Perfecting your bread recipe...

[BarredBuff]

After many experimental batches of bread over the years, I have finally found a bread that is easy, cost-effective, and definitely versatile. The first bread I tried to make was a sourdough, and it was a tad complicated. It contained instant potatoes (I don't believe in those) and a few other things. Just a tad difficult to make. Then I tried my hand at white bread, and it was tasty, but I found it time consuming. So I scrapped that. Then I tried artisan bread from MEN, and didn't like the flavor at all and it didn't raise much and wasn't really my thing. Then I gave up.

Well for the past couple of weeks, I have started a new sourdough starter. It is simple and easy to use and make. I find it to be relatively easy (compared to others) and definitely more worthwhile. Now that I have found one I like, I am trying to figure out the right "arrangement" of ingredients. So far I have tried these substitutions:

Whole Wheat (1 1/2 cup to 5 cups white) and White Sugar

White Flour (6 1/2 cups) and Honey

Any other thoughts?


P.S. Do all of you guys use whole wheat flour for your main breads?

 

[moolie]

My husband is the "artisan" bread baker in our family--he does great French and Sourdough breads, both all-white flour.

I'm the whole wheat "sandwich" bread baker, our daily stuff for breakfast toast and lunch sandwiches. I have a pretty fail-safe regular yeast whole wheat recipe bread that starts with grinding our own flour from organic hard red and hard white wheat:

Whole Wheat Bread

3.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon yeast
2.5 cups hot water
(*I save water in which I've boiled potatoes, adds a nice starchiness that holds the bread together well)
1 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup olive or melted coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2.5 cups flour (white, whole wheat, oat is our favourite, spelt, rye...)

Mix together the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook.

Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Add salt, oil, honey, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute.

Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup, beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.

Pour 1 teaspoon olive oil onto countertop and spread around with your hands, then take dough out of the bowl. Do NOT flour your counter, this will add dryness you dont want in the bread. Knead dough on oily surface till soft and elastic, about 10 minutes. The dough will be soft and a bit sticky

Form two loaves and pop into bread pans, and let rise until double in size. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, I use the convection fan for even heat distribution in my oven. You may need to cover the tops of the loaves with foil about halfway through if you don't have a convection fan.

I play around with this recipe all the time, adding in extra seeds/grains like sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, millet, and rolled oats. I also often sub home ground oat flour for the second flour amount and we really like that variation.

Other than that (we eat a loaf or two of this bread per week, depending on what else we are eating) I also make tortillas every week--we use them for "wrap" style sandwiches and taco/enchilada type dinner meals.

Whole Wheat Tortillas
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
around 1 cup of warm water
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix all dry ingredients together, then add the oil, then the water. Knead 5 minutes

Form dough into a flattened ball, let rest 10 minutes

Cut dough into 12 wedges with a knife (like cutting a pizza) then form each portion into a ball.

Roll each ball out into a thin tortilla, I oil my counter top and sprinkle with cornmeal before rolling out each ball.

Cook each tortilla in a dry cast iron frying pan till done on each side (it will look like a store bought tortilla on each side when each side is cooked)