Our Favorite Bread

I've always had a fascination with homemade bread. I love the way it tastes and the way it makes my home smell. I love places like Great Harvest that bake bread fresh daily. In Utah, you can buy good bread at the grocery store. (I classify good bread as bread that tastes homemade.) When we lived out of state, I was always so disappointed in the selection of bread at the grocery stores. Things like Sara Lee, Orowheat and Wonder just don't cut it! During law school, we had a bread-maker and I would make homemade bread with it, but it took up too much space in our small kitchen and I parted with it on one of our many moves. I stopped making bread because in my mind, making it on my own without a bread-maker was too long and hard. For the most part, I did without bread, because if it wasn't delicious, it wasn't worth eating. I bought my kids the cheapest whole wheat bread money could buy.

Right after we moved to Oceanside, our Relief Society had a bread-making night. I went. My main motivation for attending was for the free home-made bread samples, but my friend teaching the class used her Bosch to make the bread. I have a Bosch and I had NEVER used it to make bread. I watched her do it and was amazed at how easy it was. She also used a few ingredients that I have never used to make the bread even better. I swear by whole grain white spring wheat, dough enhancer, a little bread flour or some vital wheat gluten. After realizing how yummy the bread was, I started making my own bread every week. I would make 4 loaves a week and my family LOVED it. Well, my Bosch broke last Christmas and I kept searching for a place to get it fixed. The only places I could find were in Utah. I didn't want to have to ship my heavy Bosch and I always forgot to take it when we were visiting and so we stopped making bread. After we moved into our home, one of the first things we did was get the Bosch repaired. Now we're back to our bread-making and everyone is soooooo happy. (Except for my jeans, lots of homemade bread isn't great for the derrier ;) ) It feels so good to have my family asking for homemade bread rather than treats or junk food when they want a snack.

From start to finish I would say it takes about 2 hours. 1 hour 35 minutes is for of that time is for the rising and baking, so really it's rather quick! I am now very comfortable making bread, so now it's time to hone another skill that scares me.... perhaps baking a turkey? Improving my sewing skills? Gardening? Editing home videos? Turning my blog into a book? Bring it on! The recipe is included below. I found it easier to make the bread having watched her. I learn more by doing, it really helped to be alongside her as she made the bread.
Whole Wheat Bread

6 c. warm water (115 degrees)

2 Tbsp. salt

½ C. canola oil

2/3 to 1c. honey

3 Tbsp dough enhancer (I get this from Emergency Essentials, you can order it online)

2 c. high gluten bread flour or 2/3 c. vital wheat gluten

3 Tbsp. instant yeast

6-8 c. freshly ground wheat flour.

(The recipe uses altogether 14-16c. fresh ground flour, or store bought whole grain white wheat flour, but the rest of the flour is added after the original mixing.)

Mix together in mixer on high speed to mix well. Turn mixer down to kneading speed and keep adding wheat flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer. Don’t add too much flour, the dough should still be slightly sticky at this point. (I usually tap my finger on it and if it's sticky but doesn't stick to my finger, then it's good.)

Knead for 10 min till dough is smooth and elastic. (By kneading, I stick it in my Bosch, put the lid on and turn it on low for 10 minutes and clean-up the kitchen while it kneads.) If it still is too sticky, add a little bread flour until it’s easy to handle.

Turn dough onto oiled counter (I spray my counters with Pam), I have my kids wash their hands and help me punch it down as I prepare it for the loaf pans. They love this part. Shape into loaves. This will make about 4-5 loaves. Place into well greased pans and let rise till dough is 2” above top of pan. (About an hour or so.) Bake at 350 for 35 min. Take our of pans and cool on racks. Enjoy!!!

*I really like using white wheat. If I'm not using freshly ground wheat, when I buy the flour at the store, I look for the words white wheat or spring wheat and try to stay away from using hard red wheat. I'll use a little heard red wheat for a little stronger flavor, but not exclusively because I feel it makes my bread too heavy. The white wheat is a whole grain, but it has a lighter texture so I've found it makes my bread lighter. If you buy the wheat flour, instead of grinding your own wheat, you have to look on the package, because many of the whole wheat flours are used with hard red wheat (you'll find the hard red wheat is usually less expensive so sometimes I'll mix it with the white wheat).