Bread Wheat

Archive for June, 2007

The Secret to Fluffy, Delicious Whole Wheat BreadMost recipes you find nowadays for “whole wheat bread” call for at least half the flour to be white flour. It can be so hard to find 100% whole wheat bread recipes as to seem almost impossible. I found it impossible to find them, so I invented my own recipes. Many people suffer from the misconception that 100% whole wheat bread can’t be made at home, or that it will always bake up squat, dense, and hard as a rock. Some people have had bad experiences with store-bought whole wheat bread that tasted terrible, or that was made from mostly white  flour, and go back to their regular, unhealthy white bread out of habit. It doesn’t have to be that way.I can assure you that it is in fact possible to bake fluffy, delicious 100% whole wheat bread at home that will have the sternest critic of whole wheat baked products raving.There are a couple of secrets to delicious, light 100% whole wheat bread. The first is to use high quality whole wheat flour. Many people make the mistake of using Gold Medal whole wheat flour, but in my experience this brand always disappoints. Instead, I recommend King Arthur or Hodgson Mills whole wheat flour, or to buy whole wheat flour from the bulk aisle at your local health food store.The next secret is to use vital wheat gluten. In your 100% whole wheat bread recipe, vital wheat gluten should replace about two to four tablespoons of the bread flour.Also, be sure not to use whole wheat pastry flour. Pastry flour will make excellent cakes, quick breads and cookies, but it will cause your yeast breads not to rise properly.If you like light, airy whole wheat bread, try the following recipe. Assemble the ingredients in the order recommended by your bread machine manufacturer. Turbinado sugar and sucanat can be found at your local health food store. 100% Whole Wheat Bread2/3 cup warm water2 T extra virgin olive oil2 eggs2 3/4 plus 2 T 100% whole wheat flour2 T vital wheat gluten2 t brown sugar, turbinado sugar or sucanat2 t active dry yeast