The VERY Best Wheat Bread Ever

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So, I log onto the blog thinking it's only been a few months since my last post, and BAM...it hits me like a ton of bricks.  I haven't posted anything in over a YEAR!   What hit me even harder was reading up on past posts and seeing how much everything has changed in a year.

It was fun to see how far we've come in our Big Life and our Little Garden in such a short time.  I am so excited to get the blog back up and running so I can share all the fun experiences and knowledge we've gained!  The change that struck me the hardest was that I've gone from the "queen of couponing" eating pretty much nothing but processed food and what we grew in the garden to becoming full blown, what most would call, health freaks.  Our quest to green our household has sent us on an amazing journey into the world of whole food living.  Quite some time ago, we had a chance to see the documentary "Food Inc.".  What an eye opener!  One documentary led to another and things started changing in or house faster than you could say "high fructose corn syrup".  Which, amongst many others, has become quite the buzz word in our house.  Lots of posts about that subject to come :)  

Amazing though...some things never change.  My last post was a precursor to the best wheat bread recipe ever.  Low and behold, what was I planning on posting when I logged on and discovered I was in denial about what a year really feels like?   ...The best wheat bread recipe ever.  Coincidence, I think not.  With all the changes to our eating habits, one thing has remained steadfast--homemade bread.

I started making our bread almost three years ago as a less-expensive alternative to store bought wheat bread.  I had found myself buying the cheap, store-brand, white bread and even in the midst of financial crisis was very sure that was a pretty unhealthy habit for my family.  Desperate to do the right thing and not break the bank, I started making my own bread.  For those of you who are cost-conscious and making the switch to healthier, you know that the jump from white to wheat flour is not the easiest to execute.  So, in search of the most cost effective solution and some advice from some great friends, I turned to milling my own wheat.

Over the years, I've tried and tweaked many different recipes, and  finally have a forever keeper.  This recipe makes either two one-pound loaves and a baguette, or two larger loaves.  I go with the two loaves and a baguette most of the time, not just because it's fun to watch the family fight over the baguette while it's still warm, but it also makes a nice, healthy addition to any dinner.

So...without further ado...the recipe


BASIC WHOLE WHEAT BREAD RECIPE
5-6 c fresh milled organic hard white wheat flour (*can use store-bought if you prefer)
3 c water or leftover whey from cheesemaking
4 Tbs dry active yeast
1 Tbs sea salt
2 Tbs honey (I use raw local)
2 Tbs organic olive oil

*if using store bought flour, I recommend King Arthur's Whole White Wheat Flour

In mixing bowl, combine 1 c flour, 2 Tbs yeast and 3/4 c water.  Stir with wooden spoon ~100 times.  Cover with clean kitchen towel and let set for an hour.  This is called the poolish.  After an hour, the mixture should have visible air pockets (bubbling).

Add the remaining 2 1/4 c water, 2 Tbs yeast, 4 c flour (reserving 1 c ) and salt.  If using a stand mixer, use the dough hook to combine.

Once all ingredients are well combined, add the honey and olive oil.

Your dough may look very wet at this point depending on the condition of the air in your kitchen.
If using a STAND MIXER, the dough should be forming a ball, but barely not sticking to the sides of the mixing bowl.  Add remaining flour as needed to obtain the right consistency.  On occasion, I have had to add more than the suggested 6 cups.  This happens mostly on a humid Florida day.  Allow the mixer to knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.

If you are hand mixing, go ahead and turn the dough out onto a floured surface and continue adding flour as you knead the dough until the point where it is still sticky, but not sticking to the surface as you knead.  Knead until soft and smooth...about 15 minutes.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow it to rise until doubled in size.  This usually takes an hour or so.  Don't get nervous if it takes longer...the air temperature is a huge factor.

Heat oven to 450.  Punch down the dough, divide into two 1-lb loaves and a baguette or 2 larger loaves.  Shape, place in greased pans and cover until dough doubles in size again.

Lower oven to 350, place a pan on the bottom shelf of the oven with 1 c. of ice.  Bake loaves until golden brown on top and when tapped on the bottom sound hollow.  This can take anywhere from 20-45 minutes.

Remove loaves from oven and cool on cooling rack.

The baguette is great warm.  I do suggest allowing the other loaves to cool all the way before slicing to get a better slice.  The dough is still cooking until it cools off.  Loaves freeze well if they don't get eaten on baking day.  I double the recipe and freeze them to get all my bread baking done for the week.

Happy Baking!!

Just a precursor to my whole wheat bread post ...

Check out this article

http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/white-flour.html

Scary!!!

