Reed and I have been working hard to get our food storage taken care of. What a project! I took my first trip to the cannery when I was about 8 months pregnant with Blake, and came home with a bunch of stuff that I have no idea what to do with. Like wheat. My dad told me it was a waste of money to buy wheat if we didn't have a wheat grinder. Good point. So a few months later we bought a new Nutrimill grinder during the Conference sale. Several months went by, and I finally got around to pulling this baby out of the box. What is it about wheat that is so intimidating? Could it be the fact that I have NEVER baked bread from scratch without the help of a breadmaker? Maybe. Although I like to cook, I can't say I'm much of a baker. Anyway, I decided it was time to figure this all out. I might as well learn how to bake while I'm stuck inside all winter long, right? I decided to start out easy and found a recipe for Honey Whole Wheat bread to make in my bread maker. I started by actually grinding my very own wheat! The pioneers would be so jealous of our technology!
This is how it turned out. What a beaut! It was sunken in the middle, and not very pretty to look at. The texture wasn't great, but it actually tasted pretty good. I'm thinking it may be time to donate the darn breadmaker since my results are always dissappointing.
A few days later I decided to try again, but I found a new recipe and did all the work myself. I used the new bread pans I got for Christmas. This bread turned out so well! I made it again the next week and added more wheat flour and less bread flour. This recipe is a keeper. It is Honey Wheat Bread 1 from Allrecipes.com. It was kind of a pain to make though, because you have to let the dough rest and rise twice before, so it took all morning before it was finally ready to eat. Lacey says she's got a great recipe for bread that uses 100% whole wheat that is really easy to make. So, once I get ahold of her recipe and all of the fancy things that go in it (like dough enhancer) I'll give this bread making thing another shot. For now, I'm feeling very domestic!
7 comments:
Wow that bread looks so yummy. I need to join the bread making band-wagon and use up some of this wheat.
Congrats on your success. I know it sounds weird, but one of my goals this year is to learn how to make really good wheat bread, so keep me posted!
I have wheat and a wheat grinder. But I have never attempted to make bread before except in my breadmachine. My bread from the bread machine never turned out. You have inspired me to give it a try the "old fashion" way. Your bread looked yummy!!
I've only tried this once. We have a wheat grinder that you grind by hand. We thought "if we ever really have to use this, we might not have electricity." In the meantime, my arm was sore the next day from turning the handle a thousand times. Needless to say, I haven't pulled it out since.
By the way, I love that you are posting recipes! I'm always in the mood for new ideas. Although your last recipes were a little gourmet for me. I need ideas for things I have on hand because I don't plan in advance often enough!
That looks so tasty!
Breadmaking is addictive. You will be making bread every week. Good luck with all of it.
That looks like a good recipe! Last time I tried to add wheat to something I was baking it was flat and hard as a rock!
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