Friday, July 22

Soaked Whole Wheat Bread.

Alright.  So we've made whole wheat bread before.  Remember?  And since that post, we've changed the way we do it enough that I'd like to share our new recipe.  Since I began baking bread, we have not only started to grind all of our flour fresh, but we've also started soaking all of our flour products.  If you've been following my blog, you've probably got the basics down by now: soak the dough with either lemon juice, vinegar, kefir, or buttermilk to help and break down the phytates!  Well this bread is a soaked bread, and thus, is super digestible.  Even for those that have gluten sensitivity!


About a year ago, my Aunt taught me how to bake bread - and I haven't bought another loaf since.  Homemade bread is just so good!  So fresh!  So authentic.  And if you know where to find your ingredients, pretty cheap too!




Soaked Whole Wheat Bread
You will need:
 - 11 cups of whole wheat flour (freshly ground is best!)
 - 1 cup acid medium (kefir, buttermilk, whey, or 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice + 3/4 cup water)
 - 3 cups warm water
 - 2 cups oats
 - 1 cup honey
 - 3/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted

Step One:  Combine these ingredients in a mixer.  Then, cover with a damp cloth and plastic wrap and allow to sit out at room temperature for 12-24 hours.




Step Two:  After the soaking period is complete, combine the follow in a small bowl:
 - 1/2 cup warm water
 - 1 teaspoon honey
 - 2 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
Allow the yeast to "proof".  Ie: Get all fluffy and bubbly.  Usually, this takes about 5 minutes.


Step Three:  After the yeast has proofed, add it to the soaked flour mixture.  Mix, mix, mix.  Then, add:
 - 1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt
 - 3 tablespoons dough enhancer (if you've got it!).  I use 3 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten instead.  Is the dough too sticky?  Add just enough flour that the dough begins to pull of the sides of your mixer.  Don't add too much!


Step Four:  Knead, baby, knead!  Use your muscles!  For about 10 minutes.  If you need to sprinkle in a wee more flour to make the dough manageable, feel free to do so.  After kneading the dough, place it in a greased bowl, cover, and let sit until doubled (usually about an hour or so).  Punch the dough, turn it over, and allow it to rise again until doubled (thirty minutes or so).




I know this step may seem tedious, put really, it's pretty dang passive.  All you have to do is keep an eye on it.  And punch it.  And flip it.


Step Five:  After the dough has doubled, punch it down again, and divide it into three chunks.  Using a floured rolling pin and a floured surface, roll one chunk at a time into a rectangle.  Then, flip the rectangle over and roll it up like so.  




Then, tuck the ends under and place the seam of the roll on the bottom.  Place into a greased bread pan.  Repeat with chunk of dough #2.  Repeat with chunk of dough #3.






Step Six:  Allow the loafs to rise in the bread pans until doubled.  Then, put in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes - until nice and golden.  Remove from the pans and allow to cool on a wire rack.  You may have to run a knife along the edge of the pan before removing the bread so that it doesn't stick!




Bread.  Tender bread.  Sweet bread.  


You know what this calls for?


Butter.




And homemade strawberry jam (thanks Mom!).




Mmm.


Here's a tip: If you won't go through three loaves that quickly, stick a few in the freezer!  Wrapped in a few recycled bread bags, they freeze wonderfully.  


I swear.  This bread is delicious.  I swear, I say!


Most mornings, we have a toasted piece of this bread, smeared with high quality butter, and topped off with a fried egg.  Or a scrambled egg.  Or a hard boiled egg.  Or, when we're feeling rich, bacon!


I love bacon.  I love eggs.  I love bread.


This post is making me hungry.


Won't you try to make this bread?  Please?  This weekend would be a perfect time to put on your Big Girl pants and give it a go!  Or Big Boy pants, should you be a, ahem, male.


Then, report back to me.  Pronto.  If I can help you succeed in bread making, I will!  If nothing else, I would be happy to taste test for you.


I'm selfless like that.


Happy Friday, my bread lovin' friends!

45 comments:

  1. I have been making bread for years, and I haven't ever tried this! This weekend! I'm doing this! With bacon and eggs for breakfast!

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  2. I love my soaked bread recipe but it never rises for some strange reason...still tastes great though (and more importantly, my husband likes it enough to eat it as well). Yours actually rise so I think I'll be giving this one a try.

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  3. I'm a new follower! Looking forward to seeing what you are up to on your homestead. These loaves of bread are perfect! They look so yummy!
    Thanks for the recipe!

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  4. I have made this bread a couple of times and it is delicious but I do have a problem. Sometimes the center is still uncooked and other times there is a giant hole in the center that is also still raw. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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  5. To anonymous above - Sometimes rolling the bread will create a hole in the middle. Instead of rolling out and rolling up the three sections, try just kneading it into the right shape and "plopping" in the pan. It might not be as pretty at first, but when it rises it will round out. Hope that helps!

