Free's bread thread....quest for the perfect 100% whole wheat recipes

[miss_thenorth]

Gluten flour is, I would assume just the gluten part of the wheat. I buy it at the bulk food store. And no, 400 for 10 minutes is not a typo. Way back when I firststarted with this recipe, it had a much different bake time. can't remember what it was, but I fiddled with it, and this is what works. If I was talented with pics, I would post one right now, as I just made some this morning. Sourdough will be made tomorrow, and I am trying a new recipe with it.

 

[freemotion]

OK, if I can get the gluten flour, I'll be trying this! Just to double check, those are regular size sandwich loaves, and not baguettes or something small like that? I've never seen such a short bake time for bread, but hey, if it works, right??

 

[okiemomof3]

yes, gluten flour and vital wheat gluten and vital gluten are all the same thing

i have found the best price on my SAF yeast through my co-op www.clnf.org at 3 dollars a pound.......

 

[miss_thenorth]

OK, if I can get the gluten flour, I'll be trying this! Just to double check, those are regular size sandwich loaves, and not baguettes or something small like that? I've never seen such a short bake time for bread, but hey, if it works, right??

Those are in my regular loaf pans-- 4" x8".

 

[Mackay]

yes, gluten flour and vital wheat gluten and vital gluten are all the same thing

i have found the best price on my SAF yeast through my co-op www.clnf.org at 3 dollars a pound.......

I was thinking of trying this yeast but I need to know if I can freeze it and for how long?

I'm learning a lot on this thread. Thanks

 

[okiemomof3]

Yup, i have four packages of it in my deep freezer right now, unopened.

When i open a package of it, i immediately pour it into a quart sized mason jar with a plastic lid and i store it in the door of my side by side freezer in my kitchen. this is how i have always done it. i would think it would easily keep for at least a year. i am sure i have had some of mine that long and it works excellent!

 

[Javamama]

Why is this yeast not more popular? I can't find anything bad about it. If I bake bread tomorrow I'll give it a try. I bought some new wheat and a new box of vital gluten - which I always use when making a high WW percentage bread. Hopefully the next batch will rise better than my last. I still don't know what the problem was. I tested the yeast and it was fine. I used a thermometer so I know the temps were fine so Try, try again.

 

[freemotion]

Here is my latest attempt. I've made this as a loaf twice with good results. It is WONDERFUL as toast with butter and makes a great pizza crust. I made up a few extra pizza crusts for the freezer for busy days by baking them lightly and freezing them in a bag with wax paper between them.

The loaves are still crumbly, as whole wheat bread is, but not nearly as bad as the standard methods. This one takes a bit of planning but is not nearly as much work as it was to type this in! This recipe/method was adapted from a link that Hattie The Hen posted on another thread. Remember, my goal is a 100% whole grain loaf without any ingredients that could not be produced here (other than yeast.)

You need to make two separate balls of dough for the fermenting phase and mix them together later. I grease two bowls in preparation for this, one smaller one for the ball without yeast and a larger one for the ball with yeast. I use my stand mixer. The dough will be a bit stickier than you are used to, especially the last mixing of the two dough balls. This first step is also considered the first rising. It makes two loaves.

First dough:

3 1/2 c ww flour, at least half should be from hard white wheat
1 1/2 c kefir or other cultured milk
1 tsp sea salt

Second dough:

3 1/2 c flour as above
1 1/4 c kefir, etc.
1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 eggs

Knead each dough for 2-3 minutes, let it rest for 5, then knead again for about a minute. Cover dough balls with plastic wrap and leave at room temp for 4-8 hours or overnight, the longer, the better. Use pastured eggs for this so you aren't incubating icky bacteria.

After a few hours, proof 5 tsp yeast in a couple of tablespoons of warm water and a couple of tablespoons of honey, or use instant yeast dry.

Break each ball of dough into chunks and alternate them to speed mixing. Add the proofed yeast and 1/2 cup melted fat (butter, chicken or turkey fat, bacon grease, lard, etc) and knead a few minutes, adding flour or water as needed. Let it rest, then knead again a minute or two. The dough will be slightly sticky.

