Homemade Wheat Bread Part 1 - The Supplies

by Teresa McEntire | More from this Blogger

23 Mar 2006 06:11 PM

Last fall my husband and I decided we needed to be more health conscious. As a result I decided to make homemade whole wheat bread instead of buying bread from the store.

I was a little worried since my kids do not like whole wheat bread. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that they love my bread, especially warm from the oven.

The first few loaves I made tasted okay, but looked awful. They fell in the oven and were flat on top. My husband had some interesting looking sandwiches as I fine-tuned my recipe and finally created the perfect loaf. Now my loaves turn out round and beautiful. So I thought I'd share my recipe so you can make the perfect loaf to share with your family as well.

We started by purchasing a wheat grinder and mixer. We had a hand grinder, in case of emergencies but after grinding 8 cups of flour I knew there was no way I was going to do that on a regular basis. After reading endless reviews we ended up buying a whisper mill. It grinds quite quickly, doesn't spit white dust everywhere, and is not as loud as I remember my mom's grinder being.

We also bought a mixer. Whole wheat bread tastes better when mixed in a mixer with a dough hook. I know it sounds funny, but it's true. When you knead dough by hand you have to add flour so it doesn't stick to you and the cupboard, when you use a mixer you end up adding less flour. So the bread is lighter and less crumbly. You can make it by hand but it requires at least 8 minutes worth of kneading and is quite a workout. You could also make one loaf in a bread machine on the dough setting.

We bought a Bosch three-loaf mixer. Now I wish we had spent a little more and gotten the five-loaf mixer. You will just have to decide how much bread your family eats each week and how often you want to make bread. Realizing that homemade loaves are a lot shorter than the white sandwich bread typically purchased at the store.

Now that you have your wheat-grinder and mixer it is time to assemble the ingredients. I will be discussing what ingredients you need as well as providing the recipe in upcoming blogs.

Learn more about Teresa McEntire

Teresa McEntire grew up in Utah the oldest of four children. She currently lives in Kuna, Idaho, near Boise. She and her husband Gene have been married for almost ten years.

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Christina Huffman (1406) 24 Mar 2006 11:46 AM

Hi Teresa, Your bread sounds wonderful and I have long desired to learn to bake good bread. Do you have a recipe for those that do not have a grinder? Also, I have a kitchenaid stand mixer, but not the Bosch. The budget is a little tight right now, but I'd still like to make yummy bread that doesn't collapse in the middle.

Thanks, Christina

Teresa McEntire (2984) 26 Mar 2006 12:52 AM

A kitechenaid mixer will work just fine as long as you have a bread dough hook, or you can always knead it by hand. You can substitute whole wheat flour from the grocery store in place of the freshly ground flour. Just make sure that the flour doesn't expire too soon, and keep it in the freezer. Your bread collapses because there is too little gluten. If you use store-bought whole wheat flour you will probably want to use at least 1/2 cup of gluten flour instead of 3 TB, and then less whole wheat flour. Good luck.