Best Whole Grain Bread

I modified TNFarmgirl’s Fluffy Whole Wheat Bread recipe, because I had hard red wheat berries, oat groats, and quinoa I wanted to use instead of the grains she specifies, and I cut the recipe down to one fourth for just one loaf. I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and the Grain Mill attachment to grind the grain. If you don’t have a way to grind grain, you can just purchase whole grains already milled into flour. This morning, I placed an order for some organic grains and flours at Bob’s Red Mill.

Here are the ingredients I used:

• One and one-fourth cups warm water
• Two teaspoons yeast
• One teaspoon salt (Like TNFarmgirl, I use Real Salt.)
• Three tablespoons olive oil
• Three tablespoons honey
• Three tablespoons gluten
• Three to four cups whole grain flours

Here is the modified version of TNFarmgirl’s directions:

Put water in bowl of mixer and add yeast. Let proof for 5 min. (It is really important to wait the full 5 min.) Add salt, oil, honey and gluten. Add 2 cups of flour and mix on low for 2 min. or until thoroughly mixed. (Use the dough hook if you have a Kitchen Aid.) Turn the speed up to medium (number 2 on a Kitchen Aid) while gradually adding only enough flour to clean the sides of the bowl. Let knead for 8 minutes. Remove from mixer and form into loaf. Place in well greased bread pan.

I put the dough into a buttered a loaf pan, buttered up the top of the loaf as well, and placed it in a warm oven to rise. The oven light helps keep it warm.



It almost doubled in size in 40 minutes, so after I took a picture, I turned the oven to 350 and baked it for 40 minutes (part of that was pre-heat time). This was the handsomest 100% whole grain loaf I ever baked.

Since the Kitchen Aid was still out, I used it again, to mix up a meat loaf which I put into the oven as soon as the bread finished baking. And because I still had freshly ground flour left, I also used it to mix the batter for a quick blackberry cobbler.



We ate while the bread was still warm and the cobbler was bubbling in the oven. My husband was skeptical of this bread, as I have experimented with whole grains in the past and turned out some pretty awful loaves, but I convinced him that this one was worth trying, the best I have ever made - soft, springy, and just a little bit sweet. So he toasted a slice. “Delicious”, he said.