My friend Holly makes the most amazing homemade wheat bread. Here’s her recipe!
Whole Wheat Bread
Step 1 Combine the following ingredients:
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar (or less)
1½ cups very warm tap water
Stir and allow the mix to ferment 3-5 minutes; it should get a bit creamy and bubbly or frothy looking. If there is NO CHANGE in the yeast water mixture, the yeast is no longer active. Discard it and start over.
Step 2 Measure into a large food processor the following:
4 cups whole wheat flour *
2 Tablespoons powdered soy drink mix or powdered milk **
1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten (available at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or other premier food stores like Mother’s)
1 Tablespoon powdered lecithin (optional – also at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or Mother’s)
1 Tablespoon dough conditioner (optional – it’s a whey-based product)
1 teaspoon salt
*Option with wheat flour
If you have a wheat grinder and have whole wheat kernels, mill the flour right before you start step 1. This tends to make the bread even softer. The whole wheat kernels can be purchased at your local LDS cannery.
** These remaining dry ingredients can be pre-mixed into little packets (stored in plastic sandwich bags), so you don’t have to pull out all of the ingredients every time you want to make bread.
Step 3 With the processor running, add liquid in a slow steady stream until dough begins to form a loose sticky ball (a minute or so), this develops the gluten and gives the bread a nice texture. If dough forms a ball that begins to clean the sides of the bowl, then process for 1 minute and go to step 4. If dough is too sticky to form even a gooey ball, add more flour, a TB at a time, processing 10-15 seconds after each addition, up to an additional ¼ cup, then dough should form a ball and begin to clean sides of the bowl. Process for one minute (this continues to develop gluten for a nicer texture).
Step 4 Spray the counter top with oil, turn dough onto counter and knead a couple of times until nice and smooth, then cover and let rest until double in size (20-30 minutes). Punch down dough and knead a couple more times to develop the texture of the dough. Then divide into 2 equal pieces and press into oiled bread pan (or 2 mini-pans) and let rise until double.
Step 5 Bake at 350° F for 25 minutes.
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