Wheat Bread

I discovered my new favorite wheat bread recipe in this week's Deseret News food section. The article recommended using white wheat and adding wheat gluten (gives the dough elasticity and improves texture) and dough enhancer (helps the bread rise and gives a lighter texture.) The results were perfect! It was soft and squishy and had a great flavor. It wasn't too dense like most whole wheat bricks...I mean loaves! It took me about 15 seconds to mill my wheat, about 15 minutes to mix it up, an hour and a half of rising time, and 25 minutes in the oven. That's what I love about bread, minimal preparation, most of the time the dough is doing it's own work, and I get the delicious results at the end. If you've been collecting wheat for your food storage, this is the recipe to try it out on.

WHEAT BREAD

2 1/2 c. warm water
1 1/2 T. yeast
6 - 7 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. honey
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 T. dough enhancer
1 T. wheat gluten
1 - 2 T. milled flax seed (optional-yay extra fiber!)
2 1/2 t. salt
1 t. vegetable oil to coat hands for hand-kneading

1. Combine warm water, yeast, and 2 c. flour in a large mixing bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes.
2. Add honey, oil, dough enhancer, gluten, flax seed, and salt.
3. Mix flour in a 1/2 cup at a time. Continue adding until the dough begins to clean the sides of the mixing bowl. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Be careful not to add too much flour or the dough will be too stiff and dry.
4. Knead by hand 7 - 10 minutes or about 6 minutes with an electric mixer.
5. Let rise until double, about 1 hour.
6. Punch down and shape into two loaves. To do this I roll it into about a 7 x 13 rectangle (eyeball it.) Then roll it up into a loaf shape. Pinch the bottom seam and ends. Place in greased loaf pans.
7. Let rise until double, about 30-45 minutes.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown. It should sound hollow when tapped.
9. Brush with butter and let cool on racks.

*Just a note: I buy dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten at Kitchen Kneads in West Jordan. I've also seen it at Macey's.
*I halved the recipe because I only wanted one loaf and it turned out great. As I've mentioned before, I would rather bake bread every day and eat it fresh than settle for day old, dried out bread. However, I did have a little bit of bread left over and was surprised to discover that it was still just as soft the next day. This was an amazing recipe.