Well, they wouldn't help me in 'cooking and crafts"...so......here I am: I am in need of a recipe for Whole Wheat Bread. I have 5 gallons of whole wheat and will be grinding it in my Vita Mix. Whole wheat bread I have made in the past always needed to be mixed w/white flour (1/3) with the recipe I had so it would not weight a ton and be all ??? yucky/hard, etc. If any of you have a really GOOD FOOL PROOF recipie for whole wheat bread.. send it my way please! (I would like a recipe that's so good I can sell bread!) I remember SOMEone on here wrote for their wife about the PRICE of selling bread.. What's her recipe???? THANKS
I can't remember any recipe's off the top of my head for simple whole wheat bread, but I'm not sure it would help you make "great" bread. The best I can offer it to get "Laurel's Bread Book" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0394724348/104-8540393-6459128?v=glance I got the book 10 years ago and it turned my door stops in loaves the DW complains don't fit into the toaster. It will explain to you how to do whole wheat bread that works. I find Laurel a bit nuts in some of her ideas, but this book is excelent. (arguably that's true of anyone eh?) She has a "recipe for learning" that teaches you how to do bread with flour that's not always identical, how to get the feel for your dough, and the different types of wheat. Now before you start grinding (or what ever the vita mix will do to it) what kind of wheat do you have? Without getting too techincal, you want a high protein wheat, like hard red, or hard white. You can get into summer/winter discussions too, but the key is high protein content. I find it takes a few tries on a recipe for it to rise to it's best potential. It takes a little practice getting a feel for moisture, etc.
Laurel's Loaf for Learning 6tbls warm water 1 tsp active dry yeast 3 c. whole wheat BREAD flour 1 tsp salt 1/3 c. cold yogurt 2/3 c. hot tap water 2 tbls oil 1 1/2 tbls honey If you don't want yogurt, use 1 1/4 tsp salt and 1 c. lukewarm water -sprinkle yeast in water -stir flour and salt together in mixing bowl -mix yogurt, water, oil and honey -add wet to dry -Should be sticky not runny -Need 300 strokes -let rise 1 1/2-2 hrs. -punch down, rise again 45-60 min -punch down, shape into a loaf, place in 8x4 baking pan -let rise again 45-60min -bake at 350 for 1 hr. Okay, now you have a recipe, but I warn you this recipe is MAJORLY shortened. In Laurel's book she spends 27 PAGES ON THIS RECIPE. So I strongly encourage you to buy the book. Her advice is wonderful on baking. My experience with her recipes is that I always seem to knead more flour pardon the pun. I grind mine at home at it is always so fluffy that makes it hard to get an accurate measurement. Some more advice-too sticky is much better than too dry. Also my bread always seem done in about 50 min. The type of flour you have is extremely important I use Praire Gold. If your flour does not have enough protein you CAN'T make bread with it. Good luck, I hope this helps.
I use vital wheat gluten about one fourth cup for a two loaf batch and that helps with fluffyness and with it keeping longer. But, honestly, I never have gotten really light whole wheat bread. Hope you find the right recipe for you. Arkansas Transplant
chickflick, you have gotten some good advice and I'm sure the Laurel recipe is a good one. She knows her baking. You said you were grinding wheat at home. As someone said you need hard wheat for baking yeast breads. For quick breads, i.e., biscuits, pancakes, etc a soft wheat is nice. If you don't know what kind of wheat you have there is a way to do a cheap, at home, kind of test. Just take about a teaspoon full of wheat berries and chew them up. If you end up with a wad of "gum", actually its gluten, then you have a high gluten "hard" wheat. Many of the commonly raised wheats on the high plains are considered hard wheats but don't contain enough gluten to do a good job of raising 100% whole wheat yeast bread. These wheats can be used in yeast baking but will need the addition of gluten flour, aka vital wheat gluten, or some white or unbleached bread flour in order to make something that does not resemble a door stop. Also it is my experience that different wheats and different weather conditions can affect the liquid/flour ratio. You just have to practice to learn what works for you and to know when things are right. Bread baking isn't rocket science but it does take some practice. I assume you have fresh yeast and are using liquids that are about baby bottle warm. These would also affect rising. Happy Baking! Bluebonnet
1. Make sure you use vital wheat glutein in the right measurements described on the box. You can add it to any recipe. 2. Use high quality yeast and make sure all flour, salt, oil and other fats are mixed together seperate from the yeast. Always put you yeast in a Glass measure with a little sugar(pinch) added as fuel for the yeast. Let the yeast sit atleast 7 minutes. Then add to flour mixture. If yeast hits the fats or salts before growth is started it will fizzle out. 3. Get a bread stone, pizza stone (all the same). A well heated stone makes a world of difference. Dough rises and cooks better, crust is better all around. I'm sorry but I don't have a good whole wheat risen bread recipe. I only bake flat breads and some Italian, like ciabatta.
I also find that if I'm using a lot of whole grains in my bread that if i soak it in some boiling water, then let it cool so it doesn't kill the yeast, then make the bread, its fluffier and not as dense andheavy.
