Easy WONDERFUL Whole Wheat Bread!

After many attempts with different recipes, store bought whole wheat verses home ground wheat etc.... I have finally found the recipe that all of my family LOVES!!! This bread is SOFT and STRETCHY and CHEWY and WONDERFUL!!! Here are some pics of the beautiful loaf. Below them I will share the recipe. I make this in a bread maker on the dough setting and then bake it in the oven:) All credit for the perfection of this loafs goes to my friend Jeni. She hooked me up with home ground wheat ( which makes a HUGE HUGE difference) and helped me with some recipe malfunctions!! THANKS JENI! Take a look at it in all it's glory!

Happy customer:)

This one is getting way close to my bread... I mean... our bread...right...ours...

Ok, I guess we should love our bread, but not LOVE our bread!    LOL

A close up of me and loafy:)

YES we get excited about bread around here! So here's the skinny on the recipe. This is for a bread machine that makes 2lb loaves... I have a Long loaf pan, so I make one loaf, if you have a standard one you can make one loaf and some hot dog buns... hamburger buns... rolls... etc..

Basic FABULOUS whole wheat bread

1 1/2 cups WARM water

2 tbsp powdered milk

4 tbsp ( which is 1/4 cup) honey 1 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp coconut oil ( I use this in place of shortening now, but you can use olive oil just the same, coconut oil is SO good for you...but that is for another post:)

1 HEAPING tbsp vital wheat gluten (so important, you can get it at wal mart, makes soft stretch wheat bread!!!)

4 1/4 cups Freshly Ground Whole Wheat Flour ( now, I do replace that 1/4 cup of wheat with flax seed often because flax seed is so SO good for you and helps with fiber, which cancels out some carbs for us diabetics. That is the tiny brown specs you see in the pics above, you can NOT taste it, but it's there:)

Put it in your bread machine in that order and run it on the DOUGH cycle, which for mine takes 2 hours.

Then, I plop it out on a floured board, shape it to fit my long loaf pan ( or use a regular size one and make some rolls etc.. with the extra, I would use 2/3's of the dough for a regular size loaf pan, you can use it all, but it will be a TALL loaf:)

Then, spray your loaf pan WELL and place your dough in it. I cut some very shallow slits diagonal on the top of mine... maybe there's some real reasoning for that, but mostly I just think it looks pretty:)

Then, I place my loaf pan DIRECTLY in the oven and turn the light on.

I put the oven on warm for 1 MINUTE!! JUST ONE!! SET THE TIMER, YES, EVEN FOR JUST ONE MINUTE! I have lost many a loaf to forgetting to turn it off quick enough. The bread will get a bit of a hard crust on top and will keep it from rising anymore.... and at that point.... we have french toast sticks for breakfast!! LOL

Let the dough rise for at least 1 hour. I set the stove timer.

Then, I turn on the oven to 350 and bake it for 25 minutes or so. Doing it this way helps you from accidentaly hitting the pan or having to move it and then having the loaf fall on you....so sad when that happens:( There is a STRICT no running or jumping policy in the kitchen during that time, see why below:)

This COULD happen to your bread too.... NO BOUNCING in the kitchen! :)

Take it out, BASK in the glory of your beautiful loaf.... then humbly thank the LORD for your awesome bread:)

I let mine sit for 5 minutes to cool a bit then take it out and put it on a cooling rack till it completely cools.

DO NOT put it in a plastic bag till it's all the way cool, unless you want soggy bread.....

Bread making is so much fun and alot easier then some think, if you got a good recipe, a trusty bread machine and simple oven, YOUR IN BUSINESS!!

Blessings!