bread recipe

Here is my bread recipe it is courtesy of my favorite chef around- Chef Brad. He is wonderful and has so much knowledge to share. If you haven't taken a class from him I would strongly recommend it. I just may be hosting one in my home as soon as all the remodeling is finished. His classes are on grains, breads, pressure cooking and on and on. You can get all of the ingredients that are on here if they sound unfamiliar at Char's Kitchen Store on Gilbert Road at Houston or at the Emergency Supply Store on Mesa Drive by Deseret Book.

The Master Recipe

5 cups warm water (between 95-110 degrees)
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup honey (I put the oil in the measuring cup and then add the honey so they both come out nicely without the sticky mess)
1 heaping Tbsp. Salt
3 Tbsp Saf instant yeast (this really is better than anything you can get in the store)
1-3 Tbsp dough enhancer
1 Tbsp lemon juice (optional)
2 cups high gluten flour
6 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour (I use all kinds of grains here. As long as at least 2/3rds of the flour is wheat or spelt you can use 1/3 of any other grains you would like. Just grind them all together in your mill. They will change the taste and texture slightly. You just have to play around and experiment to see which ones you like best.)

Put all of the ingredients above in the Bosch with yeast on the top and then turn on speed 1. As that is mixing add as much additional flour for dough to pull away from the side of the bowl. (It usually takes about 14 cups of flour total) It should only pull initially half way up the side of the bowl, and during the 8-10 minutes of mixing it will pull completely away. It is important not to put too much flour in or your bread will be dry and crumbly. Add back in 2-4 Tbsp of water (more if needed) to keep your dough soft. The stickier the dough the lighter and fluffier the bread will be. Let mix for 8-10 minutes. Oil your hands and counter well. Divide dough into 5 loaves and let rise in loaf pans, sprayed with a non-stick spray. Let rise for approximately 30 minutes in well-oiled pans, until they have doubled in size. While they are rising preheat oven to 375 degrees. After putting bread in oven turn down the oven to 350 and cook for 30-35 minutes until bread is golden brown. You can measure the temperature of the bread with a meat thermometer they should be about 180 degrees. When they are done take them out and immediately take them out of the pans and let cool on a wire rack. I like to butter the tops. Do not bag until they are cool. You can get great bread bags at those two places I suggested at teh top as well. They freeze very well. We always eat one loaf that day and then one for the next couple so I usually freeze three of the loafs or just give them away to friends and neighbors.

Good Luck. I only know how to do my bread with a Bosch. If you do not have one I highly recommend one but they are pricey. I believe they are well worth the investment since I use mine all of the time and they will last you at least 20 years but probably a lot more. Feel free to email me or call or come by with any questions. Or we can schedule a lesson if you want. Just give me about six weeks until my remodeling will hopefully be done.