Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread

I've been looking to add more grain to the bread I make. I found a nice little recipe that adds another "level" of grain without being overwhelming. The secret is in make sure you grind the oats before adding. I'll remember this little trick--it will come in handy when I make meatloaf as well!

The ingredients of the bread recipe were borrowed from a neat little website called allrecipes.com with a couple of tweaks:

I used 2 c. soy milk (any kind of milk will work) and warmed it and then added 1 pkg (1/4 oz.) of yeast. I found that the  temperature of the milk suggested in the original recipe was a tick too low to get the nice foam from the yeast, so I upped it to a good 105-110 degrees. After about five minutes of mixing the milk and yeast together, add to this 1 1/2 T. sugar. Set aside.

Blend together in a large bowl the following--2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, 1/2 c. ground oatmeal, and around 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, and 1 1/2 t. salt. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk. Stir until blended. Use around 1/2 c. more all-purpose flour to work and knead the bread. Knead for around 8 minutes.

Put some olive oil in the bowl you mixed the bread in and roll the dough ball once in the oil. Cover and put in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes. Take the dough out and shape into a loaf, oil the loaf pan lightly, and drop in the dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for a good 30-35 minutes. The loaf should sound a little hollow when done. Turn out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread

I was looking for a good recipe for bread on this cold day. Figured it would be a good compliment to a hearty vegetable/bean soup I was making. I wanted a wheat-based bread, so I ended up finding a recipe in my old faithful cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens. This is the recipe from there:
Mix 1/2 packet yeast with 1 c. all-purpose flour into a mixing bowl.
Heat 1 1/2 T. shortening (I used Crisco), a little over 3/4 c. water, 1/6 c. packed brown sugar, and 1 t. salt to where the shortening melts (around 115-120 degrees) stir constantly.
Add to the flour mixture. Beat at low speed for 30 seconds and then on high speed for 3 minutes.
Stir in 1 c. whole wheat flour and as much of 1/2-3/4 c. all-purpose flour as you can stir in with a spoon.
Knead using a bit more all-purpose flour for around 6 minutes. Grease a bowl and roll the dough in it once. Cover and let raise for 1-1/2 hours.
Punch the dough down, put on a bread board and cover to set for 10 minutes. Shape into a loaf and put into a greased loaf pan. cover and let raise for 1 more hour.
Bake at 375 degrees for around 25 minutes, then cover with foil for the last 20 minutes.
Turn out on a cooling rack to cool.  Makes a very pretty loaf!

Pita Bread

The other day I had a craving of sorts for homemade bread, but I didn't want anything heavy or cake-like. I looked in the pantry, found some whole-wheat flour and when decided upon pita bread. There's a really good recipe for it in the cookbook I received in 1984...one of my first "real" cookbooks, The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. Page 75.

To make the bread, you combine 1 pg. active dry yeast (1/4 oz. from a jar) with 1 1/4 c. warm (110-115 degree) water in the mixing bowl.  Add 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1/4 c. Crisco, and 1 1/2 t. salt. Blend this on low speed for 30 seconds, and then switch to high speed to beat the mixture for 3 minutes. Once this is done, then mix in another cup of white flour with a spoon into the mixture. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 5 good minutes kneading in a bit more flour (around 1/4 to 1/2 c.) to make it nice and pliable and smooth (It makes a very pretty dough.) Then let it rest in a warm place covered for 15 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 separate portions, and roll each gently into a smooth ball. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Next, gently flatten each into a disk with the fingertips. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest in a warm place for 10 more minutes. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Take the disks out, one at a time, and roll them into  a flatter disk, about 4-5 inched across. Use a good floured board to do this to prevent sticking. Two by two, bake the pitas for about 3 minutes on each side in the 450 degree oven. Be sure to keep the unbaked portions covered with the damp cloth until you're using them. Once the pitas are done and cooled, when you use one, slice in half and then carefully slice into the pita (life filleting a fish.) Enjoy!