Best Day EVER!!

Isn't that beautiful?!?!!

I am SO happy today!! When I tell you why you will certainly think me daft, but I don't care. Today, I made 100% whole wheat bread from scratch in the oven and it was awesome! Not only edible (which all my previous loaves were NOT) but it was fluffy and soft and chewy and moist and delicious! Nothing like my old doorstops! I tried a new recipe in order to teach my Young Women how to make homemade bread and was so tickled pink with myself that I think I scared the girls. Only my sweet husband understands the depth of suffering we all went through during my learning process :) It's really not hard at ALL, I just tried to cut corners and made a few mistakes that I will help you avoid.

I got this recipe from the food storage master's blog...she has lots of other amazing ways to cook with long term food storage!

NOTE: I didn't have potato flakes but did have potato starch from doing some gluten-free baking. That worked fine.

Also, make sure you're using a "bread flour" setting on your wheat grinder, if applicable. I've ground my wheat using several methods including the "course" setting on my grinder and it never turned out great.

Finally, use a Kitchenaid or Bosch for mixing if at all possible! My kneading attempts never allowed the dough to rise enough and this time I used my hand mixer (and burned out the motor, of course). Moral of the story, spend the cash and get the right equipment!

Delicious Wheat Bread! (yield: 1 loaf)

1 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tblsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground is best, I used hard white)
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).