Whole Wheat Bread

My mom taught me to make bread when I was 9 years old. I haven’t ever found a better recipe! The key is using fresh-ground flour. I buy grain in bulk and currently use a Vita Mix blender (dry container) to grind the grain into flour. I hope to buy a Nutrimill grain grinder in the near future. I believe that it’s one of the best out there.

To knead the bread dough I use an older model of the Magic Mill DLX 2000 heavy duty mixer. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else! My family has had the same mixer for over 10 years. Using a heavy duty mixer cuts out the hand kneading and first rising which makes the whole bread making process less than 2 hours long!

Like any other grain, wheat has lots of good things packed into one little whole kernel. Once it’s broken open the nutrients begin to expire. In three days all the nutrition is gone. So if you bake several loaves at one time and won’t use them up in three days, put some in the freezer.

Bread made with 100% fresh ground whole wheat is very healthy for you! The nutrients in it help to reduce potential diseases and health problems such as, appendicitis, varicose veins, constipation, a hernia, etc… I have some good health information that I will post at a later date.

I use my whole wheat bread dough for dinner rolls, cinnamon raisin bread, cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls. I’ve tried using it for French bread, pizza crusts and hoagie rolls but it’s just not the right recipe. I’ll have to post my recipes for those items some other time.

I use a 50/50 mixture of Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat and Hard Red Winter Wheat from Wheat Montana. If you can only get one kind of grain, get Prairie Gold Hard White Wheat. Every couple years I go in on a bulk order with friends and family in the area. Another good resource for buying grain is through a local co-op. I use Azure Standard. You can go to their web site and find the co-op closest to you.

You’ll see a couple ingredients in my bread recipe that you may not be familiar with and may not know where to purchase. Vitamin C powder, lecithin granules and gluten flour can all be found at your local health food store. These three ingredients are very important to use in the bread recipe. Be sure you get gluten FLOUR and not just gluten. It may also be called vital wheat gluten flour.

To test the hot water, you should be able to put your finger in comfortably. But if you wiggle your finger in the water it stings. Sounds weird but it really works!

One final note. The measurement of grain is more important than the amount of flour it makes. This recipe calls for 8 cups of grain. It grinds into about 12 cups of flour, but just make sure that the 8 cups of grain is carefully measured. You’ll use all the flour even if it’s not exactly 12 cups.

Whole Wheat Bread

8 cups whole wheat
5 cups hot water
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vitamin C powder
2 tablespoons lecithin granules
5 tablespoons gluten flour
2 tablespoons yeast

Grind the wheat into flour. In the bowl of your heavy duty mixer, combine hot water, oil, honey, salt, vitamin C powder, lecithin and gluten flour. Blend well with a whisk. Add half the flour and stir well. Sprinkle on yeast and add the remaining flour. Attach the kneading arm (or it’s equivalent) and turn the mixer on low until everything is combined. Turn mixer up to medium/high and knead for 12 minutes or until dough cleans itself off the sides of the bowl. Dough should be very stretchy.

Turn dough onto a well oiled counter. Divide into 5 equal lumps. Take one lump of dough and stretch it into a small rectangle. Starting at a short end roll up the dough tightly. Tuck ends under on each side and place in well greased 4x8 inch loaf pan. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover with lightweight towel. Let rise until doubled. Bake in preheated 350° oven for 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove bread from pans and cool on wire racks. Store in plastic bags at room temperature or the freezer. Do not refrigerate.