At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic
At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung
You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping
Your caffeine addiction level: high
After posting a little 'picture scrapbook' of one of our breadmaking endeavors
I received a request for my recipe. While I can't actually claim
the recipe as my own, I do actually own a copy... The recipe I use
comes from a little booklet I got when I purchased my grain mill and
big mixer- it's entitled "Bread Basket Cookbook for Large Kitchen
Mixers" by Martha Green, Green Acres Publications 2001 revised edition. It can be found at www.joyfulmomma.org and www.marmeedear.com
as well as a ton of other useful sites you'll find if you'll simply
google it... (I cannot vouch for everything on these 2 sites as I
haven't given them a thourough going over, the site I got mine from is
no longer what it once was...)
Basic Whole Wheat Bread
2 loaves 2 cups very warm water (110 degrees) 1 1/2 Tbsp SAF yeast (I don't think the brand really matters, but many bakers use this kind) 1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup oil (corn, safflower, canola, light olive- I use canola
or light olive, extra virgin olive has a strong flavor that will come
across in your bread) 2 tsp salt 1 Tbsp dough enhancer 1 Tbsp wheat gluten 2 cups freshly milled flour
Mix on med. speed until well blended. Let this
mixture stand until bubbly- at least 15 minutes and no more than
30. Then begin adding more flour, 1 cup at a time, until sides of
bowl begin to clean. (Do not wait until they are all the way
clean- you will have too much flour and dry heavy bread.) Begin
kneading time when sides are just about clean. Knead for 7-9
minutes depending on the strength of your mixer. Place dough on a
clean, oiled surface and form loaves (or rolls). Place loaves in
greased loaf pans and make 2 diagonal cuts in the top of loaves
(optional!) Let rise 30-40 minutes in a warm place (it may take
longer if it's cool and drafty in your kitchen, at least it does in
mine in the winter!). Loaves should be nice and rounded when
risen- whole wheat bread will not rise much more during baking so let
them rise nice and high. Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes or until
llightly browned. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks with a
light towel covering loaves. Slice only when completely
cooled. (yeah, right, who can wait for that with the smell of
fresh bread in the house?!)
To get some
great suggestions for variations on this recipe (and the 6 loaf
version) and other great recipes (the pizza crust we use... honey bear
bread... cranberry cinnamon rings- I've only made that one once, but it
was good!) you'll have to get yourself a copy of this nice little
booklet.
**please note that this recipe is for whole wheat
flour- it's not the same as bleached white flour, it doesn't bake up
the same, and it doesn't taste the same. If white bread is what
you want, find a white bread recipe... that being said, you can
substitute a bit of the whole wheat flour with white to get a little
lighter bread, but only a bit...
I made some WW bread the other night and it turned out great, but I like your recipe... I think I will try it! I need more yeast first though. Mine rose, but not very much... not like I expected anyway... so I think my yeast might have been old and not as active.
