Sunday, November 23, 2008

Award-Winning Wheat Bread

Yep, it really did win an award. This bread won 1st place in our Stake Preparedness Cook-Off. It makes great rolls, bread, pizza, cinnamon rolls, and breadsticks. It's light, delicious, and nutritious. You'll love it. Give it a try!

Whole Wheat Bread
(Yield: 3 large loaves. You can split the recipe in half or third if you don’t need that much bread. Also makes awesome rolls, cinnamon rolls, breadsticks, etc. Or better yet, make the whole batch and share some! Dough freezes well in Ziploc freezer bags. Just freeze before rising, remove from freezer a few hours before you’re ready to bake it, let it rise, and you have fresh bread.)

Ingredients
3 cups warm water (110 to 120 degrees)
3 Tbsp Instant Active Dry Yeast
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Salt
2/3 Cup Olive Oil
2/3 Cup Honey
6 Cups Whole Wheat Flour (if you grind it yourself, you need to add 1 Tbsp Wheat Gluten per cup of Whole Wheat Flour)
1-3 Cups All-Purpose or Bread Flour

You can make this by hand, or you can use your Bosch or KitchenAid with the dough hook. Pour warm water into large bowl, sprinkle yeast on top of water, add brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Let stand for 1 to 5 minutes, to make sure that yeast is active and bubbling. If yeast does not rise or bubble after 5 minutes, discard and start again or use dough for breadsticks or pizza dough. Add salt, olive oil, and honey to yeast mixture. Stir well. Add 6 cups whole wheat flour (and gluten, if you need it) to yeast mixture. Stir until combined. Add all-purpose or bread flour ½ cup at a time until dough is smooth and elastic, and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This dough should not be hard to knead. Remove from bowl and knead (or use mixer to knead for 3-5 minutes). Shape into loaves, rolls, or roll out for cinnamon rolls or breadsticks. Put in greased pan (or use stoneware, my personal favorite). Let rise until double in size. Bake loaves at 350 degrees for 40-55 minutes, depending on size of loaves. If baking in a convection oven, bake loaves for 25 minutes. Bake rolls for 15+ minutes (depending on size of rolls). Bake pizzas at 500 degrees for 10 minutes (I’ve only tried this in a convection oven, so I don’t know how it works in a standard oven).

5 comments:

Holli Raymond said...

I know that you posted this forever ago...but you only let the wheat bread dough rise once? You don't let it rise after kneading, then form loaves, then rise again?? Just wanted to double check before I try making them. And is this your yummy recipe that you're always asked to make for family things??

Love you!

Unknown said...

I just found your blog and I am hooked! I am known as the "reezer meal know it all" in my area and I love your ideas.

I have been looking for a whole wheat bread recipe that won't get crumbly after freezing it, I never thought to freeze the dough! You are a clever Diva!

I also would like to know the answer to the questions that Holli asked. Thank you!

Mom 4 Zion said...

Yep, you don't need to let it rise twice if you're using SAF-instant or RapidRise yeast. They are really high quality yeasts that always perform, so you don't have to let it "proof" by rising it twice. The purpose of rising once, punching down, and rising again is to stimulate the yeast and make sure it gives an even texture to large loaves. If you are using high-quality yeast, the punching down and second rise are unnecessary. Back in the old days, they didn't have the high quality yeasts we have now, so they did the double rise to ensure their bread didn't have a huge hole in the middle.

The only reason I ever let it rise twice is if I forget to put it in the oven, and it has over-risen. OR if I'm using cheap yeast. Therefore, this is the fastest bread recipe I've ever had, and it tastes delicious!

Yep, this is the famous recipe that I always take to family events.

Oh! If you're making rolls, breadsticks, or pizza, you DEFINITELY don't need to let it rise twice, no matter what kind of yeast you're using (because you're not looking for a huge rise from your yeast.

link2literacy said...

Your mom shared your site with our ward, and I wanted to know we're spreading the good food word.

Renae Salisbury : )

Chasing Izzy said...

This bread really IS delicious. I was making it late at night & was so surprised at how good it tasted that I had to wake up my hubby so he could try for himself!!
Thanks!
-Stacey