Follow a few simple rules, learn some how-to tips and tricks for making homemade bread, and breadmaking will become second nature. Be one with the bread!
Where To Buy Whole Grain Bread Ingredients
These bread recipes all use natural ingredients. Some may not look familiar, but they can all be purchased in a natural food store, health food cooperative, buying club, or a major supermarket chain that has a natural foods section. Most of these breadmaking ingredients are flexible and substitutes can be used with good results.
Natural Bread Ingredient Substitutions
As a rule, whole wheat bread is heavy and dense, and some store brands may taste like cardboard. This recipe is a little lighter because ingredients like liquid lecithin, soy powder and vital wheat gluten are used. If liquid lecithin can't be found (usually in the supplements aisle), dry lecithin granules can be used with good success. Vital wheat gluten helps otherwise heavy wheat bread to rise. Omit it if it can't be found, and make up the difference with extra bread flour. Likewise, if wheat germ and soy powder can't be located, substitute with the equivalent of whole wheat bread flour as well.
What is Vital Wheat Gluten?
Vital wheat gluten is dried and milled to a powder and usually added to ordinary flour dough. This improves the heavy whole grain dough to rise and helps the bread's texture and chewiness. These heavy doughs must be worked vigorously if they are to rise to the top of the pan. Kneading heavy breads by hand would be laborious and tiring, so a bread machine or stand mixer would be useful for this process. Bread flour is the ideal flour to use for breadmaking as it has a higher percentage of gluten already in it.
Using Instant Dry Yeast
There are three popular types of yeast for baking. Active dry yeast like the Fleischmann's yeast sold in little packets. Bakers yeast which is a live wet yeast sold in blocks in the grocery store's refrigerated aisle. Instant dry yeast made by Saf-instant yeast. This yeast comes in a 1 pound vacuum-packed brick block. Amazon sells it for $4.99, and it will probably last the typical baker a very long time. Once instant yeast is opened, it should be packaged and sealed in an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator or freezer. This is the yeast used in most modern commercial recipes. Because it's instant yeast, it doesn't have to be dissolved in water first. Saf-instant yeast gets added to the rest of the dry ingredients, and mixed and kneaded into the bread dough. Also, by using instant yeast, the final bread dough only has to rise once. No more punching down the dough and waiting for it to rise a second time. Read Instant Yeast vs. Active Dry Yeast in Homemade Bread Recipes for more details and instruction.
Kneading Bread By Hand, Mixer or Bread Machine
Because all natural whole grain bread doughs are heavy, and most batches make four loaves, it would be easier to use a stand mixer or a bread machine. The whole wheat bread dough can be kneaded by hand, but it will take approximately 15 minutes or so of heavy kneading with the heels of the hands to develop the dough fully. If using a bread machine, check the manufactures' instructions.
Oven Temperatures
Bread baked in loaf pans generally bake at lower temperatures (350-375 degrees F.) for a longer period of time (30-45 minutes). Hearth breads that are baked in brick ovens or on stones, are baked at higher temperatures (400-450 degrees F.) for shorter periods of time (25-40 minutes) depending on how large the loaf is and how heavy the dough. Always check the recipe before baking.
Some Great Homemade Bread Recipes to Get Started With:
Basic Homemade Whole Wheat Bread Recipe - Healthy whole wheat sandwich bread. This basic recipe is hearty but light, with healthy ingredients like local honey, wheat germ, lecithin and wheat gluten. Freezes great so make a full batch!
5 Homemade Bread Recipes: Healthy Whole Grain Breads and Rolls - This list includes Portuguese Sweet Bread Recipe, Honey Whole Wheat Bread Recipe, Healthy Multi Grain Bread Recipe, Healthy Bread Recipe: Flax, Sesame, Caraway, Poppy Seeds and Nuts, and a primer on How to Make Basic Homemade Yeast Bread.
Donna Diegel - Donna Diegel is an experienced baker and published author with more than 25 years of experience in the food industry.