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  6. My daughter and I Love your blog. I've tried four of your recipes this week. This is my first time trying soaked bread, and it was outstanding! Finally we have a whole wheat bread recipe everyone likes! 100% whole wheat! I make the whole thing in my Bosch, kneading and all. This makes a much better loaf than standard wheat bread. I'm playing with the dough for Christmas, and my 2nd batch this week, orange cinnamon rolls, rolls, and a garlic/chives loaf for my husband's bday. It is hard to please and feed everyone in a family of six, especially whole foods, this just made that job a lot easier! Merry Christmas!

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    Replies
    1. Help! How do you do it in your Bosch? When I did it, it was very sticky and I have had to add at least 3 cups of flour to it. Also, had to take it out of my Bosch to work it. Dough smells sooo yummy! Can someone help us? Thanks!

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  7. have been looking for a new whole wheat bread recipe and like that this is soaked and makes 3 loaves. The only thing is that I don't use dough enhancers/conditioners. How do you think this will come out with skipping that part?

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  8. This recipe looks wonderful!!! ...and seeing as though you have had luck in the bread sector, have you ever made biscuits?? I'm trying to master the art and so far they've turned out quite flat and un-puffy. I hear it's a pretty difficult thing to master. I'm from South Carolina and I'm currently living in Mexico City so there are a few things that may be affecting my biscuit success....1) there is no buttermilk here or cultures in which to make it and 2) I'm at an extremely high altitude!

    Do you happen to have any biscuit recipes that you may be willing to share with a homesick southern gal?? If you do, pretty please share when you get the chance :0D

    BTW I adore your blog!!! :0)

    Kelley

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    1. I have read you can substitute buttermilk with whole milk and lemon juice. I don't recall the ratio but you let it sit for like 5-10 minutes and then add it to your recipe. Maybe try looking it up for more accurate info...

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    2. Sour milk can almost always be substituted for buttermilk. Place 1 T. vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup and add milk to make 1 cup. Let stand for 5 minutes before using.

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  9. I just made this and let me say. A-MAZING! I am pretty sure that when I step through those pearly gates in heaven that I will be handed a hot loaf of this bread and a crock of butter!
    Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe!

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  10. The secret to great biscuits is to use real butter... and to keep it as cold as you can. Try letting it sit in the freezer after cutting it up and again after cutting it into the flour. It's those bits of cold, unmixed butter in the batter that make biscuits fluffy.

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    Replies
    1. I learned to grate frozen butter directly into the dry ingredients. Works like a charm!

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  11. How did you mix this - by hand? It is sooo thick (moist by thick) my kitchen aid can't even handle it. I let the kitchen aid get it mixed a little and then took it out and used both hands to mix it like I would hamburger. Is that how it is supposed to be? It already smells divine!! Can't wait to finish it. Donna

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  12. We tried this recipe today and LOVED it! I have put it in our family recipe book! Thanks for sharing it. Our pans must be alittle smaller than yours, because we were able to get 4 loaves out of it. We have 11 people in house right now and it's ALL gone! So we have another batch "soaking" to make in the morning. :-)

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  13. Can you tell me what type of wheat flour did you use-red or white?

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  14. I made this, and it was so crumbly. Good, but too crumbly for sandwich bread. I didnt use dough conditioners, would that fix it? Would kneading it more change the crumbliness?

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    Replies
    1. The vital wheat gluten, I've found, is essential to keep it from being so crumbly.

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  15. Ok, how is it that I stalk, er I mean, follow your blog and I didn't see this Post of Utter Deliciousness? I found it on Pinterest instead!
    So I have acoupla questions:
    Numero Uno: if you have used both the lacto-soaking juice and the non-lacto jucie (not at the same time, of course!), have you found there to be a difference in flavor? I presently have no buttermilk, yogurt, OR kefir. It is, indeedee-oo sad day in the Faulkner household. But! We have the ACV (it's raw...wonder if it's potentness would be a flavor factor?) and lemons!

    Numero Dos, or however you spell it: what kind of grain mill do you have? We have the Family Grain Mill, which is a hand-crank, but just got the company's attachment for our Kitchenaid, so grinding goes a smidge faster. The thing is that this mill doesn't give you that darn-near store-boughten flour texture like the Nutrimill. I was wondering what you had and if you thought that the difference would impact the numbers of the recipe.

    Sorry about writing a small book here!! Yikes!

