Friday, November 14, 2008

Easy Homemade Wheat Bread


I came upon this recipe through the food buying coop that I belong to, so I cannot take the credit for how easy and yummy it is. Before I began grinding my own wheat berries, I made this recipe with store bought wheat flour. Whether you grind your wheat berries or use store wheat flour, this is a cheap method to making wholesome bread. I used to pay at least $3.50, sometimes $4.00 for organic wheat bread, and it still contained lethicin, sugar, and other fillers! But now I can make wholesome bread right at home, even while we are doing school!

It is helpful to have a Kitchen Aid mixer and minute timer. I typically cut the recipe in half because my mixer is standard size, cannot accommodate the entire amount of flour and it works the machine a bit too hard. Feel free to add fresh herbs and roasted garlic, or cinnamon and raisins!

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

Grind 8 cups hard red or white wheat
Add 2 1/2 T. active dry yeast and 1/4 t. sugar to 1 c. warm water
Set aside to let it work

Add to mixer with dough hook:
4 1/2 c. hot tap water
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. honey
1 1/2 T. salt
3 tablets vitamin C—crushed
Mix to combine about 15 seconds.
Add to mixture:
10 c. ground whole wheat flour, 5 c. at a time and mix 15 or 20 seconds
When 10 c. have been added, knead for 6 minutes

Add yeast mixture and
1 c. regular oats
Knead for 2 minutes

Add 2 to 3 c. of flour (should be the rest of the wheat you ground)
Knead for 12 minutes

During the 12 minutes, oil 4-4X8 pans. Oil your hands and divide dough into four parts. Shape dough into loaves, place in pans, and cover with a light cloth. Let rise until double or a bit above the top of the pan.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Bread is done when it has a hollow sound when tapped. Set pans to cool and wait about 10 minutes, then remove bread from the pans to cool on racks. Let cool before slicing.

I'll add a photo of the finished loaf when it comes out of the oven! Please let me know how your bread turns out!

6 comments:

Kristen McG said...

Hi Jodi! :) I saw from your facebook that you had this blog, so I read through it real quick.. which I enjoyed very much. I am going to write down this recipe and give it a try. My mixer has sat in its box since our wedding, and I've been looking for an excuse to use it (and mashed potatoes weren't enough motivation). And Jordan has asked me numerous times to make homemade bread, so I'll add that to my list of things to try and get done this week.
Anyway- keep blogging! I enjoyed your posts and seeing more of your heart and who you are. Have a great day!

Rick and Beth said...

We saw your comment on our blog today and I thought, "Who could GranolaMom4God be?" It didn't take me long to figure out! So glad I can follow the happenings at your house with your blog! All is well in Houston! Love ya!

Sarah said...

Do you have a type/brand of vit C that you recommend? Is the Vit C for favor or nutrition or both? or some other reason?

Shannon said...

This looks really good. Have you ever halved the recipe? I'm not sure my mixer or bread machine could handle that much flour all at once. Just curious.

Jen said...

Just made this yesterday and got RAVE reviews from the friends I shared it with.. :) I sooo wanted to take the credit for making in their words "The softest best homemade bread" they have ever had. Thank You for sharing. I made mine with Red, 3 tablets of Vit. C because the brand I have tend to run on the big side, and I did end up using a bit more flour to get it to clean the sides of the bowl, in my bosch. And I had to cook it a bit longer to make sure it got up to 180'.. Came out AMAZING!!!!!! Thanks again for sharing..

beekay said...

Can you explain using wheat flour vs. grinding wheat berrys? And, if I was going to do it myself how would I do this? VERY NEW to making bread! :-) Lastly, you write that you add regular oats... I assume when you buy them they are not called "regular oats". What are they called? What is the vit c for?