Whole wheat or rye bread recipes please?

[Bettacreek]

I've only got about fifty million bread pans, yet I've only made bread once. I have about 25lbs of whole wheat flour and some rye flour (maybe only about 10lbs) and plenty of yeast (at least 1lb) that is still active. Sugar, well, I think I have 3lbs, so that should be enough to make some bread for a little while. Anyways, does anyone have whole wheat or rye recipes that they like and use?

 

[so lucky]

The problem with whole wheat flour is that it goes rancid quickly. I'd toss that whole wheat and buy a small bag, then keep it in the freezer. Even with fresh whole wheat, it is usually too strong to use exclusively in bread. Need to mix with white. My favorite recipe is from allrecipes.com, called Simple Whole Wheat Bread. It has a 5 star rating. So good, and almost no kneading. Check it out.

 

[Beekissed]

We keep our whole wheat flour in the large pretzel containers you can get from the bulk food stores...they hold a 5 lb bag exactly. It keeps the millers out of the flour and I've never had any whole wheat go rancid while stored in these containers.

I mix a few cups of white flour in my wheat also...just seems to give it a lift and an extra lightness that all whole wheat seems to miss.

We always use the same recipe...it's one that we've tried and really liked and then just never gave it up.

I place 4 cups of warm water, 3 T. of yeast and a cup of cane sugar or raw honey in a bowl with a cup of white or wheat flour...usually this is where I throw in some white. Let it work until it makes a sponge.

Add 1 T. sea salt, 1/3 c. oil, 1/4 c. ground flax seed(optional) and stir. Add wheat or white flour, until the desired consistency, while kneading. Coat dough ball with oil and leave to rise. Bake at 350 for up to 30 min., give or take 5 min. depending on your oven. This makes one pan of rolls and a loaf or two, or two large pans of flat bread rolls, or 4 lg. loaves.

 

[so lucky]

Ha! Bee, that's almost the same recipe I use!

 

[Beekissed]

Do you like it? I love it! Bread comes out right every single time and keeps a long time.

 

[Bettacreek]

Thanks guys! I'll have to go round up my flour and bring it over tomorrow to try this out. I'm excited! My brother made some WW bread the other day and damn was it good. I keep forgetting to get the recipe from him though.

 

[nmred]

The trick with any whole wheat bread is to only let it rise once. As soon as you're done kneading it, form it into loaves, put it in your pan, let it rise until just over the top of the pan, then bake. Don't worry, it will still have a great texture, no big holes or anything. Actually, it will have a better texture than if you try to let it rise twice. Here is my recipe (I do use fresh ground whole wheat though, but your's should work, too.):

3 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1 cup rye flour
6-8 cups whole wheat flour

Put yeast and water in bowl. Dissolve. Add salt, oil, and honey. Stir. Add rye flour then 6 cups whole wheat flour. Mix and knead. Add more flour if necessary and continue to knead for 10 minutes. Dough should be fairly smooth and just slightly tacky. Form into two loaves, put in well greased pan, let rise. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Let sit in pan for 5 minutes (this softens the crust), remove from pan. Let cool.

The rye flour gives the bread a great taste, but not too strong. It also reacts chemically with the wheat and makes it release more iron which makes your bread even healthier! Enjoy!

 

[BasicallyHeather]

Don't toss your flour! I buy mine freshly-milled in 25 lb sacks and then parcel it out into smaller ones when I get home...then they go in the freezer (or the ones I will use during the week go in the fridge).

 

[~gd]

Goggle King Arthur [sp?] Flour Co. They have tons of recipies, they also have very pricy additional igredients that they push. Stick to the basics and you will do fine.

 

[moolie]

Hey Betta, did you try any of the recipes? How is your bread-baking going?

Hubs usually bakes whole wheat, but has had a hankering lately to do another artisan bread bake--probably next weekend.