Baked bread in my kitchen this morning.

I use dark red winter wheat.  I always double the recipe.  This gives me 3 loaves of bread when I am done.  I used to bake all 3 loaves and eat all 3 loaves (with my husband's help) within one week.  I can't do that any more since we are both trying to watch the calories so I bake one loaf and freeze the other two.  Because I am doubling the recipe I need 9 cups of flour.  I always grind my wheat immediately before it will be used.  This insures that the flour will retain the maximum nutrients.  

One cup wheat berries yields 1 1/2 cups flour.  So my nine cups of flour requires 6 cups wheat berries.  I measure out 6 cups and any flour left goes into a ZipLock bag in the fridge.  Some people weigh the wheat berries.  My kitchen scale only has ounces.  Maybe one day I will invest in a scale that also has grams.  SparkPeople have a really nice Conversion Chart for Whole Wheat Berries to Ground Flour.

While the flour grinds (about 10 minutes) I collect everything I need to make my bread.  The lecithin, gluten, and yeast live in the fridge (the small containers with blue lids).  They stay fresher longer if kept there.  Today it is Tupelo honey and Crisco Natural Blend.  I also have Buckwheat and Sage honey.  I used to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  I can't tell the difference. 

I grind the flaxseed in a coffee grinder.  One-half cup seeds fits perfectly in my grinder.  I always grind the exact amount of flaxseeds needed for the recipe.  The small bucket of flaxseeds sits in the food storage room and has a shelf life of one year.   

By now the wheat grinding is complete.  I now have approximately 9 cups of beautiful fresh nutritious wheat flour.  Let's make some bread!

All ingredients are now in the mixing bowl and mixed.  The dough is kneaded for 10 minutes at medium speed.  Thank goodness my Bosch does that quite nicely.  Many years ago I would knead by hand.  No fun.

While the Bosch is doing its magic I am busy cleaning up the mess.  Eight minutes later I have bread dough that is the perfect consistency (hopefully). 

I transfer the dough to a bowl where it will rise to twice its size.  For me the easiest bowl to use is the wheat grinder bowl that caught the flour.  It is already "dirty".  I spray bowl with Pam, dump the dough in, cover bowl with clean towel, and patiently wait for the dough to rise.

In the meantime I am preparing the pans for baking.  Many years ago I invested in cast iron bread pans. I love these pans.  They look rusted but they are really not.  Must be the lighting in my kitchen.  I spray them with Pam so bread won't stick.

Finally the bread has risen.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours for this first rise.  I used to have lights mounted under the cabinets and would set the covered bowl there.  Just the little bit of warmth from the lights seemed to help the bread dough rise quicker.  Now the bowl just sets on the counter.

I sprinkle some flour on a well cleaned counter top and spray two well cleaned hands generously with Pam before I tackle this next step.  I punch the dough down with my fists (this is the fun part) and dump it out on the counter.  I roll and shape the dough into an oblong roll ready to divide into 3 loaves.

Using a bread knife I divide the dough into 3 equal parts.  I actually weigh them on my kitchen scale to insure they are approximately the same size.  Each part gets shaped into individual loaves.  

In the mean time the cast iron pan is being heated in the oven set at 350 degrees.  I used to bake all three loaves at one time.  My husband and I would "pig out" on warm freshly baked bread covered with real butter.  Yummy!!  No wonder I was gaining weight.  One 1/2 inch slice is about 140 calories.  This bread is definitely not "light" or "low-fat".  Oh well.  Those days are gone forever.  Only one loaf gets baked and the other two get frozen for another day.

When the loaves are divided and shaped I pull the hot pan from oven.  The loaf that is being baked goes into the hot pan to rise for the second time.  I never heated the pan when I used to have metal pans.  

The loaf begins to rise the second time.  This time it only takes about 45 minutes.  Then it gets popped into the oven (gently).  If for some reason the bread dough rises too much and is hanging out of the pan, you can always punch it down, roll and shape it again, and let it rise again.

Twenty-six minutes later one gorgeous loaf of nutritious yummy bread is done. The loaf immediately comes out of pan and lays on its side on cooling rack.

When bread has completely cooled it is stored in my bread holder (if there is any left).  

My recipe for whole wheat bread comes from The Bread Beckers Recipe Collection.  Bread Beckers is not too terribly far from where I live.  The yeast, lecithin, gluten, flaxseed, and honey all come from their store.  We have also bought beans in bulk from them.

Basic Dough Recipe  -  I double this recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups hot water

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup honey

2 tsp. salt

1 egg (optional)

2 Tbs. lecithin

1 tsp. gluten (optional)

4 - 4 1/2 cups freshly milled flour

1/2 cup flax seed, ground

1 Tbs. yeast

Directions:

Combine water, oil, honey, salt, and egg.  Add lecithin, gluten, half of flour, and ground flax seed.  Mix thoroughly.  Add yeast and enough flour to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5-6 minutes).  Let rise until double.  Shape as desired and let rise again until double.  For 2 - 1 lb. loaves bake at 350 degrees 25-30 minutes.  Double recipe knead 8 minutes.  Triple or quadruple recipe knead 12 minutes.