A Village Life








Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Kitchenaid whole wheat yeast bread

This one's for you Mel.  It is a quick non messy way to make a good loaf of wheat yeast bread.  This loaf can be sliced for sandwiches and is more like a traditional loaf than the denser no knead recipe I posted before.  I use my kitchenaid mixer so if you do it by hand it will be more laborious for sure.  Here are the ingredients required:
2 cups water
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp dried yeast
3 cups plain white flour
2 cups 7-grain or wholemeal flour
1 tbsp salt
These are not exact measurements because you may need to add more or less flour depending on the flour type and the humidity in the atmosphere.
Put the 2 cups of warm water (not hot) in the mixing bowl.  Add the honey and the yeast and let  stand a few minutes until it forms a foamy layer on top of the water.  Give this mixture a stir.  Add in all the flour and the salt.  Put the bread kneading attachment on the machine and turn it on to 1.  Don't mix any faster than level 1 or you can ruin your machine.  I found this out one time when I was working on a sailboat and had my dough kneading of full throttle and the whole kitchenaid took flight off the bench and landed on the galley floor.  Only worked on top speed after that.  OK, back to the recipe.  Knead the dough (or rather let the machine do it) for about 10 minutes.  This is where you gauge if you require more flour or more water.  The dough should not stick to the sides of the bowl.  If it does, add a bit more flour, perhaps a 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is not sticky but more elastic.  If your dough was too dry, it would be crumbly so add a bit more water, just a tablespoon at a time.  Every few minutes, I stop the machine, scrape the dough off the hook then restart the machine, just to make sure it is getting a full thorough knead.  When it looks shiny and elastic and is not sticking to the sides, take the bowl off, cover with clingfilm and put it somewhere warm to rise.  I use the hot water cupboard and it works a treat.  I leave it at least an hour and up to 3 if you have time or get distracted.  It will rise to 3/4 the height of the bowl.  Take the clingfilm off and release the dough from the sides and make it into a nice ball again.  Generously oil your loaf tin AND the dough and form it into a cylinder that will fit in the tin.  Now once again put it back into your warm spot (if that sounds gross to you then get your mind out of the gutter) and let it rise for at least another 30 minutes but more like an hour if you can.  It should be well above the sides of the tin.  Bake in a hot oven, 200C or whatever that is in Fahrenheit, 400 or so?  for 30 minutes.  Take the loaf out of the tin, turn off the oven and let it sit INSIDE the oven for another 15 minutes.  Should be a winner!!!

3 comments:

  1. Oh I'm so excited!! Next Sunday, here I come! Thanks, Meg. I'll keep you posted as usual :).

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  2. yum! cant wait for it not to be so hot here. the thought of baking bread makes me sweat just thinking of it.
    xxt

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  3. I'm going to have to stop by Mel's house this Sunday for a tasting. That loaf looks amazing, Meg.

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