Friday, October 06, 2006

Well, I made my improved bread recipe again today and the crust came out great again, softer, instead of rock hard. You can take a slice and fold it to make a half sandwich. So, here's the recipe. This makes two average size loaves of bread or one quite large one.

3-4 cups whole wheat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill brand)
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (Bob's Red Mill again)
1 tsp salt
3 tbl olive oil
4 tbl honey
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 pkg regular yeast or 4 tsp yeast

Measure out the first three ingredients into a bowl, set aside. Mix in
a bowl the water (110-120 degrees), olive oil, honey and yeast. Slowly
mix in the flour (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer). Dough should be not
sticking to the sides of the bowl. I usually end up using 3 1/2 cups
of flour. I let my mixer knead the dough for 7-8 minutes. If you
knead by hand, knead for 10-12 minutes. Wheat bread needs a longer
knead time.

Place in oiled bowl in warm place, covered by a towel or plastic wrap,
for about an hour or until about double in size. Punch down, turn out
of bowl. I make the dough into a ball and use a serrated knife to cut
in half. Shape each half into a rectangular roll and place in loaf
pans. Cover and let rise about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for
25-30 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped.

I'd love to hear how this recipe works for you.

Barbara

10 comments:

Katie said...

I just printed up your bread recipe. I can't wait to try it because it seems to address the flaws of my home made bread (especially in my kids' eyes!)

Anonymous said...

I seriously want to praise you from the highest mountain top. YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!!!! I have been trying for years to make a wonderful homemade whole wheat bread and never could get it right. Until now! I made your bread (found it on Katie's blog) and it was perfect. I did make some changes (not to the ingredients but to the actual making of it - mostly because I'm not blessed with a handy dandy Kitchen Aid) which I'll blog about in a week or so. Barbara - I LOVE it. Seriously. Can you tell how excited I am? My husband thinks I've lost my mind. You are awesome.

You don't by any chance happen to have a whole wheat sourdough bread recipe?

Celine said...

can't wait to give it a try!

KareAnderson said...

For work-at-home people you are an extra blessing. I can make our break in stages to give me stretch breaks, make my home fragrant and have bread, rolls, mini-rolls for snacks an round/flat piences to toast later to go with soup for these chilly Sausalito days.

See Simply Recipes blog.

Please consider sharing your recipe over at SavvyHer.com and getting creidt for it (maybe gifts)
- Kare, Savvyher

dawneemarie said...

I just tried this recipe and was amazed that it was not crumbly, hard, tough, etc. It was so soft when I took it out of the oven, I was afraid it was undercooked. But it was just soft bread!!! I guess I just haven't felt that before in the bread I have made with the Kitchen Aid!!! I took the second loaf and after shaping, put the dough into the freezer for future rising and baking. This is the first time I'm trying this, so time will tell how well that works out.

I'm curious what has made this recipe so much better. One thing is the 7-8 minutes of kneeding with the Kitchen Aid. Their book says 3-4, which never seemed enough. I was ready to give up and use it for mixing only, and then go back to hand kneeding where I could determine the flour addition better. But this time I was very patient and added a little at a time towards the end. I'm also wondering if it is the gluten, as that is more gluten than I have used in the past. Probably a combination of the extra kneeding and extra gluten, both which add elasticity, vs a hard, grumbly loaf.

Thanks for sharing your secret.

oceo said...

I've made this bread several times. I use mollasses insteaad of honey. But I still don't know what you mean by"1 pkg regular yeast or 4 tsp yeast.

Rachel said...

There are no words for how thankful I am for this recipe. As a life longer eater and baker of whole wheat bread, this was a revelation. I've been making it for four or five years now, I've sent the link to countless friends, everyone who eats or bakes it loves it, and nobody can believe it's 100% whole wheat.

oceo said...

I've baked Barbara's bread several times. It is wonderful. I still don't know what she means by 1 pkg regular yeast or 4 tsp yeast. Mostly used a KitchenAid stand mixer but also works well with bread machine.

I posted a question about yeast, maybe a couple years ago, but never got a response.

Cynthia said...

For the yeast, you can buy yeast in bulk or in little packets. If you are measuring out your yeast from a bulk container, use 4 tsp.

oceo said...

In 2011 I posted that the recipe worked well in a bread machine. Back then I meant just for the first knead. Now I do the whole process in the machine using 4 teaspoons of SAF yeast. Turns out better than the oven version. My machine is nothing fancy, it just bakes bread. Got it in 1990.