I made bread yesterday after church. Ground the wheat, mixed it up (thanks, Bosch!), formed into loaves, and baked it. The process is fairly routine and the bread was really good. But then it's hard to go wrong with homemade bread. . . Anyway, as I was letting the Bosch do the work, I thought of the bread my grandmother used to make. She always made white bread, and baked it in the tall cans that tomato or pineapple juice came in. It was wonderful as is, but became fabulous when toasted. Grandma would cut thin slices, toast them, and spread with butter. The final product was crisp with a bit of a chewey texture.
This is the bread you dream about. It was part of my childhood and the memory is still crystal clear of grandma mixing bread in her tiny galley kitchen in the house on the hill in Bountiful, UT. She served it toasted for breakfast following sleepovers, with soup for dinner, or made into sandwiches for lunch. But toasted was best.
My mom said she asked grandma for the recipe years ago, and grandma told her it was easy, but mom never got the recipe. I've tried to re-create the recipe, to no avail. I've searched magazines and cookbooks from the 1950's for bread recipes and made a lot of them, but the texture just isn't the same. My dad said it was the flour grandma used. When he was growing up, he'd go to Lehi Roller Mills and purchase flour that grandma used to make bread. I've made the bread using Lehi Roller Mills flour. It was good, but it wasn't the same. I found a recipe in an old Sunset magazine that even called for baking the bread in a coffee can, but it wasn't exactly right, either. I baked through the bread recipes in my Aunt Catherine's cookbooks. I even found ward cookbooks from Emery, UT (where grandma was born and raised) and tried those recipes, but no luck there, either. Maybe the recipe never existed except in my grandmother's mind. Or is it possible that I'm remembering something exists only in my mind? Nah! The bread was real, and really good. So... if anyone out there has a write bread recipe from Lyle Brookhart, please send me a copy.
Here's the recipe I use for Whole Wheat Bread. It's a poor substitute for my grandmother's bread, but it's still pretty good. This recipe makes 6 good sized loaves. I use the Bosch; if using the KitchenAid, cut the recipe in half. Of course, you can also make the recipe by hand and get your arm workout while kneading the bread.
Whole Wheat Bread - adapted from the Bosch recipe
5 1/2 cups warm water
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TB wheat gluten
2 TB lemon juice
2 TB instant yeast (like SAF)
2 TB salt
11 - 13 cups whole wheat flour
In mixer, add water, oil, brown sugar, gluten, lemon juice, and 5 cups wheat flour. Use the "M" switch to incorporate. (Or turn the mixer on/off until ingredients are incorporated. Turn to speed 1 on Bosch, or low-medium speed on the KitchenAid and add flour 1 cup at a time with the salt until the dough scrapes away from the edges. Knead on speed 2 (Bosch) for 6 minutes, or knead with the dough hook in the KitchenAid.
Dump dough out onto a floured counter top and cut into 6 pieces. Shape into loaves and place in pans that have been sprayed with Pam. Let rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
A few notes from Lori:
The amount of flour you end up using will depend on the amount of moisture in your wheat and the amount of humidity in the air.
If you don't have quite enough whole wheat flour, finish with regular white flour. If you have extra wheat flour, place it in a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer until the next time you make bread.
For this recipe, be sure to use the instant yeast. The instant yeast doesn't have to be proofed before adding the other ingredients, and you don't need to be too concerned about using water that's too hot in the recipe.
Dough enhancer is a standard ingredient in making whole wheat bread, but I haven't been able to find dough enhancer in NY. An Amish cookbook suggested adding lemon juice to whole wheat bread to improve the texture and retain freshness. I've made the bread several times now with lemon juice, and it seems to work just like the dough enhancer.
If you make the bread, let me know how it goes. And if you ever come across grandma's recipe for white bread, give me a call!
I have been reading about dough enhancers at www.everydayfoodstorage.net (I LOVE that site), but they say that potato flakes and vinegar do the job. I have found a new favorite bread recipe using those (so you don't have to buy the expensive dough enhancers). It is posted below.
ReplyDeleteEZ Wheat Bread recipe (Double for 2 loaves)
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tblsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey or 1/3 cup brown sugar
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (or whatever combination white/wheat you like..I use 100% hard white wheat. To learn more about the different types of wheat, download my wheat handout)
1/4 cup wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 Tblsp nonfat non instant dry milk
1 Tblsp butter/margarine/oil
1 Tblsp vinegar
1/4 cup potato flakes (NOT potato pearls)
Mix ingredients in order listed in mixing bowl of mixer with dough hook attachment (like kitchen-aid) for 12-15 minutes. Let rise until double, 1- 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, and shape into loaf or rolls. Let rise again until double and bake 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.
If you are making this recipe in a bread machine, follow your bread machine’s directions for wheat or whole grain selection and add the ingredients in the order listed for their recommendations. (only one loaf will fit in a bread maker)
EZ White Bread
1 1/8 cups warm water
1 3/4 - 2 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tblsp sugar (you can use a little more sugar if you like your dough a little sweeter)
3 cups flour
1 Tblsp vital wheat gluten (remember you don’t need as much gluten if you’re not using whole wheat flour)
1 tsp salt
2 Tblsp nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 Tblsp butter/margarine or oil
1/4 cup potato flakes
(you don’t really need vinegar for white bread, remember the dough enhancers are primarily needed for whole wheat bread)
Add the ingredients in the order listed into a mixer bowl (like a kitchen-aid) with a dough hook attachment and mix on low for 10-12 minutes. Or mix it on the dough cycle in your bread machine.
After all the mixing is complete, if the dough still seems too gooey and you are unable to handle it, add 1 Tblsp flour at a time, and mix after each addition until the dough is manageable with your hands.
Let rise 45 mins -1 hour, punch down and use to make bread, cinnamon rolls, cookie sheet pizza, rolls, or anything else you can think of! Let rise after you have made your creation and bake according to the direction of the recipe you are making.
If you are making it into bread, form into a loaf at this time, place in a loaf pan, let rise in a warm place 45 min -1 hour and bake 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.
If you are making this recipe in a bread machine. Follow your bread machine’s directions and add the ingredients in the order listed in their recommendations. (only one loaf will fit in a bread maker)
Give it a try- it is GOOD.
Lori I just barely learned to make bread. It is delicious, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI helped my Aunt Sis make bread back home in West Virginia and hers was just the best. Except for my grandmothers bread...basically the same lol
ReplyDeleteIt was a pretty basic recipe of sifted white flour, lard, salt & water. Let it raise twice before putting it in the pan and then letting it raise again before baking. The actual recipe, I don't remember. She never measured anything ever.
I don't think you will ever duplicate it because what they used back then, is not available now. The way that flour is processed is different and my family used lard and cake yeast and when I shop, I rarely see cake yeast and never see lard. We have shortening and oils. But the memories of a big cast iron skillet on a wood stove with brown gravy and a big slice of Aunt Sis' bread for breakfast will forever remain one of my fondest memories!
Happy Baking!