The holidays make me nostalgic. Today I ran across this post I plan to put in a cookbook some day. Hope you enjoy it and maybe it may inspire you to bake and break some bread with a special someone in your life. (This was written 3 years ago) Kids are amazing cooks. They drink in the information and translate it to what creatively works for them – usually very simple and good. My son Brad at a very young age loved to watch the Frugal Gourmet on public television. He would get passionate burst of cooking energy experimenting and declaring he did not need any advice! Thru this experimentation he discovered the power of Worcestershire sauce as a “potent” flavoring agent – he now sautés onions perfectly with just the right amount for his steaks. Fast forward to now at 22 years old he has been perfecting a recipe for whole wheat bread. It all started in the fall of 2010 when he brought home a 5 gallon bucket of wheat berries from a farm he works at announcing he would like to gather enough food to live off for a year and wants to start learning what to do. It helps he is a hunter and always has some type of game on hand. The wheat had to sweat for a couple months then he cleaned the grains in the garage separating the sheff from the berry – Grandma Klotz an expert bread maker gave some guidance. So over Christmas break with some quiet time – he ground the wheat in my vita mix. So batch after batch is getting closer to his expectations for the perfect loaf. As a natural cook I loved the first loaf – pure whole grain dense and crumbly with a sharp flavor –but Brad wants a finer crumb and taller loaf – so he added organic unbleached white flour to the mix and has discovered the perfect blend. He started with a recipe and then thru conversations with other bread makers created his own. Here is Brads recipe- you don’t have to grind your own wheat berries but just know you could! Brads Wholegrain Bread 3 cups whole wheat flour 2 to 3 cups organic white unbleached flour 1 egg 2 tablespoons honey 2 ½ cups milk 1 tablespoon butter 1 ½ teaspoon yeast or one packet In mixer place 3 cups whole wheat flour. Add the yeast. Heat milk, butter, honey in saucepan to 120 – 130 F Add to the flour mixture and using the dough hook mix on medium speed until most of the clumps are gone, may need to scrape edges of bowl. Mix on medium high for 3 minutes, add as much of the white flour as possible. Get the dough to a point where you can handle it to knead it. Turn dough out on lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes, adding the remaining flour. Oil a large clean bowl and put dough in and turn over once to coat all of the dough. Let rise covered with a towel in a warm place 1 -1 ½ hours. Punch down and let rest 10 minutes. Shape into 2 loaves by rolling dough out the width of the pan and about 8 inches in length roll up tightly. Oil 2 bread pans and place the loaves seam side down. Let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour. Bake 375 for 30 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool in pan a couple minutes then finish cooling on wire rack. Enjoy!
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 19:10:46 +0000
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