Help Melissa with bread thread

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Please post any recipes, ideas, hints, tips, etc... This is the winter I am going to find the perfect (for me) bread recipe!

Any and all recipes will be considerd and tried. Thanks to all!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 16, 2002

Answers

Whole Wheat Bread: Proof 1T yeast in warm water-105-110....Add 2T each oil, honey, powdered milk(I prefer soy)...2t. salt...4-5 cups whole wheat flour a little at a time, knead 5-8 min, dough should be heavy for it's size and elastic...put in sprayed loaf pan or similar...opt. roll top in poppy or sesame seeds...cover...put in warm place let raise til doubled-at least an hour...bake 30-40 min at 350, unless you're oven's like mine, then you watch it after 25 (8~ (...I use filtered water which makes it inconvenient to warm, but I think it's better and of course healthier.

Weather effects bread. If you raise it in the oven you may want to put a bowl of water in too.

-- Cindy (SE. IN) (atilrthehony@hotmail.com), January 16, 2002.


Whole Wheat Bread

Grind 9-10 cups of wheat berries (can be red or white or both), Set flour aside. ½ cup of olive oil (cold pressed virgin) or you may use ½ cup of applesauce in it's place ½ cup of honey (raw and local if possible) ½ cup of molasses 3 Tbls. of instant yeast 1-2 Tbls. of salt 4 ½ cups of water (You can use 5 eggs, 2 cups of goats milk and 1 ½ cups of in it's place). Make this very warm.

Put the oil (or applesauce), honey and molasses in a bowl. Add very hot water to bring the total to 4 cups. Stir this well to mix in the honey and molasses. Then add room temperature water to bring the total liquid up to 6 cups. Put in about 4 cups of flour and then add the liquid mixing it all together. Start adding more flour and mixing it in until you have the right consistency. I like to leave it a bit sticky as this is worked out in the kneading. Once you have the right consistency, add the salt. (I never count how many cups of flour that I use. The average measure is for every cup of wheat berries, you get 1 ½ cups of flour. I usually grind 10 cups of berries. Sometimes, I use all the flour and sometimes there is over a cup left. It depends on the humidity, etc.) Knead thoroughly and divide into loaves. 5-6 medium loaves, or 4 big loaves. Shape and put into pans. Let rise until double and then bake for 30 mins. at 350°. You can use this dough for bread, dinner rolls, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, turnovers...whatever you wish. It is very versatile. You can also add sunflower seeds and whole millet to your bread to add a bit of crunch to it. That is my father's favorite way of eating it.

To make cinnamon rolls with this, roll out dough that would equal one loaf of bread. I roll mine into a long rectangle. Then melt some good farm fresh butter (about 2 Tbls). Spread this evenly over the dough. Then I sprinkle with sucanat (you can use brown sugar) and then sprinkle the cinnamon on. Starting with one of the long sides, roll up the dough into a log and pinch the ends closed. I cut mine into 9 cinnamon rolls and place in a greased 8" square baking dish. Let them rise until they look like they are coming out of the dish. Bake in a 350° for 15 mins. I make icing for mine. Our favorite is cream cheese with real maple syrup. YUMMY!!!

-- Marci (Marci@amazingrazefarm.com), January 16, 2002.


Thank you both, I will have to try these and the variations of them. I don't grind my own wheat so I will just have to use the pre-ground flour I have on hand, but it looks interesting to try.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 16, 2002.

I like sourdough bread, 'cause as long as you have starter, you're good to go. Only flour, water, salt and starter. I use the recipe in the Tightwad gazette. Even make french toast with it. Yum!

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 16, 2002.

Melissa this is my favorite bread receipe. You can use wheat or white flour.

2 cups water 3 tbs butter 2 tsp salt 1/3 cup sweetner (white sugar for white bread, brown sugar or honey for wheat bread) 6 cups flour ( all white, all wheat, or any combination of the two) 1 tbs yeast

in a small pot combine first four ingredients, heat on medium to 115 degrees. while water is heating up, combine three cups of flour with yeast in mixing bowl.

when liguid has reached 115 immediately add to flour and yeast and stir for a couple of minutes. Then gradually add remaining flour until dough is hard to stir. Turn out onto a floured board and knead for ten minutes.

Spray mixing bowl and place dough in bowl. Turn dough over and then cover with a towel. Place in a warm spot and let rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. When dough has doubled, punch down and divide in half. Place each half into bread pan and cover and let rise for 1 hour. When dough has risen again, bake at 375 for approximately 30 minutes.

I use my kitchen aide mixer instead of hand mixing and you only have to mix for a few minutes instead of ten. My family loves this bread and I hope you all will to. Good luck on the bread making.

-- sweet_mae (sweet_mae86@hotmail.com), January 16, 2002.



Sourdough Bread

I bake this bread mostly by feel, so my measurements are kinda vague. Starter:

In a non-metal bowl, mix 3 cups flour with 1 1/2 Tbl yeast. Blend 3 1/2 cups warm (NOT HOT) water with 3 Tbl honey. Pour over flour and mix well. Allow this mixture to rest at room temp, covered with a dishtowel, for at least 3 hours or even better, overnight. It will start to smell "sour".

When you're ready to make the bread, heat 4 cups milk to very hot in a saucepan (or in a glass bowl in the microwave) - Do not boil. Add 4 Tbl honey, 4 Tbl oil (peanut, vegetable, mild olive oil), 4 teas salt. Stir to dissolve and allow mixture to cool to room temp.

When milk mixture is cool, add to starter mix in a LARGE non-metal bowl, along with 4 cups flour. Mix with wooden spoon, keep adding additional flour to make a stiff dough. In addition to regular white flour, I also occasionally add 1/2 cup of any of these (any combo, just no more than 2 cups total) : wheat bran, flaxseed meal, rolled oats, white or brown rice flour, millet, cornmeal, quinoa, whole wheat flour, - well, you get the idea! Once you have a stiff dough (and it is a tough, arm-strengthening dough), flour your kneading surface and scrape the dough out onto the surface. Cover the dough with a damp towel and allow the dough to rest 15 minutes.

Now you start the workout! Dust the dough with some flour, and start kneading - fold the dough in half, turn a 1/4 turn, push flat, fold again, turn again, etc. Add a bit of flour when it seems sticky, and keep the surface dusted with flour as well. Keep kneading for a while (I usually knead for at least 15 minutes - I know it seems like a long time, but if you turn the radio on, you can pretend it's a workout. Think of how yummy all this upper-body workout's gonna taste!)

Once the dough is no longer sticky, oil a nonmetal bowl, add the dough, roll it in the oil, and cover with a damp cloth. Because it's sourdough, the rising time will take 2-3 hours. To hasten, keep it in an area that is fairly warm (70 degrees plus), but not too hot.

Once it has risen, "punch it down", pat it into a ball, and set it in the bowl to rise again. After the second rising, divide the dough into thirds/quarters (you'll want your loaf pans 1/2 full.). Brush melted butter onto the loaves, cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rise. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35 - 40 minutes, until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom of the loaf. To get a soft crust, paint the loaves with melted butter while they're still hot, and cover lightly with a dry cloth.

Whew - but I do this on a weekly basis to feed my husband and two growing boys.

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), January 16, 2002.


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