Homemade Bread Tutorial

I grew up with a mother that made homemade bread to die for. This was before the age of bread machines. I'm sure she often made it out of necessity (money was always tight), but to us it was like manna from heaven when she would pull it out of the oven and serve it to us warm with butter and honey.

Ironically, when I became a mother myself and wanted to duplicate her feat, I made whole wheat bricks rather than fluffy loaves of bread. I was confounded. I grew up kneading bread side-by-side with my mother. What was I doing wrong?

It wasn't until about a year or so ago I started getting my bread-making endeavors right every time. And when I say I started getting it right, I mean I now make moist, soft, delectable bread without fail. And wonder of wonders - I use almost 100% whole wheat flour and I barely knead my bread! (And I don't use a bread-maker either. They're smarter than me so I've given up!)

So how do I do it?

First, you start with good whole wheat flour. If you don't have finely ground whole wheat flour, I recommend using white flour for at least 1/4 to 1/2 the flour the recipe calls for. How much you use will depend on the quality of your flour.

When I haven't been able to grind my own whole wheat I've used the Hogsdon Mill whole wheat flour for sale in most grocery stores. It's not as fine as what I can grind at home, but it's adequate for my needs.

The next thing you need is a good recipe or two. I have my favorite whole wheat bread recipe that I use for almost everything except French Bread. (That recipe will be forthcoming!)

Regardless of what order your bread recipe tells you to add your ingredients, you must start by combining only the water, sugar or honey, and yeast. Make sure your water is warm, not hot. If it's too hot, it will kill the yeast, and we need the yeast to be active! So how hot is too hot? If you can't comfortably stick your finger in the water and leave it there, it's too hot. Combine these three ingredients in a bowl and stir for a minute to help the yeast dissolve. Then let it sit for 5-10 minutes to let the yeast start to react with the sugar. It will start to look foamy after a few minutes. This tells you the yeast is working.

Once you've let the yeast get foamy, go ahead and add the rest of your other ingredients (salt, oil, etc.) and about 1/2 the flour called for. If you're doing a mix of white and wheat flour, add the wheat flour first. Then, with an electric mixer, mix the bread batter for about four or five minutes. This will seem tedious and useless, but this is what replaces the kneading time. Don't skimp - it's necessary so your bread will hold together well!


With a plastic or wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can by hand. Don't worry if you don't use all the flour called for in the recipe!










Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface.










Remove your rings and watches, and lightly flour your hands. Knead the dough for just a few strokes until it looks smooth.

To knead the dough: lift the back edge of the dough and, using the heel of your hand, push it into the center. Give the dough a quarter-turn and repeat. Add more flour as needed a couple tablespoons at a time.



















You'll know you're done with the bread dough looks smooth and is kind of elastic. It may be slightly sticky, but should not come off on your hand if you touch the outside. I generally only have to do this about 30 seconds or so to get it the right consistency. You do not want to add too much flour at this stage! This is what makes whole wheat bricks. If you aren't sure, err on the side of caution. You can always add more flour later.











Once the bread dough is smooth, it needs to rise. Drizzle a little oil in a bowl.











Place the bread dough in with the smooth side on the bottom. Give it a little turn to coat the bottom, and then flip it over so the smooth side is on top.



















Then cover with a clean dish towel and let rise until at least double in size.










If you aren't ready to finish cooking it by the time it has doubled, simply punch it down into the bowl and let it rise again. Shape into loaves, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, or whatever your heart desires!