whole wheat bread

I love making my own bread. I finally found a whole wheat bread recipe that
doesn't include white flour and tastes really good.

2 1/3 cups water (use very warm tap water)
1/2 cup honey

Mix together to spread the honey out.

2 packages dry yeast

Sprinkle in and mix so it gets to the food (honey)

1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil

6 cups whole wheat flour plus

Stir in 2 cups flour and mix thoroughly but don't worry about breaking up
all the lumps. Then put in next 2 cups and mix, then put in 1 cup. It
should be hard to stir and you may want to get your hands in at this point.
Put in the final cup of flour and knead in the bowl a while. Then turn out
onto a board and start kneading, adding fistfuls of flour as the sticky
inner part works its way outward. You'll probably add at least another cup
of flour this way. Then knead about another 10 minutes or put in the bread
machine.

If you're not using a bread machine, put in a bowl, cover, and put in a warm
place (about 80 degrees F.) for 45 minutes to an hour.

Punch down, knead a little, split in two and roll into loaves. Put in 9x3x2
loaf pans, cover and put in warm place about an hour or until it rises about
an inch above the pan.

Bake at 350 45 minutes and take right out, or bake 30 minutes then turn the
oven off and let it cool slowly.

So now I'm using almost all brown rice, whole wheat bread, and whole wheat
pasta. If anybody knows where to get brown basmati rice (real basmati, not
Texmati) let me know, I haven't seen it in the India/Pakistani aisle of my
Giant yet.

Wow! that's a lot of work. My "easy" way to get whole grains - buy
crispbreads and eat oatmeal. Your bread wouldn't qualify on my fussy
diet - I allow no salt, no added sugars (no honey). Artifical
sweeteners: yes. Finally there's an issue with the whole wheat
flour:"When grains are processed into flour or cereals, the primary
concern is loss of nutrients. This is explained in report #N178.
However, if you grind your own grains or use products that are made
from the whole grain without discarding anything, you get all or most
of the nutrients of the original grain. But grains that have been
broken apart in any way will be digested quicker. That's a big
disadvantage for diabetics and dieters.

Carbohydrates are long chains of sugars, and only single sugars can be
absorbed from your intestines into your bloodstream. The foods that
cause rapid rise in blood sugar are those that are digested most
quickly; the worst offenders are sugar and anything made from flour.
When you eat whole grains (seeds), it takes a long time to break apart
the capsule, separate the carbohydrates from the fiber, and completely
digest each grain. Your blood sugar rises slowly, stays slightly
elevated for a long time (so you don't feel hungry again soon after
eating) and never reaches the high levels that come from sugar or
flour.

Grains that are eaten as whole seeds are also more filling and
satisfying because they have more bulk and take longer to break down.
Part of their bulk comes from water: each seed swells up when it cooks
and soaks up water, which is carried in the grain until it is
completely broken down in your digestive tract. (The water you drink,
on the other hand, is absorbed directly from your stomach almost as
soon as it gets there. Water and other liquids do not "fill you up.")
Processed grains absorb some water when you cook them, but less than
the whole seeds; and the water is separated out more quickly during
the digestive process. Most people can easily eat two or three cups of
pasta, but you will find that you feel full with just a cup of whole
grains, or even less.

The whole grains are chewy and take more time to eat. Some of the
seeds are broken apart by your chewing, but not all of them. Some of
the grains may even pass through your system undigested. On the other
hand, anything made from flour or grains that have been cut, flaked,
rolled or shredded has been thoroughly pre-chewed and pre-digested for
you. You may get all the nutrients of the whole grains, but you don't
get the full benefits of bulk and slow transit through your digestive
system.

Whole grain pastas, breads and cereals are certainly better than
refined grain products, but to get ALL the benefits of whole grains,
eat the seeds themselves." http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N196.html

"Patricia Heil" wrote in message ...
I love making my own bread. I finally found a whole wheat bread recipe that
doesn't include white flour and tastes really good.

2 1/3 cups water (use very warm tap water)
1/2 cup honey

Mix together to spread the honey out.

2 packages dry yeast

Sprinkle in and mix so it gets to the food (honey)

1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil

6 cups whole wheat flour plus

Stir in 2 cups flour and mix thoroughly but don't worry about breaking up
all the lumps. Then put in next 2 cups and mix, then put in 1 cup. It
should be hard to stir and you may want to get your hands in at this point.
Put in the final cup of flour and knead in the bowl a while. Then turn out
onto a board and start kneading, adding fistfuls of flour as the sticky
inner part works its way outward. You'll probably add at least another cup
of flour this way. Then knead about another 10 minutes or put in the bread
machine.

If you're not using a bread machine, put in a bowl, cover, and put in a warm
place (about 80 degrees F.) for 45 minutes to an hour.

Punch down, knead a little, split in two and roll into loaves. Put in 9x3x2
loaf pans, cover and put in warm place about an hour or until it rises about
an inch above the pan.

Bake at 350 45 minutes and take right out, or bake 30 minutes then turn the
oven off and let it cool slowly.

So now I'm using almost all brown rice, whole wheat bread, and whole wheat
pasta. If anybody knows where to get brown basmati rice (real basmati, not
Texmati) let me know, I haven't seen it in the India/Pakistani aisle of my
Giant yet.

Patricia Heil wrote:
I love making my own bread. I finally found a whole wheat bread recipe that
doesn't include white flour and tastes really good.

2 1/3 cups water (use very warm tap water)
1/2 cup honey

Mix together to spread the honey out.

2 packages dry yeast

Damn, that's a lot of honey. All the years I made bread, I only used
2 tablespoons sugar or honey to feed the yeast (for 2 loaves).

FYI, if, after the first doubling, you punch it down, knead very
slightly and let it double a second time, and then punch down and
form loaves for the final rise, you get a finer grain than only one
rising before forming the loaves.

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

This makes 2 loaves. My other recipe that included the white flour
had 1/3 cup, but then yeast breeds better with white flour because
of the gluten; the extra honey in this recipe makes up for that.

With white bread I used to let it rise three times; all my whole
wheat/rye/pumpernickel recipes call for just two risings.


"jamie" wrote in message
...
Patricia Heil wrote:
I love making my own bread. I finally found a whole wheat bread recipe
that
doesn't include white flour and tastes really good.

2 1/3 cups water (use very warm tap water)
1/2 cup honey

Mix together to spread the honey out.

2 packages dry yeast

Damn, that's a lot of honey. All the years I made bread, I only used
2 tablespoons sugar or honey to feed the yeast (for 2 loaves).

FYI, if, after the first doubling, you punch it down, knead very
slightly and let it double a second time, and then punch down and
form loaves for the final rise, you get a finer grain than only one
rising before forming the loaves.

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."