Starting the 2016 New Year

2016 is starting with the plan that I had for 2015 and didn't follow through with.  This year I am preparing a handout for the women at church each month, so that will keep me on track.  This first post is the January 2016 post and a repeat from last year.

How to Make Whole Wheat Bread.
I am going to keep all of the recipes on another blog so here is the recipe link.

How to make Bread For Beginners.  This is the recipe I used when making bread.  I was from a women's magazine in the early 1980's.  It is a very sticky dough, but I used it until I was comfortable make bread with more flour.

Batter Bread
Click here for the recipe.

Whole Wheat Bread

I have found the key to making whole wheat bread is to keep the dough sticky feeling and knead the dough with wet hands.  Knead the dough for a long time to get the gluten working.  By hand, kneading 30 to 45 minutes is typical for a beginner.  20 to 30 minutes if you are an experienced kneader, and 8 to 15 minutes if using a Kitchen Aid type mixer with a dough hook.

Add Dough Enhancer if you can find it.  Gluten is not the same as dough enhancer.  Many stores say that it is, but gluten is just gluten.  Dough enhancer is gluten, soy, ascorbic acid.  Probably more, but those are the things I remember.

There are several things you can add to help make wheat bread rise.  Try 1/4 teaspoon of ginger or crush a vitamin C pill into powder and add it.  My friend adds 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and I am amazed at how quickly that makes it rise, but since this is about using what you have stored I don't think cottage cheese will be available.

My whole wheat bread recipe is here.