If you know me, you know I’m all about eating whole grains. I also like making things fresh, from scratch. I had given up on making bread though for several years, because I always got crumbly, hard bread. Last year, my sister-in-law Kim, gave me an awesome recipe for good, moist, whole wheat bread that she got from a class. It’s not just a recipe, but a five page paper on how to make perfect bread. I’ve been making bread almost weekly for the last few months and modifying the recipe slightly. Anyway, here’s the recipe and the photos from today’s batch. The key to not getting hard, crumbly bread is the gluten and dough conditioner.

You will need the following ingredients. I also like to throw in extra stuff like sun-dried tomatoes and basil, or a homemade multi-grain cereal for texture and flavor.

13 cups whole wheat flour
2.5 tablespoons dry yeast
1/2 cup high gluten flour
4 tablespoons dough conditioner
6 cups warm water (120º – 130º F)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 tablespoons salt

First, mix 9 cups of the whole wheat flour with the yeast, gluten flour, and dough conditioner. I just use a commercially available dough conditioner that we buy at Macey’s. It has a mix of the lecithin, and some other stuff to make the dough stick together better. You can also use things like vitamin C to get similar results. Anyway, remember, the gluten and dough conditioner are what makes it not so crumbly.

Once the dry stuff is all mixed together, add 6 cups of warm water. I’m using an old darkroom thermometer here. The key is to get it between 120º and 130º F for the yeast.

Mix that in for 1 minute until the dough is evenly mixed and very gooey.

Now, cover the bowl to keep in the moisture and heat and let the dough proof or “sponge” for 10 minutes. If your yeast is good, it should raise up in the bowl quite a bit. This step also helps the dough stick together better.

Okay, add the oil, sugar, and salt. Mix it together and then start adding the rest of the flour, 1 cup at a time. You’ll need at least 2 more cups of flour, usually I get up to about 4 additional cups. It doesn’t really matter what the recipe calls for, you just want nice, soft dough. Once the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer bowl, you have added enough. I always try to keep things a little wet, since I’ll knead the dough with more flour as I shape the loaves.

As the dough pulls from the sides of the bowl, it doesn’t look like much. Let the mixer knead the dough for another 10-15 minutes and it will form a sticky, stretchy, ball.

The dough should stretch kind of like taffy at this point. Getting it out of the bowl is always fun. Plop it on a floured surface.

This is usually where I divide up the dough and throw in some add-ins for extra flavor. Today I made 2 regular loaves, a pizza crust, and 3 free form loaves. I added sun-dried tomatoes, basil, garlic and red pepper to the free form loaves. Jaxon likes to call that pizza bread.

Here’s the dough with the tomatoes, and the plain. As you knead and shape it on the table it should still be pretty sticky. You’ll have to keep your hands and the table lightly floured so it doesn’t stick.

While you are kneading the bread in the mixer, turn the oven to 100º or warm, and then shut it off once you have your loaves formed. Place the loaves in the oven with the heat off and let it rise for 20-30 minutes. It should double in size. If you poke the raised dough with your finger, the indentation should spring back almost all the way. If it stays dented in, you need to start baking right away because it has probably risen too much. Turn the oven to 375º and bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. I like to spray the top with a mister to keep it from getting too dry and burnt. Sometimes I’ll mist it while it is rising as well.

I usually let the free form loaves rise on the counter while the others are baking. They are ready to bake when the others are done.

After you pull the loaves from the oven and put them on a cooling rack, you can mist them again if you want the crust to be a little softer.