The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker

This week I made bread. Sort of out of necessity. I wanted to try to make a bread somewhere near as decent as the wonderful Cracked Wheat bread that Winder Farms leaves for me every two weeks. I only get my milk delivery every two weeks, so if I run out of bread earlier, I am S.O.L, as the saying goes.

A few months ago I attended an activity at church where we all made something to eat from our food storage ingredients and brought them for each other to taste. One lady in my ward brought homemade bread. And it was the BEST homemade wheat bread I had ever had. I asked her why it was so light colored, so mild tasting, so smooth textured. It wan't like any whole wheat bread I had ever had. The key, she said, was using white wheat rather than red wheat. Previous to this, I think I might have heard of white wheat, but I had never tried it. Well, I was converted right then and there. I couldn't believe what a smooth, delicious, benign taste it had. So I decided to try to make my own wheat bread out of white wheat.

Luckily, I had bought two 50 lb containers of white wheat this fall. And I had bought dough enhancer and gluten (both of which I don't really understand, but I know that the recipe the lady in my ward gave me called for them.) And I had a wheat grinder even. So this weekend, I set out to try my hand at making bread. I have to admit it took me a couple of tries. The biggest problem was that the lady with the recipe was one of these types of cooks who "just knows" when the recipe is right. She doesn't measure. She eyeballs it. So there was a lot of detail missing from the instructions. The other problem was that her instinct for knowing when things "look right" comes from years of experience. And I have zero of these. So...

Batch 1: mushy on the bottom, flat, holey (not firm in texture), and entirely disappointing.

Batch 2: This time I didn't punch the dough down at all. I let it rise twice as high as the first recipe (even though the directions said 20 minutes and mine took 45), and I added a bit more flour. The result? Well, see for yourself...




If you'd like this recipe, just leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you (ammended with my own tips, clarifications, and advice so your first 4 loaves won't end up in the trash like mine did.)