Basic Bread

I am so excited about this post! My favorite thing right now is making this bread. I find it to be a stress reliever in all the craziness of life. Some may think that is crazy, but even if you don't find joy in it like I do, it is still worth the effort. I won't go into all the health benefits of making whole wheat bread, but I would like to share a few things. First, store bought bread has the healthiest parts of the wheat taken out so that the shelf life will be longer. Then, lots of unhealthy preservatives are added. True whole wheat bread contains the entire wheat kernel which makes it a "good carbohydrate." I have played around with this recipe to work for me, and I encourage you to do the same. The flour, yeast, and water are the essentials-get creative with all the other ingredients!

You will need:
3-4 cups whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur brand- some people grind their own which is even better!)
OR
2-3 unbleached all purpose flour (this is not near as healthy, but some just don't care for whole wheat, and it is still healthier than store bread)
1 teaspoon yeast
1 cup warm water
5 teaspoons sugar
OR
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup milk (I have used nonfat dry milk before, and it works just fine)
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons honey, molasses, or maple syrup
1/4 butter, melted or oil
*An optional ingredient that works well is vital wheat gluten. It makes the loaf fluffier. I have found it at Publix. However, you can get almost the same result by letting the dough rise 3 times.

First, warm your bowl by filling it with hot water, then dumping it out (this is so you don't kill your yeast). Add yeast and water to the bowl, and let sit 5 minutes. It should look like this:

Next, add all other ingredients except flour. Add 2 cups of the flour. It should look like this:

Now, we mix; then knead. If you have a standing mixer with a dough hook, it is handy. If you don't, just mix with a wooden spoon. Kellye puts her dough in a bread machine for the mixing and kneading, then takes it out to rise and bake. I love my Kitchen Aid mixer for this.  The idea is to get your dough to the point where it is not sticky to touch, but isn't dry. I can always tell when I stick my finger in the dough, and I can pull it out without dough sticking to it. If it is still sticky, add more flour. If it is not holding together, add more water. It is not a perfect science, and you won't go wrong by adding more flour or water until it is the right consistency. If you are kneading by hand, give it a good 10 minutes. I knead it in my mixer for 3-5 minutes. Now it should look like this:

Put in a greased bowl (I just hold the dough in my hand, grease the bowl with my other hand, and slap the dough back in). Place in a warm spot to rise. I put my on the stovetop in the winter, and out on my deck in the summer. Just make sure it is covered! Kellye found that putting a damp towel over the bowl keeps the dough from getting hard on top. This works great!

First Rise : 1hour- 1 1/2 hour

Take your dough out of the bowl, and put onto a floured surface. Then just mash it down and flatten it out. Add flour as you need it to keep the dough from sticking. Roll it back up into a ball, and put back in the bowl.

Second rise : Repeat the rising process another 1 hour- 1 1/2 hour.

Take it back out, and repeat the flattening process.
Then, roll up the dough like this:

Tuck the ends under:

Place it in a greased loaf pan. As you can see, I had a little helper! Elizabeth loves making bread!

Let rise another hour. We like to do 3 rises, because it makes a fluffier loaf, more like store bread.

Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. If the top is too brown, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top. Beautiful bread!

Remove from pan, and slice when cool. This bread is wonderful toasted, and my kids love it for sandwiches. We are no longer buying any bread from the store! This recipe is a starting point for so many other things. I have done garlic bread, rolls, and hamburger and hot dog buns (thank you, Janine!). We will post these items later. Have fun baking bread!