Wheat bread, a new endeavor for me
So I've been trying my hand at baking bread lately and I've been working on this recipe. I've been using a framework of other recipes to create my own and it's been a lot more fun than I expected. I must admit that I'm not a baker and this recipe is not perfect. I urge you to tweak it and mold it to work for you. Please share what works for you and what doesn't! Tweet me if you have questions!
What ya need:
Grab a medium bowl and rinse it with hot water. In the bowl, combine the olive oil, vegetable oil, water, honey, molasses, and yeast. Whisk this lightly for a few seconds and set aside for 5 minutes. At the end of the 5 minutes, you should see that some sort of reaction has occurred. This can be either a light foaming or some other sort of growth.
In a large bowl, combine all of the other ingredients and work them together with a dry whisk. Once you have incorporated everything well, add the liquid/yeast mixture and knead together for about 8-10 minutes. If you’re using a stand mixer, knead until the dough forms a ball that isn’t sticky. Cover this and let it sit in a warm place for at least 75-90 minutes, or until it’s almost doubled in size. Then punch it down, cover again, and let it rise for another 35 minutes.
At the end of the second rise, remove the dough from the bowl to a floured counter-top or other large surface. Form the dough as you please into the shapes that you want your loaf or loaves to be. I like separating the dough into two loaves and either making baguettes or boules. Set the formed loaves on a cookie sheet and cover. Let the loaves proof (hang out and come to terms with their new shapes) for about 20 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Grab a bowl of cold water, the butter, and a basting brush. I throw an ice cube or two into my cold water to make sure it stays cold. Using your basting brush, coat the tops of the loaves with the butter. This should be a light coat and if you have butter left over, you don’t need to use it all. Also, if you want to skip this step to save some calories, you can.
Bake the bread for 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven (be sure to close the oven door during this step to keep the oven hot) and brush the loaves with cold water. Brush each loaf twice with water and immediately return to the oven to bake for another 15-20 minutes. The loaves will be done when they are brown and sound hollow when you thump them.
In case you're wondering why water was brushed onto the surface, it’s because the water provides for an imbalance of moisture that aids in creating a more firm and crispy crust.
What ya need:
- 2 cups of stone-ground whole wheat flour (whole wheat bread flour works as well)
- 1 envelope of active yeast
- 2-3 tablespoons of wheat gluten flour or seitan
- 1 tablespoon of kosher sea salt
- 2 teaspoons of sunflower seeds
- 1 teaspoon of flaxseed
- 3/4 teaspoon of dried, pure stevia leaf
- 11 ounces of warm water
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (I like soybean oil here as well)
- 1 teaspoon of molasses
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine, at room temperature
Grab a medium bowl and rinse it with hot water. In the bowl, combine the olive oil, vegetable oil, water, honey, molasses, and yeast. Whisk this lightly for a few seconds and set aside for 5 minutes. At the end of the 5 minutes, you should see that some sort of reaction has occurred. This can be either a light foaming or some other sort of growth.
In a large bowl, combine all of the other ingredients and work them together with a dry whisk. Once you have incorporated everything well, add the liquid/yeast mixture and knead together for about 8-10 minutes. If you’re using a stand mixer, knead until the dough forms a ball that isn’t sticky. Cover this and let it sit in a warm place for at least 75-90 minutes, or until it’s almost doubled in size. Then punch it down, cover again, and let it rise for another 35 minutes.
At the end of the second rise, remove the dough from the bowl to a floured counter-top or other large surface. Form the dough as you please into the shapes that you want your loaf or loaves to be. I like separating the dough into two loaves and either making baguettes or boules. Set the formed loaves on a cookie sheet and cover. Let the loaves proof (hang out and come to terms with their new shapes) for about 20 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Grab a bowl of cold water, the butter, and a basting brush. I throw an ice cube or two into my cold water to make sure it stays cold. Using your basting brush, coat the tops of the loaves with the butter. This should be a light coat and if you have butter left over, you don’t need to use it all. Also, if you want to skip this step to save some calories, you can.
Bake the bread for 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven (be sure to close the oven door during this step to keep the oven hot) and brush the loaves with cold water. Brush each loaf twice with water and immediately return to the oven to bake for another 15-20 minutes. The loaves will be done when they are brown and sound hollow when you thump them.
In case you're wondering why water was brushed onto the surface, it’s because the water provides for an imbalance of moisture that aids in creating a more firm and crispy crust.
oooh.... I might have to make this!
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