Posted by Suzanne McMinn @ 5:05 am | Permalink
Tags: honey, whole grains
Breads, The Farmhouse Table
Just look at all that fun stuff!!!! The clerk at the store said, “Are you going to make some bread?” YES!!!!!
A few people have asked about making whole grain Grandmother Bread, and about using honey instead of sugar in the recipe. So, of course I had to play around with it and see what worked. Keeping in mind the principle of simplicity in Grandmother Bread and based on my past experience baking with whole grains, I did some experimenting-and had one result with which I was satisfied, and one with which I was not. Here’s the good one!
How to make Whole Grain Grandmother Bread:
2 1/2 cups very warm water (sometimes I use 3 cups to make larger loaves!)
1 package yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey (I like it sweet-you could get away with 1/3 cup if you prefer)
5-6 cups flour-one part whole wheat to two parts all-purpose, plus 1/4 cup wheat bran
In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey, and salt. Let sit five minutes. Stir in first three cups of flour (and the wheat bran) with a heavy spoon. Add the next cup of flour a little at a time as needed, stirring until dough becomes too stiff to continue stirring easily. The 5-6 cups flour is approximate–add more flour a little at a time and begin kneading. Continue adding flour and kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Let dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until doubled. (Usually, about an hour.) Uncover bowl; sprinkle in a little more flour and knead briefly before dividing in half. With floured hands, shape dough into loaves and place in two greased loaf pans. Tear off two pieces of plastic wrap and grease with oil spray (to prevent it from sticking to the loaves as they rise) and cover loaf pans. Let rise till loaves are tall and beautiful! (About an hour, depending on the temperature in your kitchen.)
Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven. Makes two loaves. Recipe can be cut in half or doubled.
This strategy-cutting the whole wheat with all-purpose flour, worked wonderfully, and is in line with my past experiences using whole grains in bread-baking. Whole grains can create heavy loaves if not cut by the lighter weight of white flour. The above recipe could be replicated using various combinations of other whole grain flours such as oat, barley, soy, rye, brown rice, flaxseed, etc. One part whole grain to two parts all-purpose flour allows for the introduction of healthier grains and nuttier tastes without taking anything away from the open texture and light loaf quality that makes Grandmother Bread what it is. I found exchanging sugar with honey worked fine, too.
What you don’t want to do to Grandmother Bread is add oils, milk (or other dairy products), or eggs-this would alter the texture and density of the bread to something that is not Grandmother Bread at all. (And I do bake various breads this way-they’re just not Grandmother Bread.)
I was really pleased with how this whole grain variation on Grandmother Bread came out, and slicing it showed it would make perfect sandwich bread, just like the original Grandmother Bread, and it was great toasted with honey, too.
I can’t wait to try it next time for Stuffed French Toast! And I wouldn’t hesitate to use this whole grain variation to make all the other Grandmother Bread-based recipes you can find in the full Grandmother Bread post.
My other experiment involved using the same approach as above (replacing the sugar with honey) only I used a 10-grain flour without cutting it with all-purpose flour. The result was similar to other experiments in the past when I’ve used whole grains in bread-baking.
Using straight whole grains produces a heavier loaf (left) that doesn’t rise, bake, or slice nearly as well as when the recipe is cut with all-purpose flour (right). See the difference in the two loaves above (baked using the same measurements and in the same size loaf pan).
I’ll stick with one part whole grain to two parts all-purpose-and I’ve found a brand new favorite for my Grandmother Bread recipe collection! And if you do any experimenting, let me know! I’d love to hear about it.
P.S. The honey I used was pure honeycomb honey from the farmers market and it’s TO DIE FOR.
Update: See the cure for what ails 100% whole wheat bread in How to Make Homemade Dough Enhancer!
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