Jenny makes some very delicious homemade bread, complete with wheat she grinds herself. She was nice enough to give a demonstration to a group of about 13 of us, and I took notes. Well, pictures rather. The recipe follows at the end.
Grinding the wheat: You will need a grinder. The Kitchen Mill grinder will hold about three cups of wheat in the hopper and about nine cups of ground wheat. If you grind more than you will use, keep the extra in the freezer or it will lose much of its nutritional value.
Next, prepare your ingredients.
Begin by proofing the yeast. Add the five cups hot water, 3 tablespoons yeast and 3 tablespoons sugar to a large mixer equipped with a dough hook. Jenny uses a Bosch, but any large mixer should work.
Let the yeast proof for about five minutes. When it looks bubbly and smells "yeasty," it is ready for the rest of the ingredients.
Add: 1/3 cup oil, 1/3 cup honey, 2 tablespoons salt, one egg, and 8 cups flour. (Note: egg is a binder, and will help the loaves from being too crumbly.) Mix until it reaches the consistency of bread dough. Incorporate an additional 2-4 cups of flour in one cup at a time. Jenny uses 9 cups of wheat flour and 3 cups of white. Knead the dough in the mixer until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Helpful hint: grease your bowl where the dough will rise NOW, before you take the dough out of the mixer.
Remove the dough from the bowl and fold into a large ball. Place in a greased bowl and cover. Allow to rise until double, approximately one hour.
Allow to rise until double in size. Grease up your work surface - cooking spray works wonders! Punch down and turn out onto a greased work surface. Divide the dough into four equal pieces; using a sharp knife makes quick work of the task.
Shape each section into a loaf by gently rolling and tucking the dough on the work surface.
Now it's time to grease your pans! Then place each formed loaf into a greased pan to rise until double.
After the loaves have risen to twice their size they are ready to bake in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Right before you put the pans in the oven, turn the oven down to 325 degrees. This helps the crust to form quickly but keeps it from over-browning. Bake for 35 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees.
The loaves should look beautiful and smell even better at this point - but you're not finished yet! Spray the tops with cooking spray to make them gorgeous. Then, turn the loaves out onto a towel or cooling rack. Rotate the loaves every fifteen minutes or so to keep condensation from forming on any one side.
If you can resist breaking into one of those as soon as they come out of the oven, you are a better person than I am. On the bright side, Jenny says your home will smell heavenly for hours afterward. After the loaves have cooled completely you can bag them for storage and even freeze them.
Or slice them up and serve them to your friends!
Jenny's Homemade Bread
Yields four loaves
5 cups hot water (100-115°)
3 Tbsp yeast
3 Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp salt
1 egg (optional)
10-12 cups flour
In a mixer with a dough hook, combine water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit 5 minutes. Add oil, honey, salt, egg, and 8 cups flour. Put lid on mixer and mix well. Gradually add 2-4 more cups of flour until correct consistency is reached. Mix/knead for 8 minutes. Pour/pull dough out of mixer and onto a greased surface. Fold into a smooth loaf and place in greased bowl. Cover; let sit for 1 hour or until double in size. Pound fist into dough and turn out onto greased surface. Cut into 4 equal parts. Knead dough into loaves. Place in greased bread pans, cover, and let rise 1 hour or until double in size. Preheat oven to 400°. Put loaves into oven, turn oven down to 335°, and bake for 25-35 minutes or until internal temperature of 180° is reached. Remove from oven. Spray tops of loaves with cooking spray or rub with butter. Turn loaves out of pans. Let cool on their sides on a dish towel to prevent sweating.
No comments:
Post a Comment