Baking bread

I sometimes go several months without buying a loaf of bread from the store. I've made loaves of bread, rolls, pizza dough, buns, pretzels, corn tortillas, and pita bread at home with varying levels of success. My kids get really excited when I'm making bread and beg for dough to make pretzels out of or to just eat out of the bowl. I love baking bread because it makes my house smell so good. I also like knowing exactly what goes in my food, and I like being able to make things "from scratch,"  or at least from basic ingredients I keep on hand.

It wasn't until my husband got me a Kitchen Aid Mixer that I ever had consistent success with baking sandwich-type bread. It takes a lot longer to knead by hand, but I hear it can be done.

I regularly make whole wheat bread with a recipe that I've tweaked so it makes sandwiches without being crumbly. It originally came from the side of a bag of King Arthur Flour. I always double the recipe to make two loaves, or one loaf to give away, or one loaf and pretzels, or one loaf and rolls, or. . . (you get the idea). I like to call it my food storage bread recipe, because all of the ingredients can be stored long term.

100% Whole Wheat Bread
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 pkg instant or active dry yeast (1 tablespoon) dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup powdered milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
vital wheat gluten (follow instructions on gluten package, usually add a certain amount per loaf or per cup of flour)
3 - 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

I am a wheat flour snob, and I like King Arthur flour best. I've tried lots of different kinds, with lots of different results. You can use white wheat flour for a softer bread, but red wheat works great, too, and has more protein.

Mix all the wet ingredients in the bowl of your mixer and let stand until the yeast starts to get bubbly. Add all the dry ingredients and mix using the dough hook for 8-10 minutes. The dough can be a little sticky, but it should come away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball, so add more flour as needed.

Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise til double or for about 1 hour.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled work surface (or grease your hands), shape into a 8-inch log, place in a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan, cover loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow bread to rise for about 1 hour, or until it's crowned about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. (I usually bake for 15 minutes and tent and bake for 15 more minutes.) Remove bread from oven, cool on a wire rack before slicing.

If you happen to have any bread left after cutting thick slices and slathering it with butter and honey, serving it to your kids and calling it a meal, store it completely cooled in a plastic bag at room temperature. Wal-mart has these great gallon sized storage bags that come with twist-ties that just barely fit a whole loaf. The gallon zip top kind aren't big enough.

Mmmmm. Typing this up has made me hungry for bread.