Whole Wheat Bread

 

While we were at my in-laws for Thanksgiving, my husband, Peter, made bread with his mom’s help.  He has made very good bread before, but always with our Kitchen Aid stand mixer to do the kneading for him.    This time he had the opportunity to learn to knead the bread by hand. :-)  The bread turned out so well that I decided to share the recipe with you.

The recipe actually came from an old copy of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.  (It was new at the time, anyway.) I have made some slight changes.

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:
3 to 3 ¼ cups All-purpose flour
1 package Active dry yeast  (2 1/2 tsp.)
1 ¾ cups Water
1/3 cup Brown sugar
3 tablespoons Butter
2 cups Whole wheat flour (King Arthur Band gave the best results)

Directions:
In large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the all-purpose flour and the yeast. Heat water, brown sugar, butter, and 2 teaspoons salt just till warm (115-120°), stirring constantly till butter melts. Add to dry mixture. Beat at low speed of electric mixer for ½ minute, scraping bowl. Beat 3 minutes at high speed. By hand, stir in whole-wheat flour and enough of the remaining all purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough.
Knead on lightly floured surface till smooth, 8 to 10 minutes. Shape in ball. Place in lightly greased bowl; turn once. Cover; let rise in warm
place till double, about 1-½ hours. Punch down; turn out on floured surface. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Shape in loaves; place in two 8½ x 4½ x 2½ inch greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise till double, about 1¼ hours. Bake in moderate oven (375°) about 45 minutes. If tops brown too quickly, cover loosely with foil last 20 minutes.
Makes 2 loaves.

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Here is Peter learning to hand knead from his mom:

Notice her cotton apron. :-)

The loaves turned out so well! (See top also.) 

This was his annual bread baking project that he likes to do at Thanksgiving.  Since we weren’t with my family, he did agree to make another batch for a family dinner we had to celebrate my mom’s birthday and my brother and sister-in-law’s anniversary.  The first batch (all in these pictures), turned out the best.  He used different (perhaps heavier) whole wheat flour for the second batch here at home, and also, someone (AHEM!) turned on the lower oven and overheated the upper oven while he was allowing the dough to rise in there, thus reducing the effectiveness of the yeast!  (Yes, that would have been me! Ack. Oops, and Oh, no!)  Thankfully, it was not a total wreck and was still edible.  He made half the batch into dinner rolls too, which was nice for our dinner.

Wheat Berry Salad

I found the original recipe for this in a magazine, but as usual, I altered it. :-)  It turned out quite well and was a refreshing change for the carbohydrate part of the meal.  Plus, it felt like we were eating something really healthy that was delicious too!  It is a good hearty dish, and leftovers keep pretty well.  I added some smoked white cheese to it later for a light supper and that was good also.  It would probably be quite good in a packed lunch.  Enjoy!

1 1/2 C. wheat berries
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1/2 C. chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted
1/3 C. dried cranberries (or cherries) 
1 Tbs. dried parsley
1 green onion, tops only, chopped
3 Tbs. olive oil
Juice of one lemon (about 2 Tbs.)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. allspice
In a large sauce pan, cover wheat berries with water so that they are covered by about 2 inches.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour or until the berries are tender enough to chew easily.  Drain and allow to cool completely. (Hint: You can boil and drain them a day ahead and refrigerate them overnight.  This makes a nice cold salad.)
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients until well mixed.
Makes 6 servings.