I love bread: I love the taste, texture and most especially the smell. There is nothing more appealing to me than my house permeated with the smell of bread in the oven. Yum!! Several years ago I was on a quest to come up with a bread recipe that was great. So many homemade whole-wheat bread recipes are heavy and dry - and where is the pleasure in that?! It took me many months, and a whole lot of failures, but I finally came up with the perfect bread recipe. 100% whole-wheat, refined sugar free, moist, soft, and just plain wonderful!!
INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Water
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
4 1/2 Cups Whole-Wheat Flour
(I grind wheat to make my own flour. If you have a grain grinder, then this is 3 cups of wheat berries)
1/3 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten
2 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Yeast
DIRECTIONS:
Bread Maker: I have a bread maker, so if you are lucky enough to have one of these amazing tools in your kitchen, put ingredients in the maker in the order listed. Set your bread maker on the dough setting and let it work it's magic....... I DO NOT cook this bread in the maker, I bake it in the oven - much better this way!
By Hand: If you do not have a bread maker, here are your steps to make your dough.....
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water (between 95-115 degrees - the water should feel like a really hot shower, but not burning you).
2. Add your honey, canola oil, salt, gluten and one cup of flour. Mix well and let stand for about 5-10 minutes, until it starts to get slight bubbles, this is activating your yeast. Add two more cups of flour and start to mix it. At this point is should start getting hard to mix, as it is getting a more dough consistancy.
3. Dump your dough out onto a floured counter. Now for the best part of making bread by hand!! Knead away. This is a very therapeutic process, and one I miss sometimes with my bread maker. (however the time I save with a bread maker is WELL worth it. If you make this a lot, invest in one!!) Knead for about 10 minutes. If dough becomes sticky, add more flour. You will want to knead this until the dough starts to feel very elastic - you will notice the change. It will start to bounce back when pushed, and start to feel very soft.
4. Spray your mixing bowl with non-stick spray, put your kneaded dough back into the sprayed bowl and cover with a towel. Time to walk away and let it rise for about an hour - until double.
Baking both versions: Now your dough is ready, whether you did it by hand or had your bread maker do all of the leg work for you. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and dump your dough out on the counter.
Divide the dough in half and form each half into a loaf, placing into a non-stick coated 8" bread pan. Let rise for another 30 minutes.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until crust is light brown and sounds hollow when tapped on top. I bake mine precisely 28 minutes - you will have to play around with your baking time to get it perfect, depending on your individual oven.
This is the most important step! Slice of a piece, spread with just the tiniest bit of butter, and enjoy your nice hot homemade 100% whole-wheat bread. Heaven!!
