixed.
Gradually add (1 cup at a time) enough flour to bring your dough to a good consistency for kneading. I usually end up adding an additional 3-4 c of flour. It is going to still be sticky but not loose like batter.

Tomorrow we'll move to Phase 2: Kneading.

5 comments:

CyndeJo said...

I will have to make this!! I love fresh wheat bread.

Amy said...

So glad to have found your site. I am new to bread making. I have been trying out my bread machine and now plan to do "real" bread. LOL

I took your button for on my blog.

God bless and have a wonderful day.

a moderate life said...

Love the step by step! I have a great whole wheat sourdough that is a high riser without the yeast you might want to try! I am a RFM blogroll member just like you! http://amoderatelife.com/sourdough-tutorial/ enjoy! I am following you!

Anonymous said...

Just today as I was kneading our pizza crust for our lunch, I was thinking how I have become so much like my Mom. She has always loved working with yeast dough. She says she likes how it feels and how it smells and that it's relaxing to her when she is kneading.
I used to think her a little crazy in the head. I didn't like working with yeast dough at all. I only liked quick breads.
But now, at 35 with a family of my own, I'm just like her. I love to knead my yeast dough.
So I guess that means I've become a little crazy in the head also! ha ha
does that craziness come from having 4 kids?

Sharon said...

This sounds so good Heather :) Thanks for sharing such wonderful recipes and tips :)

Have a blessed day in the Lord!
Sharon

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