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From berries to bread...

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2015 3:22 pm
by ShadowsDad
It's been far too long since I made homemade bread from wheat berries. I wanted to make some 2 months ago but since the oven pooped itself and we had to wait for our new oven to be built, delivered, and installed I wasn't able to. Then it arrived and I quickly made no-knead bread and holiday bread. But I really wanted some "real" bread from homeground wheat; something I could use for a sandwich...

I think maybe I'm over compensating for not having an oven for those months. Did I ever miss it!

Made out of white winter wheat; the entire wheat berry.

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IMO, there is no food on the planet that is as good as fresh bread out of the oven. That's for scent and the taste with butter. Of course the cook gets the best piece. That's the first crispy/crunchy warm slice from the end. I just LOVE fresh homemade bread! Since this bread is made from the entire wheat berry it has full wheat taste, but since it isn't red wheat it doesn't have that overpowering wheat taste. I've served it to folks who don't care for whole wheat and they simply don't know that it's whole wheat... they just know it's good and that they never tasted bread like that before.

Maybe ciabatta is next, but I wanted to make panatone too. I sure wish we could eat more without gaining weight.

BTW, the loaf pictured contributed the Texas toast for this mornings steak and eggs. The feathered ladies contributed the eggs.

Re: From berries to bread...

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 6:21 pm
by Squire
The recipe man, you forgot the recipe.

Re: From berries to bread...

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:37 pm
by ShadowsDad
Yeah, I guess I did. I just didn't think most folks would go to the trouble. It was basically posted just to show folks what goes into a loaf of bread.

The original recipe is found at King Arthur Flours website. It's their Classic White Sandwich bread.

The recipe I use uses stuff that not many folks have. The Diastatic malt isn't 100% required and I make my own, but it can be purchased.

You'll need to adjust the recipe for your mixer; this was written for my Ankarsrum. I also grind the flour 3times not so much for the endosperm and germ, but to make the bran finer. Large bran will cut the gluten structure and the loaf will fail as it rises. Bran also contains chemicals that destroys the gluten structure, hence the vit' C to strengthen it. Or I suppose the bran could be sifted out, but I want it in my diet. Sifting out the bran will affect the weight. I weigh the wheat berries and use all of it.

You want hard white winter wheat. The higher the protein content the better. I just tell my healthy food store that I want that specified wheat for bread making and I buy it by the sack. If it works with a test loaf I quickly get another one or 2 sacks.

OK, you've made it how is it stored? NOT IN PLASTIC! Unless you want it to lose all of it's flavor by the next day. It's best stored cut side down on an impermeable surface. The surface will cut moisture loss and the crust will slow it down everywhere else. It will stale, but all bread stales. It's best use changes from day to day. Storing in plastic though isn't the solution. It'll still stale and be tasteless, and plastic is a greenhouse for mold.

The recipe is mine and written for my gear. Steps may be missing or not fully explained. I would know what to do. Questions? Ask me. If you have a KA mixer you will destroy your mixer if you follow the directions as written here. Also, it hasn't been tested using store bought "whole wheat" since it isn't whole wheat unless you get it out of the refrigerator section of a health food type grocery store.


ShadowsDads 100% fresh ground hard white wheat sandwich loaf

Yield: 2 loaves

If making 4 or more loaves increase the kneading by a few minutes, 6 loaves a bit more time, etc.. NOTE FOR BRIAN: If you make 4 or 6 loaves, remove 775grams per loaf for the first 2 loaves. Allow the other dough to remain on the mixing bowl. Form the loaves and put in pans. In a half hour remove another 775g, and continue this until the dough is used up.

