Perfect Homemade Bread – 10 Tips to Improve Homemade Whole Grain Bread

We all know that using whole grain in our diet is really good for us, right? I used to think that eating whole grains and all that healthy food was comparable to eating cardboard. Well, I've come up with some easy tips to help the healthy cardboard foods become heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth delicacies. Ready? Here they are:

1. Use WARM water - between 15 and 120 degrees
2. Use freshly ground flour whenever possible, this will also increase nutritional value in your bread
3. Add some spelt flour to the whole wheat flour mixture. Spelt adds a lighter texture to your bread
4. Do not measure your flour. Your bread will turn out better if you go by the look and feel of the dough
5. Always add yeast after the flour so that the hot water will not kill the yeast
6. Add salt with the last addition of flour
7. After the dough cleans the bowl and forms on one side, do not add any more flour

8. The softer the dough, the softer and lighter the bread
9. Whole wheat flour continues to absorb moisture after you kneed it, so it is okay to have the dough a bit sticky
10. Always oil your hands and countertop well so your dough does not stick. Do not use flour, this could make a bit heavier loaf.

There you go. Now all you need is a recipe - not just any recipe, but a truly great recipe for making homemade, whole grain bread. I happen to have one that I have adapted from several good recipes. I think it is amazing. Please try it and give me your feedback - has your bread become a heavenly delicacy that is also incredibly healthy for you?

Ingredients:

• 6 cups hot tap water (hot to the touch; not hot enough to burn finger)
• 2/3 cup oil
• 2/3 cup honey (you can substitute 3/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water, but honey is better)
• 2 Tbs dough enhancer
• 2 Tbs SAF instant yeast
• 2 Tbs salt
• 1 cup golden flax, ground
• 2 Tbs wheat gluten or 1 cup white flour
• 12-16 cups freshly milled whole wheat flour

Pour warm water into Bosch mixing bowl. Add 6 cups flour on top of liquid. Then add dough enhancer, oil, honey, yeast, and gluten. Use the (M) momentary switch to mix until smooth.

Add flax, approximately 5 more cups flour and salt. Turn Bosch to speed 2. Continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time (should use about 3 cups) until the dough pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading on speed 2 (medium speed) for about 5 minutes. (If you add spelt flour, you do not need to knead the bread dough very long, 5 minutes will do. Spelt has a more fragile gluten than red or white wheats.)

You can let bread dough rise until double in size in a covered, warm mixing bowl and then prepare dough into loaves or simply oil or grease hands and counter and divide dough into equal portions and shape into loaves. Put into well greased pans. Cover. Let rise until double in size. Note: I think this dough works better if, after mixing, you divide the dough and put it into pans to raise then bake it. I let it raise twice when I get interrupted and the bread is fine, too when that happens. Try the "shortcut." Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

Top of loaves can be brushed with water or butter for shiny appearance.

Dough can also be used for pizza crust, scones, or cinnamon rolls. YUM!!

Yield: 5-6 loaves

This recipe was adapted from my friend Trisha's recipe and from my mom's bread recipe

There you go... can it get any easier? (Well, it might not be so easy if you don't have a Bosch Kitchen Machine, but that can be remedied if you want it to be. I used the Bosch Universal, which is now the Bosch Universal Plus.)

By the way, the golden flax and the spelt grain are two key highly nutritional and important ingredients to this bread recipe. Without them, you won't get the higher fiber, protein, and omega content you could have had, had you used them.