Aug. 29, 2008 - Homemade Bread

I finally got around to making some bread today. I HATE store bought bread! Even the "healthy" ones (which are hard to find) have so many preservatives and junk in them!
It took me a long time to find a WHOLE wheat recipe that works for us, and this is the one I found. It's from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking (which is at the Oak Harbor library), and it is a great book for anyone interested in bread. It really helped me a be comfortable with baking bread!
When I'm lazy I will make my bread in a breadmaker. I've used a lot of brands, but this cheap Walmart one is the BEST! It goes down to about $20 after Christmas! But I've found it rises much better if you let the machine knead it and do the first rise, then turn your oven on and let it rise the second time in a greased pan(coconut oil works best for greasing pans) on top of the oven. Plus its a prettier shape then!

FLUFFY Wheat bread:
Mix 6 T warm water with 1 t yeast mixed in until each grain of yeast is wet in a coffee mug
3 cups whole wheat flour( room temp.)
1 cup warm water
1 ¼ t salt
2 T olive oil or butter
2 tablespoons to ½ cup honey (I use less for sandwich bread, more for rolls)
2 tablespoons of Orange Juice
Knead, let rise until doubled, transfer to bread pan and let rise again about 45 minutes then bake at 350 for 1 hour.

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