1 cup milk (skim, 1%, 2% or whole, your choice)**
1 to 1 1/3 cup hot water, enough to make a soft, smooth dough** (hold the 1/3cup in reserve)
8 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter or vegetable oil †
4 tablespoons succunat or sugar
2 packets active dry yeast dissolved in 2 TBL warm water OR 4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
Brians addition: 1 TBL lecithin granules (optional) or 2 egg yolks since they contain lecithin

1 1/4 teaspoons salt
800 grams of hard white wheat fine ground (3x through the Ankarsrum (aka “Family”) grain mill)
2 TBL diastatic malted wheat flour (can be omitted) added to the wheat berries before grinding

A small amount of additional flour as required for adjusting the dough and dusting the countertop

Instructions:

Add the first set of ingredients to the SS mixer bowl with the roller set up. Turn it on slow or higher and allow to mix.

Turn the mixer off or not, and add ½ of the total flour. Allow to mix. The dough will be more like batter at this point.

If you haven’t yet, turn the mixer speed up to ½ - 3/4 and begin adding the rest of the flour and salt. Adjust the roller arm as necessary. Withhold the last ½ cup of flour and use it to adjust the dough consistency. You want a slightly too wet dough at this point but do not strive for that. If you have that consistency OK. You should use most of the flour, but possibly not all of it. I found I use all of it.

Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes for the flour to finish soaking up the water. After that time start the mixer and run it at ½ - 3/4 speed and adjust the dough consistency using the additional flour and/or reserved water.

After it’s mixed and the consistency is right, knead for 8 minutes (2 loaves). I don’t even do a windowpane test. I just go by what the dough ring looks like as it’s kneading. Since this dough is using a higher gluten flour it’s quite possible that the dough will form a ball in the last minute of kneading.

From here you can allow to rise to double, knock it down, form into loaves and put into loaf pans for the last rise before baking, or just go straight to forming the loaves and putting them into pans. The additional rise time gives a better flavor and possibly a better structure. Either way, you want the bread to fill the loaf pan and stand up out of the pan a bit before baking. I used to put buttered plastic wrap over the pans to prevent drying out but lately I’ve been melting a pat of butter per loaf and brushing it on the top of the bread before the rise. It does what the plastic wrap does and tastes better. I also had problems once in awhile with the plastic wrap pulling the dough and slightly deflating it.

Bake @ 350°F for 35- 40 minutes. The temperature inside the loaf should be near (> or = ) 200°F. Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the hot (pyrex) loaf pan for 5-10 minutes to further allow the inside of the loaf to firm up. Then remove from the loaf pans and allow to cool on a rack. If metal pans are used I suspect that the cool off in th pans won't do anything. You're on your own there.

**Mix the cold-from-the-refrigerator milk with 1/2 cup of the hot-from-the-tap water to make a lukewarm combination. So as not to kill the yeast the temperature needs to be below 115°F. Lower temp’s build in a safety margin for error and are meaningless to the yeast and recipe.

† The butter needs to be at least soft, and the water/milk should be under 115°F so as not to kill the yeast. 80°F is fine, but so is warmer. If I use veg. oil I use grapeseed because it’s neutral and is an extremely “healthy” oil.

Re: From berries to bread...

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 6:26 am
by Squire
Thanks man, good info.

Re: From berries to bread...

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 6:49 am
by ShadowsDad
Do you grind your own flour Squire?

Re: From berries to bread...

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 8:31 am
by drmoss_ca
ShadowsDad wrote: Maybe ciabatta is next, but I wanted to make panatone too. I sure wish we could eat more without gaining weight.
I have been working on a panettone recipe for the Zojirushi (I'll post it separately). It comes out pretty nicely in its present form. Sadly, it does nothing to prevent weight gain!

Chris

Re: From berries to bread...

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:01 am
by Squire
ShadowsDad wrote:Do you grind your own flour Squire?
A local homebrewing shop will grind stuff for me.

Re: From berries to bread...

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 12:40 pm
by ShadowsDad
I'm surprised that they'll do that. The dust contains "bugs" and is not at all of the type that beer wants in it. You're lucky that they'll do it. Fresh ground flour without the overhead a very nice situation.