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You might go looking for the other experiments, but you won't find them on this blog... I'm only publishing the ones that I LOVE and will continue to use. (Sorry, no photos - we ate the bread too fast!)
So, here it is, the meat and potatoes of the bread recipe: (If you don't have my basic bread recipe yet you can sign up to get it here. It is the one for the Bosch Universal mixer.)
First, I leave the basics alone - the water, oil, honey, salt, yeast and dough enhancer amounts have not changed.
What I have played with are the flour amounts and what I have been using for my flour. For example, I use roughly 16 cups of flour. I'm not sure how accurate that is anymore, because I always lose count and just add flour as needed until my bread is barely no longer sticky.
So, I put in the hot water, yeast, dough enhancer, oil and honey. Then I add a cup of mashed potato flakes (potato pearls do NOT work, unless you pulverize the pearls first). Next, I put in between one and two cups of ground flaxseed (I prefer this golden flaxseed), AND lately, I've been adding a 10-grain cereal mix. It is a course grind whole grain cereal and I just throw it in. I haven't been letting it sit and soak much, but I understand you can let it sit up to 5 or so minutes. I've also enjoyed adding 1/4 cup millet. It seems to be a lot of millet, so I may tone it down a little to 1/8 cup. (Still experimenting with that one.)
And finally, I prefer to use 3 different kinds of flour - usually spelt, hard white and hard red whole wheat flours. The flour mix makes a tastier loaf, I think. (Don't forget to add the salt.)
The result? Tasty, healthy, WHOLE GRAIN bread that is light enough that you don't feel like you are eating a brick and has enough substance to know you have eaten something! Bread doesn't last long at my house.
This last week, I've made 3 batches of bread (5-6 loaves per batch), mostly for Christmas presents for some friends and neighbors and have had rave reviews about my experiments. One neighbor was so excited she was going to hide it all for herself because my bread is SO YUMMY and so AMAZING! (Actually, I know of at least two people who hid it to eat the loaf by themselves.) Makes me happy to think I am helping them have a little extra joy in their lives.
Here's to some more happy experimenting!
5 comments:
millet huh? i don't really know what that's about...
my bread (your recipe) is really heavy if you lift the loaf, but i don't feel it's heavy when i'm eating a slice or a sandwich. is that normal?
do you know what millet is? (it is a small grain that is good for your small intestine.)
my last loaf was heavy to the feel, but light enough when eating it - I'm blaming the weather.
Great post! Thanks for sharing! How long should anyone wait before they eat bread or how long does bread last? Everyone gives different answers.
do you mean how long you should wait after it comes out of the oven? or something else? I usually wait about 20 minutes - enough for it to cool so I can cut it easier, I don't wait too long for sampling that first loaf! When you use dough enhancer, your bread lasts a bit longer, but it also depends on the weather and humidity in your area - the warmer the weather (even inside your house) and the more humidity you have, the shorter life span of your bread. Mine usually lasts a good week or a little more before any molding shows - which is why I freeze most of my loaves and only leave two out to eat. The bread thaws nicely when it is needed. Hope that helps - if you want more information, let me know.
Found you through a google search. Hope you have a wonderful day. Also I'm giving away some vacuum food storage system on my blog today to celebrate my 2nd Blogiversary. Stop by to enter for a chance to win.
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