Homemade Bread

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to try my hand at making homemade bread. My husband's favorite food is bread and I wanted to see if I could find a way to make bread at home for cheaper than I could get it for at the store, and without all of the preservatives typically used to keep store bought bread from going bad quickly.

I searched the internet high and low to find a recipe that would meet my needs. I don't have a bread maker, but wasn't too excited for the time requirement of making it completely by hand. I wasn't having much luck at first, and just when I was going to stop the search I came across a great recipe. I've been adjusting the flour levels a little bit everytime I make it, and the version I'm sharing today has more whole wheat flour than I've used before. Very happy with the outcome, and it's a good feeling knowing that I can provide my husband and I with healthy bread that is also a great source of fiber.

My mom told me about 'white whole wheat' flour and I love using it in my baking. The color is lighter than traditional whole wheat flour, and it seems to have a lighter texture.

The original recipe called for 2.5 cups white flour and 1.5 cups wheat flour. The first time I followed this exactly, then I went half and half. Today I used 3 cups for wheat flour and 1 cup of white. The flavor and texture actually didn't change all that much for me, but definitely an increase in the healthfulness of the bread by the ratio change.

No bread machine is used here, but you do use a stand mixer.

To begin, place 3 cups of whole wheat flour in the stand mixer bowl. Then add 1 cup of white flour. Next, add 1.5 tablespoons of sugar. Follow this by 1.5 teaspoons of salt and 1.5 teaspoons of yeast. I use rapid rise yeast (it says bread machine yeast on the bottle, but doesn't really matter... I use it for this and for my cinnamon roll dough!). Next I use 3 tablespoons of instant nonfat dry milk.

I actually had this ingredient on hand from another recipe I tried out. I wanted to make a 'box cake mix' mix that I could have on hand, but that wasn't full of preservatives and chemicals. The recipe I found uses nonfat dry milk..... I'll share that in the future!

Now melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add that to the bowl. At this point you can put the bowl into the mixer stand and use the 'paddle' attachment. Turn the mixer onto low. While it's combining the ingredients, get 1.25 cups of warm water and slowly pour it into the mixture.

I have had to add at least an extra 1/4 cup of warm water every time I've made it. Just watch as it's mixing and if there is unincorporated flour on the bottom of the bowl, add a little more water to combine it.

Now remove the paddle attachment and place your dough hook on. You could also choose at this point to knead the dough by hand. If that's you, sprinkle some flour on the counter and get started. .....that's not me, though. I put on my dough hook and let it go on medium for 5-7 minutes. It will make lots of funny noises, don't worry, this is normal.
After the time is up it should look something like this.... If it feels too sticky, add some more flour and let it mix up!
Take your dough ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1.5 hours, or until doubled in size.
Here's the risen dough....
Place out on your counter and use your hands to form it into a rectangle shape. The dough is very easy to mold at this point.
Now let's get folding! I usually fold it in thirds approximately, but do more folds if that's your thing!

Here's one fold -
and the next...
Final product. Now you can seal the seams a little bit more than I did as you go if you want to.
Grab your loaf pan and lightly oil it. I just sprayed it with some cooking spray. Spray the top of the loaf with the cooking spray, and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the dough is long enough to touch both sides of the pan. Let proof for 1 to 1.5 hours. You want the dough to rise and start to crest over the top of the pan.
I could have let it go a little bit longer at this point if you want, but it will still be awesome if you put it in the oven now. Place into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, turn the pan 180 degrees and put in the oven for another 15 minutes.
Take the beautifully browned loaf and immediately place on a cooling rack.
Yum! Does anything beat the smell of homemade treats? Try to let it stand for 1-2 hours before cutting.

I wanted to show you all a comparison..... I decided to make a second loaf today and make a cinnamon swirl bread. I let this proof for longer in the loaf pan and you can tell in the size difference. Both were delicious with a nice texture, though.
For the cinnamon swirl, (I forgot to take a picture of this step!) when you have the dough formed into the rectangle, sprinkle a mixture of sugar and cinnamon over the top to cover. Then roll up as we did above, and follow the recipe exactly after that. This had such a lovely sweet taste to it! So yummy with a little butter or margarine spread on top. You could do the same thing with lots of fillings.....an olive mixture, herbs, anything really!

How pretty is the swirl?
One other thing I wanted to mention was that you don't even have to have a loaf pan for this recipe. I made two batches of the dough at the same time last week, and only have one loaf pan so I just placed one on a baking sheet. It's wider and shorter, but same flavor. Just a little more rustic look. :)

I still have to figure out the cost comparison, but I know for sure that it is cheaper for me to make this bread than it is to buy it in the sore. And guess what, I think it tastes WAY better!

Mary