Whole Wheat Bread, Round 3

This is my third go 'round for Whole Wheat Bread. The first attempt went really well and the bread was delicious. The second time was a disaster, though I was pretty sure I had duplicated the same recipe I used the first time. But here was the issue: I previously used Arrowhead Mills Stone Ground Whole Wheat flour which was perfect, but the second time I used another brand, Hodgson Mill. What I didn't know was that the Hodgson Mill bread was gluten free, or something similar. When I used the bread recipe on the Arrowhead Mills package, but used the Hodgson Mill flour, the result was a crumbly mess that absolutely fell apart when I sliced into it. There was no saving the bread and it was a complete waste. I couldn't figure it out until I finally looked on the side of the Hodgson Mill package at their bread recipe, which calls for wheat gluten. So this third time, I followed the recipe on the Hodgson Mill package, used the wheat gluten, and voila! Delicious bread once again.

Basic Whole Wheat Bread

2 C warm water
2 packages of yeast
3 T brown sugar
1 T Hodgson Mill Vital Wheat Gluten
3 C Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Graham Flour
1/4 C vegetable oil
1 t salt
3 to 3 1/2 C bread flour, divided

Put water in a large bowl. Add yeast, stir to dissolve. Add brown sugar, gluten and whole wheat flour. Beat well, about 200 strokes. Let yeast develop for about 10 minutes. Add oil and salt; mix thoroughly. Add two cups of the bread flour; beat well. Work in enough of the remaining bread flour to form a soft dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 6 to 8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in large oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with a clean towel. Let rise in a warm, draft free place for about one hour or until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down. Divide dough into two equal parts and form each piece into a loaf. Place in greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Cover and let rise about 45 minutes, or until nearly doubled. While dough is rising, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake loaves about 35 minutes or until top is golden brown. Bread is done when it slides easily from the pan and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool on wire racks. Yield: 2 loaves.

This time I didn't try to include nuts and seeds to the dough as I was going for simplicity. As far as the 3 to 3 1/2 cups of bread flour, I think I only used the two the recipe calls for in the first paragraph. When I was kneading the dough it got very dry on me and semi crumbly. I just continued working it and it eventually came together, but there was no way I needed an extra cup or more of bread flour at that point.

Also when I divided the dough I wasn't completely careful with making sure both amounts were sized the same, nor did I shape them into a loaf before I put them in the pans. As a result, my loaves were a tad misshapen but again, they still tasted fantastic. And I didn't use a bread maker with this recipe. Just the good old oven. It's not hard to make bread, but it's just something that takes ultimate precision. Much like ensuring your flour isn't gluten-free.





It's so good to pop a few slices in the oven for a few minutes and then slather them with real butter. Yes, REAL butter. None of that fake stuff, yogurt butter or whatever else is on the shelves. Those products have their place in the cooking world, but fresh hot bread and real butter is a combination like no other. And the smell of fresh hot bread baking is unreal.

And while baking bread is a very precise science, it's not so difficult that it can't be done. I've never used a bread machine and as long as you follow the directions and know exactly what your recipe calls for, you too can have bread success!