I had stumbled onto milling my own wheat a while back when I decided I was going to start baking all of our own bread to cut costs.  Over the process of researching mills and where to purchase my wheat berries, I became a little more educated on the subject of eating more "naturally".  My recent viewing of the documentary "Food, Inc" has also fueled my fire and given me a whole different outlook on what my family consumes (I know they just show the most horrific examples of what's out there in these documentaries, but even 10 degrees less horrific is still too much for me!!).   I strongly urge everyone to at least watch it and form their own opinion (because this is just mine)...go get a free trial of Netflix and watch it online for free.

Has it REALLY been FOUR months?!?!!

My only excuse is the pure out insanity that comes with the end of the school year (projects, parties, baking, gift making, recitals, ceremonies, etc, etc, yada, yada), and then, well, school's out.  What I've learned over the past four months though has been very eye opening.  Sometimes, even in the mist of trying so hard to simplify life and stay "uncorrupted" by the demands of the world, one can still so easily get caught up in the turmoil without even seeing it coming.  It's like a flash flood, one minute you're standing on solid ground and feeling very secure, then, in the blink of an eye, your swept off your feet and drug miles down the road from where you started.  All the while, kicking and clawing for your life as it passes before your eyes.  It didn't dawn on me until this moment while I'm writing...this verse has been popping up all over my life the past few weeks

 ²⁴"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."  Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus says that a wise man will build his house on a firm foundation.  When we base our life and all it's meaning on Him instead of the world and it's pleasantries, the wind, rain and even flash floods can come and sweep us miles away, but when all is said and done, His house will still be standing with open doors and open arms to welcome you back home.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with all of the end of the year activities, but with my track record, I can really get carried away with myself and end up spending time/$$/other precious resources on a house built on sand.  Handled correctly, with the right heart, and lots of prayer, all of those activities can be the walls and roof of a house built on His rock.  But, the exciting news, should I find myself miles down the road, His grace and mercy will bring me right back home!!   And, believe me, He's had to come scrape me off the ground many of times and bring me home to nurse my wounds, but that's what I love about Jesus!!

With that said, really, the summer and end of school is no excuse for keeping you all in the dark about what's going on in our Big Life, Little Garden.

...where to begin???

Here's a little example of the fun baking I got to do...Alexis' school did a "Bakery Day" as part of Teacher Appreciation Week.  One of my hobbies that I've managed to keep up while simplifying is my love for cake decorating.  I've managed to adapt to cupcakes...much more, simple (and inexpensive).  I wish I had taken a better picture, because these really did come out cute and they were a great way to say "Thank You" to the teachers for all their hard work and dedication.

Spring Gardening has come to an end and we're, believe it or not, prepping for Fall. The exciting thing is that I can recap the entire Spring growing season in one post. It'll be like the Reader's Digest version!! For starters, the spring season was a little disappointing. Once the bizarrely cold winter was over, we were finally able to get our seeds out for an actual sun bath on March 20, which gave us a late start.





We planted tomatoes, squash, eggplant, bell peppers, broccoli, okra and cucumbers.

And, this always amazes me...just 2 weeks later on April 4 they nearly tripled in size

And then, August came in May!! Our poor little plants couldn't figure out which way was up and the heat has not let up.  We managed to harvest the majority of broccoli before it got too hot.  I like to just cut the broccoli head from the plant and let it sprout little side shoots which I LOVE in salads, but the heat tends to make the broccoli bitter, so, as soon as that happened, we pulled the plants.

I did manage to get a few sample pictures of the fruits of our labor.  We got a harvest like this at least twice a week all throughout May.

The squash plants did excellent until they got a case of powdery mildew that came VERY fast...too fast to control and we lost the plants.  We've got a second very successful crop going right now with our first fruits coming this week.

The tomato crop was fair.  I wish I had taken pictures of some of the very strange shapes and markings on the harvest though.  I'm assuming this came from the extreme changes in temperature we have been experiencing.  The good news is that we managed to keep the horn and army worms away just by hand picking them.

The bell peppers are still going strong.

The cucumbers suffered from the same problems as the tomatoes...check out the one in the front.  We did a second round of those as well, and they seem to be fairing.

The okra, surprisingly, couldn't stand the heat.  We lost 90% of the plants.  We've started some new seedlings and are hoping they do better!

The eggplant did incredible!!   I need to get some pictures up of the cute miniatures we planted.   I LOVE them!!  Mostly because I am the main eater of eggplant in the house and a full size eggplant is always too much.  Plus, it takes care of the whole bitter female fruit problem...all the fruit was perfect!!!

Well, off to get some YUMMY whole wheat bread out of the oven.  Stay tuned for that recipe...finally :) !