Whole Wheat Bread

This bread recipe comes from the cookbook, Laurel’s Kitchen. It is kind of the Joy of Cooking for the vegetarian world. I enjoyed reading it. She talks about her journey into the world of nutrition in San Francisco when the hippie movement was just taking hold. On the whole, I have become much more sympathetic to hippies since moving out East. Most of Laurel's recipes need a tweak or two or three but this bread provides a good basis if you are just starting out.

Basic Whole Grain Bread

3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
6 cups whole wheat flour (King Arthur’s).

Pour the warm water into a large bowl. Add the sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top of the water. In a few minutes, when the yeast comes bubbling to the top, stir in half of the whole wheat flour (and beat very well, until the dough ceases to be grainy and becomes smooth and stretchy. –I never do this.)

Add the salt and the remaining flour cup by cup, mixing well. Knead it in the bowl until it is no longer sticky, then turn it out onto a floured board.

As the dough gets stiffer and harder to knead, sprinkle the remaining flour a little at a time on the tabletop and knead the dough on top of it.

Knead, push and fold until the dough is soft and springy to touch and return it to the oiled bowl. Cover the bowl snugly, allowing room for the dough to double in bulk. If not doing a retarded rise (see next entry): punch the dough down and allow it to rise again until it has doubled in bulk.

Grease two loaf pans or two 46-ounce juice cans. Divided the dough in half and flatten each half into an oblong the length of the load pan. Cover the pans to protect from drafts and let the loaves rise once more, until they have doubled in bulk.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees towards the end of the rising period. When the bread is rounded just above the rim, spread a bit of milk on the top of the loaves and bake it for about 40 minutes. When you remove it from the pan and tap it on the sides or bottom. It should sound slightly hollow. The color should be a golden brown. Allow the bread to cool, then slice and serve.

Variations: I tried just raisins but was not satisfied with this combination. So I added raisins and walnuts to the next loaf and enjoyed this a lot more. The raisin bread needs an accompaniment. I know many people do not like walnuts so another type of nut one could use might be unsalted sunflower seeds. You can add many other dried fruits, nuts, and/or herbs. Just don’t soak the dried fruit as it can leach excess sugar into the bread and add it right before the

My thoughts about this recipe: It is the only 100 percent whole wheat recipe I have found so far. Cooking with whole wheat can be more difficult, but more on that later. Also, I tried adjusting the salt. One teaspoon is far too little and negatively affects the rising process. Two teaspoons is great if you are very sensitive to salt. I ended up liking one tablespoon salt and it is the maximum you can put in the recipe without negatively affecting the rising process. Please see next entry for further ruminations on baking bread.

The dough should be relatively moist. Do not add too much flour. With whole wheat flour, it is especially important that your dough is as wet as possible, because this will allow it to rise more easily. Just remember that it should not be so wet that you cannot knead it. In DC, I usually use a little less than the recipe calls for. When I am kneading, a thin layer of dough attaches to my palms and it is almost too sticky to knead properly. Play around with it a bit and figure out what works for you.