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  16. I've made this several times substituting butter for the coconut oil, because I haven't had any on hand. Last night I made it using the coconut oil for the first time, from a brand-new jar that I tasted as I used it.. and the bread now tastes like rancid coconut oil. It killed me to feel like I wasted all that otherwise delicious-looking bread! Did I do something wrong?
    Also - @ dcwes - I usually used regular whole wheat (no conditioner) and it was crumbly but dense, you'd have to use 3/4" or greater slices for a sandwich. Yesterday's batch was the first time with whole wheat bread flour, and I felt like it rose better and held together better. But either way I felt like I needed to lightly toast the bread to make it stable enough for a sandwich. I think a melted slice of cheese would make perfect bread-glue.

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  17. I'm not knew to bread baking but very new to grinding our own wheat. I'm excited to try this as I've been getting more bricks than actual bread since my mill came into my life. Love the idea of using our kefir. Wish me luck!

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    Replies
    1. Made a new batch today and it was absolutely PERFECT! The kids are devouring it with cherry preserves. This will be my everyday bread from now on! Thank you for a successful recipe.

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  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  19. Where in the world do you get dough enhancer?

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    Replies
    1. a health food store? we have a little local shop owner who makes her own bread so she sells things like that....

      KarenL

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    2. Krista, I use 'vital wheat gluten' from my local health food store.

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    3. I ended up getting mine in the natural foods section at Fred Meyer. You can also get it on Amazon :-)

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  20. I just made this bread and unfortunately all the loaves came out raw in the middle (even thought I checked it with the fork which came out dry). 30 minutes was definitely not enough for baking time.

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    1. Tap on the bread and listen for a hollow sound to hear when it is done. If it doesn't sound completely hollow then leave it for a 2 minutes longer and keep tapping. Hope this helps.

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    2. 30 minutes might be acceptable for a convection of but not a regular. I would stick an oven thermometer in your oven to make sure it reads 350 when dial is set to 350. Plus you can stick an instant temp thermometer into the center of the bread. It should read 190 when bread is done.

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  21. Is this meant to be mixed by hand because as the reader up above mentioned my Kitchen Aid could not begin to handle it. Also, I am not finding that it is rising to double the size after 1.5 hours. The dough smells great so am hoping for the best! Will post later to let you know.

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  22. I have my large bowl holding the dough for its first round of rising. I mixed it by hand and kneaded it with love. I think that has got to be my favorite part of bread making, the kneading and the lovely rhythm I get into.

    I couldn't help but add some sunflower seeds, flax and wheat germ with the oats. Do sunflowers seeds require a different soaking method?

    Thanks for sharing, and I am looking forward to trying out your updated version as well. Keep posting!

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  23. you metioned that this bread is ok for people who are gluten intolerant and this is because of soaking the dough. then you add vital wheat gluten. doesn't that negate the soaking to make it gluten tolerant? i really want to try this . it sounds great but am afraid to. i am gluten free. please reply.

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    1. The vital wheat gluten is optional, though it does help the bread to hold to together (as gluten does). I also have another 'Traditional Soaked Whole Wheat Bread' recipe in the Recipe Index that is a more basic soaked bread recipe (no wheat gluten necessary). Neither bread is gluten free, but the gluten is broken down and made more digestible by the soaking process. Hope this helps!

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  24. Thanks for the awesome recipe! We've been slowly making the switch to "real" food, and I was in need of a good bread recipe. Just wondering- have you tried freezing any of the unbaked loaves?

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  25. I have discovered that when you add a crushed Vit-C tablet too, it makes the dough rise nicely.

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  26. can i use multigrain bread flour instead of whole wheat flour?

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  27. As I sit here and type, I am enjoying a thick slice of this AMAZING bread !!!!! This is by far, the best bread I have ever made !!!

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  28. Hello from Korea!! Okay,I'm pretty new at this. But what size loaf pans do you use. My oven is small and i use the medium sized pans usually. Just need to know if i have to make my chunks smaller. Still 12hrs to go tough. Really excited. #Natascha@otto

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  29. Hey! This bread is delicious. We've been making bread for years, and it's always fun to mix it up every now and then. I made it the first time with the vital wheat gluten. I made two loaves of bread and a dozen big cinnamon rolls with the last third if dough. My loaves were huge. I'll divide it into four this time. I also skipped the the extra gluten this time, and both times I've used maybe only 1/3-1/2 cup of honey. Round two is rising, so it will be fun to compare without the vital wheat gluten. The slices were sticking out of my toaster a bit from the first batch. I'm sure they'll be the perfect size for us when I divide the dough up more this time. But everyone in the family has been enjoying this recipe, thank you!

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  30. Do you know how many carbs per portion? Dyeing to get a great whole wheat recipe I can eat while dealing with my type 2 diabetes...

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  31. Are the oats powdered? Or is it added in its whole form? Old fashioned oats or quick cooking oats? Thanks!

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