Wheat bread.

[coloradoclyde]

I've never been a fan of whole wheat bread...

I just got done making a loaf of wheat bread....It turned out great.
It was your basic bread recipe...Flour, water yeast , salt, and a pinch of sugar. I did 2 things different this time...
I uses plain store brand white all purpose flour and 1/3 of the total was whole wheat pastry flour (King Arthur)...
I also used Red Star Platinum yeast.

I've been using the platinum yeast for a little while now and I really like it....They are even outdated packages and have all fermented excellently.. I've used a lot of different brands and strains for bread, but the platinum yeast makes a really nice product...

Supposedly it's a commercial product that Red Star has made available to the homeowner....I believe it because it makes a really nice professional product..

Just thought I would share my experience for those that may be having trouble making a good product. Give it a try.
http://redstaryeast.com/platinum/

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Thanks, sounds yummy...

Now try whole wheat pastry flour(like Uncle Bob's), and use some brewing yeast, OK..., use fresh trub (the spent yeast off the bottome of the fermenting bucket for those that don't know the term) equal to the amount of liquid that you used in your current batch of bread. Make your dough at say 9 p.m. and let it sit until 7 a.m...... then punch it down, and let it set about two more hours then bake.

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

Sounds good, I've used trub before.. for pizza dough...Would like to try top cropping the yeast once, trub contains a lot of junk, dead cells and dormant yeast. The problem is I don't ferment in a vessel that allows for top cropping.

BTW....The bread is delicious this morning... :grin:

 

[NeilMacleod]

Fife flour/grain works real well if you have a wheat intolerance. Never thought of other yeasts, always used Fleishmans regular, I have also used Kifer. Letting it go for 2-3 days in the fridge makes it real nice. Hydration of the flour is a key to great tasting bread.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I've used at least a dozen different yeasts...They all produce a different tasting product, as well as different structure ect..

 

[Kansas Jake]

I've eaten whole wheat bread my whole life and have made it with different recipes and with bread machines and by hand. My paternal grand mother made it almost every day when I was a kid and the recipe has been handed down although my copy is not the best. I currently like to use a whole wheat flour milled here in Kansas. It is Hudson's Cream Flower. They mill, whole wheat, white and I think a bread flour.

My grandmother's bread would get somewhat hard the second day as she just kept it in a bread box. She would slice it about 2/8ths of and inch to 1/2 an inch thick and they you slather on the butter and top with a thick slice of cheese. Heaven!

Grandpa liked to spread goose grease on his bread after holidays if a goose happened to be on the menu.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I grew up on homemade bread...Even the school I went to made homemade bread fresh every other day.
Real bread not the frozen dough that is made at a central facility and then baked in a speed oven like most "bakeries" are today....I even worked in a real bakery for 2 years...
I was gifted a bread maker once, it didn't last long. I use a stand mixer. and a bread box also...I like bread with a little body and "teeth" to it.

We had breads back then that I just can't find anything even close to today, like hard rolls and Kaiser rolls.. I use to fill my pockets with roll before I headed out to run my trap line when I was a kid.

We had a small local bakery that made the best cake donuts I've ever tasted.

Oh yea...I made another loaf again tonight it turned out perfect.....It's better than anything I can buy in town.

 

[coloradoclyde]

While we are on the subject of bread there's something I want to complain about...That is Serrated bread knives.
I hate them...All they do is make loads of crumbs. They make a rough surface on the bread that dries out the loaf quicker and burns your toast in the toaster....Not to mention all the crumbs you'll be wearing when you try to eat it.:td:

I use a large sharp (I mean sharp) butcher knife....It makes perfect slices.

 

[tenngun]

Old Hicory and a good arkansas :thumbsup:

 

[coloradoclyde]

It's not an Old Hickory, it's an Ontario. but basically the same... :thumbsup:

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I always loved wheat bread. Especially whole wheat bread. There was a kind of Wheat bread with other stuff made commercially called "Roman Meal" I loved that stuff. When I got closer to 50 years of age, I found that I got terrible indigestion from wheat bread, I can eat regular white bread made from wheat without problem. I can also eat Pumpernickle and Rye. Whole wheat bread will result in a pain in the upper chest that can bring on tears.

I do sorely miss the taste, but I can get Rye and Pumpernickle which I think taste even better. I make some bread a few times a year, but never took the time to figure out what supplies are needed for Rye and Pumpernickle. Got a Recipe for Russian Black Bread that has orange, cocoa and other things in it. Never found the flour necessary to make it. I suppose in this day and age, I should look on line to order it.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've used at least a dozen different yeasts...They all produce a different tasting product, as well as different structure ect..

YEP that's why I made the suggestion. You can find lots of period sources that say the brewer had to sell Lees or barm to the baker. Using the ale yeast is a bit different and of course the taste is different.

The whole wheat pastry flour is much more akin to the flour of the 18th century than is the modern whole wheat flour that we get from hard, red (aka "winter") wheat.

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

The whole wheat pastry flour is much more akin to the flour of the 18th century than is the modern whole wheat flour that we get from hard, red (aka "winter") wheat.

LD

Really?.. how so?

(Minutes later)

I did some digging and King Arthur says its the same as Graham flour.
:hmm:

 

[Kansas Jake]

My maternal grandmother made bread almost every day too, but she always made white bread. Interest as I think about it now that one made "graham bread" and the other white bread. I was probably a teen ager when my maternal grandmother quit regularly making bread and started buying "store bought" bread. My maternal grandfather taught me to like that homemade white bread with lots of butter, a thick slice of cheddar or colby cheese and a slice of sweet onion on top. Your breath wouldn't win friends but it sure tasted good.

 

[coloradoclyde]

homemade white bread with lots of butter, a thick slice of cheddar or colby cheese and a slice of sweet onion on top.

You're singing my song!..... :thumbsup:

 

[sidelock]

My Wife made two loves of "oat meal" bread yesterday. Gave one to neighbor and ate the other with potato soup. YUMMMMMMM

 

[Cruzatte]

homemade white bread with lots of butter, a thick slice of cheddar or colby cheese and a slice of sweet onion on top.

You're singing my song!..... :thumbsup:

Dadgummit! You guys are makin' me hungry....again :haha:

 

[coloradoclyde]

I'm thinking of making raisin bread tomorrow..... :hmm:

 

[NeilMacleod]

Raisin corn bread lol, did that yesterday.

 

[Kansas Jake]

We're all going to give up shooting and become bread bakers if we keep this thread going. :wink: