The price of bread -- is your flour fresh? (Bread for Dummies)
With the cost of a loaf of bread approaching or exceeding $4 a loaf, some people are thinking about baking their own. I've been doing this for a long time; not just because of the cost, but because you can't beat the taste of a hot slice of bread, fresh from the oven. Not to mention there's a bit of comfort in knowing exactly what's in it.
It's not as hard as you think it is!
Even if you do bake your own bread from time to time, it's important to use flour that hasn't been sitting in the cupboard too long. Whole grain flours, such as wheat or rye, contain more of the oil from the grain than all-purpose white flour, and so you can't keep them as long. Sometimes even baking a loaf or two a month won't use up a 5-lb bag of whole-grain flour before it begins to go "off."
There is a solution, if your favorites include wheat and/or oat breads.
I make my own.
This is not as wacky as it sounds! If you've got a blender, all you need is some whole-grain ceral, of the kind you need to cook, and it only takes a few minutes to make enough flour for a loaf of homemade goodness. We're only talking about a cup or two at a time here, not pounds. Recipes that produce the kind of big-and-fluffy loaf with the soft texture you're used to only use about a cup of whole-grain flour per 3-4 cups of all-purpose flour. Here's what you do: pour 1 1/2 cups of the cereal into the blender, and run that sucker for a minute or two until it looks like flour. Simple. If you grind your cereal with a (measured) teaspoon of salt, that improves the flavor.
I like the 7 Grain Cereal from Wheat Montana Farms, but when I can't get that, I've used Kashi*, and just about any brand of "slow" oatmeal. (Not the instant stuff. Somehow I don't think you want peaches-and-cream bread with your salami. Yeeccchhh!) The Kashi BTW can produce a loaf that's as soft as white bread, and has no detectable little flecks of grain. It's pure beige, and might be a good idea for sneaking the good stuff into the tummies of picky kids.
It's also helpful to add a little ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) which helps soften the texture, assist the rise, and brighten up the otherwise-dull grains. I take a very sharp knife and scrape off about 1/6 of a 1000mg horse pill ;>) right into the flour. This is something I do with any bread. Yep, you can buy the powder at baking suppliers, but why?
I also now use white pepper in any bread I make that will be used for dinner rolls or sandwich bread. There is an amazing improvement to the flavor, with no noticeable "peppery" taste.
You can either replace your own self-created flour with the wheat or oat flour called for in whatever recipe you may have and like, or you can use my recipe, here:
Whole Grain Bread for Slackers
Makes 1 loaf, or 8-12 rolls
1 envelope dry yeast CHECK THE DATE
1 cup whole grain flour
3-4 cups all-pupose or bread flour
1 - 1 1/4 cups water (use the larger amount of water if you live in the desert, where flour gets dry sitting on the shelf in the warehouse)
1T sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
a scraping of vitamin C
2 T Vegetable oil, or olive oil, or whatever oil you like
If you are at a high altitude, above 5000 feet, this recipe may not work as expected. I've had trouble getting things to brown at high altitudes.
Heat the water in the microwave 15-30 seconds, or until the container is comfortably warm in your hands. (85-100 degrees)
Pour this in your large mixing bowl, along with the sugar and the oil. Allow the mixture to sit for about 15 minutes, or stand there and watch it "wake up." (Little kids like watching this, and it beats busying yourself with other tasks if you later find your yeast is dead. This step is called, "proofing.")
Once the yeast has proved itself worthy, mix the vitamin C, salt and pepper with the whole grain flour, and proceed either with Method I or Method II. DO NOT PUT THE SALT RIGHT INTO THE YEAST MIXTURE. MAKE SURE YOU MIX IT WITH FLOUR FIRST.
Method I -- for later
Mix the whole-grain flour into the yeast mix, and pour the white flour gently on top. DO NOT STIR. Cover with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge overnight. Proceed with the mixing, kneading and baking in the morning, or as much as two days later. When you get to it. It will proceed happily without you.
Method II -- for right now
Mix in the whole-grain flour, and 3 cups of the white. Stir until you've got a cohesive mass. (or single glob) turn out onto floured board. Knead for three to four minutes, adding flour to keep it from being sticky, and return to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on how hot it is in your kitchen. Proceed to SHAPING.
MIXING - KNEADING - BAKING
If you've chosen Method I, you'll need to mix your dough, and knead it now. It's already risen once, so proceed to SHAPING.
Method II -- SHAPING
For a loaf: Pat out the dough into a shape about as long and three times as wide as your (greased) bread pan. Don't slam it or beat it -- pat it down and fold it over, much as you'd fold a letter. Put it in the pan.
For rolls: pat the dough out into a circle about 12 inches across. Cut it like a pie into the desired number of rolls. Roll each segment up, and place in 9x13 or 7x11 (greased)baking pan.
For either rolls or bread, spray or gently spread with butter. Allow to rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until double.
BAKING
For rolls -- 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees.
For bread -- 35-40 minutes at 375 dergees
No harm in baking 5 more minutes if your bread or rolls are not brown enough.
If you are at a high altitude, above 5000 feet, this recipe may not work. I've had trouble getting things to brown at high altitudes.
Also note; I wanted to link to Kashi, but it seems maybe they have discontinued the product. Bummer.