The Goods: Homemade Whole Wheat Bread!

Good morning!! I can't believe its been a week since my last post, last week felt more like 3 days than 7. Let's see, things you missed in my absence; Rory the kitten had a big change in his life, and can no longer tear apart the couches, or my skin :D I ran an 8k back in my hometown and won a pumpkin pie (isn't that hilarious?) so that was fun too! Anyways, my apologies for the accidental hiatus, I'll try to make up for it with a lovely recipe :)

Its freezing out! Like, 22 degrees freezing. Yikes. That two month grace period where neither the AC or heat had to be turned on is probably over, huh? Unless I plan on spending my time in my apartment fully dressed for a snowstorm ;) But the good news is the cold weather is another excuse for drinking hot yummy drinks (see my earlier post on homemade chai!) and making delicious soups and such. Today I have a recipe to share, but it is not my own! I found it on allrecipes.com, then just made a few modifications based off other people's reviews. I get so sick of buying bread at the grocery store, for several reasons. A. its like 4 dollars for a loaf B. its pretty impossible to find 100% whole wheat bread without high fructose corn syrup/extra amounts of unnecessary sugar. Therefore, I decided to try to make my own and see if it was comparable. Though it doesn't get as huge and fluffy as the stuff you buy, its great for toast and sandwiches and tastes good without being super dense like homemade whole wheat bread can be. As a little note, the wheat gluten in the recipe is really necessary to get a loaf that actually rises without being all small and dense. Whole wheat flour hardly has any gluten, and without the wheat gluten it hardly rises! You can find wheat gluten in the health section in Hy-Vee. :) To conclude this little rant, if you're bored with buying bread and have a few extra hours you'll be home (Sundays tend to work best for bread baking it seems, because I'm here for longer than 2 hours at a time), try making your own! Your apartment/house will smell heavenly too, just as an added bonus :)

100% whole wheat bread -1.5 lb loaf

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp. active dry yeast

1 ¼ cups hot water (110 degrees F)

1 ½ tbsp. nonfat dry milk powder (optional)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tbsp. white sugar

1 ½ tbsp. melted margarine

2 tbsp. wheat gluten

Directions:

Combine yeast and water in small bowl (and dry milk if using). Set aside. Place flour, salt, white sugar and wheat gluten in mixer and mix on speed 2 for 15 seconds. Keeping mixer on speed 2, add melted margarine. Gradually add the yeast mixture as the dough continues mixing. Continue mixing until ball of dough forms on mixing hook and all the dough has been removed from the sides of the bowl (might need to use a spatula if it is too high on the sides). Place dough in bowl in a warm place to rise 1 hour. Take out and knead, then let rise again. Repeat kneading/rising one more time! Once it has rose for the third time, put in the oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Make sure to put it on the middle or bottom shelf in the oven. The top of the bread will look done after about 20 minutes, but it needs to keep baking to get the inside all the way cooked so it is not doughy. Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes, so that it doesn’t squish at all when you slice it. Enjoy!!

I'm off to work! I'll be back soon with a recipe to share using my recently acquired Trader Joe's almond butter, get excited!! :) Have a wonderful Monday!

--KQ