Divide into two greased loaf pans, allow to rise, and then bake at 350-375 for 35-45 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on rack. Use a light touch and a sharp bread knife to slice.

 

[lwheelr]

If you want good whole wheat bread, you need to start with good flour.

Hard white wheat flour outperforms hard red wheat flour hands down - Hard white tastes, and handles, like half hard red/half white flour. Rises better, makes a less crumbly loaf. Hard White is great for cakes and quickbreads also. The flavor is just lighter and the bread texture better. This is a very noticeable difference - the dough literally raises twice as high as hard red wheat dough. I've baked chocolate chip cookies with 100% hard white wheat flour, taken them to a potluck, and got compliments on the cookies - nobody even realized they were whole wheat.

I never use dough conditioner or gluten in my breads. We make all of our baked bread or flour products ourselves - sandwich bread, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pocket meals, pizza, tortillas, fry bread, doughnuts, English muffins, pitas, bagels, cornbread, banana bread, cakes, etc.

I have recently switched to using all fermented dough instead of quick rise, and have not converted most of these recipes, but will start working my way through, because my body handles the fermented doughs so much better.

If your family is finicky about whole wheat breads, get a good dinner roll recipe, and use that for making bread. Roll dough tends to be softer, and lighter. You can tweak the amounts of ANYTHING in bread recipes, so play around with it, and don't worry too much about ruining it, it is actually fairly hard to do.

The most basic bread only requires water, flour, salt, and some kind of yeast (fresh, or sourdough type). Oil will make it softer, so can milk, though too much of either can make the dough heavy. Eggs help the texture of finer doughs. Baking powder can also help make a dough texture finer. But because the dough only requires a few basic ingredients, you can play with the rest all you like, and not mess it up too badly.

If you start with Hard White Wheat flour, you can substitute it straight across in almost any recipe. You are likely have to make an adjustment for the amount of water to flour (increase water slightly), but that is it. Wheat flour can be substituted in gravies and anything else too (though you want to use more of it - about double for hard red, about 50% more for hard white).

Fresh milled flour - I mean warm from the mill - is DIFFERENT than fresh flour that has aged even a few hours (basically when it is completely cooled). The moisture level is higher, and it will sour much faster when it is newly milled. That can be an advantage when you want fermented dough in a hurry, but it can also make your dough handle oddly, you may have to add a lot more flour, and you may need to really hurry through the bread processes if you don't want fermented bread dough.

Another key to good bread is kneading it sufficiently. There is a difference between fermented and non-fermented doughs - non-fermented require much more kneading. Fermented doughs tend to work up gluten through the fermentation process.

Whole wheat doughs should be a little stickier than white flour doughs. They will usually absorb a LOT of water within about 5-10 minutes after mixing the dough, and then will slowly continue to absorb a little more. So usually you are going to aim for a mix that pulls away from the bowl, but which may not completely clean it like white flour doughs will when they are right.

White flour dough holds shape really well when the water/flour balance is correct. Whole wheat dough should be soft enough to sag down, and should not really hold a firm shape. You may need extra flour, or oiled hands to work with it when shaping the dough.

Quick rise recipes generally call for sugar. It feeds the yeast so it can grow rapidly. Fermented doughs do not require sugar, though they do require salt. The yeast grows more slowly, and feeds on the sugars in the flour. Interestingly, a quick rise dough that goes sour will taste MORE sour than a fermented dough that had no sugar in it to start with!

My mother claims she used to make whole wheat bread from hard red wheat flour that was as light and fluffy as store bought. I remember that bread quite a bit differently than she did - I grew up not really liking whole wheat bread AT ALL. I much prefer it now, though I'm still not crazy about bread made from Hard Red Wheat flour.

 

[me&thegals]

Great thread! I need to come back later and more fully browse. For now, I'll add my 2 cents that using vital wheat gluten is the key to lofty, fluffy, tender and light 100% whole wheat bread. No more hockey pucks! I use 1 heaping T for each 2 1/2-3 cup recipe and it makes awesome bread. Good luck!