Whole Kamut Bread

This is an awesome recipe I developed for whole-grain kamut! This recipe is 100% kamut flour (except for the 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten)! It is soft, fluffy, rich in flavor, sweet. . .it's awesome! This is definitely a flour I would use to substitute all-purpose flour for cakes! 

Whole Kamut Bread

Sponge Ingredients:
2 c kamut flour
2 c warm water
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp yeast


Sponge Directions:
1) Dissolve honey in water in small dish.
2) Add yeast to honey water and let proof.
3) In large bowl, add flour and wet mixture.
4) Let sit for 12 hours or more.


Loaf Ingredients: 

entire sponge from above
1/4 c coconut oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp yeast 
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c vital wheat gluten
2 1/4 c kamut flour

Loaf Directions:
1) Add sponge, coconut oil, honey, yeast, and salt, and vital wheat gluten to bowl. Mix until well-incorporated.
2) Add flour to mixture one cup at a time until mixed.
3) Mix together thoroughly. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time. If too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
4) Knead by machine for at least 8 minutes.
5) Place dough in lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled.
6) On floured surface, punch down dough and separate into two loaves for bread or into 6-8 smaller rolls if preferred. Shape how you pretty much want it.
7) Let rise in oiled pans to double.
8) Cut design and add egg wash if desired.
9) For Bread loaves:
    Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 35-40 min.
    For Rolls:
    Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 15-20 min.
10) Let cool on wire racks.

To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

For Better Slicing:
Let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Remember that this bread has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day. This bread freezes well and should taste fresh after a month.

Whole Wheat Starter

Here is the starter I created for my amazing whole wheat bread. Basically, it is just an ordinary starter, but using whole wheat flour.

Whole Wheat Starter

Ingredients: 

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp yeast



Directions:

1) Add whole wheat flour to bowl.
2) In separate dish dissolve molasses in the water.
3) Add the yeast to the water to proof.
4) Pour water mixture onto flour and mix thoroughly.

5) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for 12-24 hours on the counter. (Or continue to feed it over several days.)
6) After your desired wait time is over, put it in the bread you're making!

Yield:
4 cups

Sourdough Whole Wheat

This happens to me one of the most delicious whole wheat breads I've ever had! I took this recipe from my Seedless Jewish Rye and changed just a few things. Light and airy with the heavy taste of whole wheat!

Sourdough Whole Wheat

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups pieces of previous (whole wheat) bread
3 cups fed whole wheat starter (click here for recipe)
1-2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp yeast 
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
3+ cups unbleached or bread flour

Directions:
1) Soak old loaf pieces in water and squeeze out water. Place them in the bowl.
2) Add starter, molasses, yeast, and salt to bread pieces. Mix until well-incorporated.
3) Add flour to mixture one cup at a time until mixed. Do not over-flour.
4) Mix together thoroughly. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time. If too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
5) Knead by machine for at least 8 minutes.
6) Place dough in lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit 1/2 hour only.
7) On floured surface, punch down dough and separate into two loaves for bread or into 6-8 smaller rolls if preferred. Shape how you pretty much want it.
8) Let rise in oiled pans 1/2 to 3/4 hour only.
9) Cut design and add egg wash if desired.
10) For Bread loaves:
    Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 min.
    For Rolls:
    Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 10-15 min.
11) Let cool on wire racks.

To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

For Better Slicing:
Let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Remember that this bread has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day. This bread freezes well and should taste fresh after a month.

Butter and Sugar Cookies

So, I was looking for a good recipe for sugar cookies that keep their shape and are soft when cooked which do no not need refrigerated. Here it is! And I found it on the inside of a cookie-cutter package! I did change this recipe though. I used less vanilla, and I used orange extract instead of almond (and I doubled it)! I also doubled the baking powder.

Butter and Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt


Directions:
1)  Beat butter, egg, sugar, salt, and extracts in mixing bowl until smooth and fluffy.
2) Mix dry ingredients together in small bowl.
3) Add flour mixture one cup at a time until incorporated. It will look like loose meal.
4) Used hands to smoosh it all together.
5) Roll it out to desired thickness on a well-floured surface.
6) Punch out with your favorite cookie cutters.
7) Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They will not look done, but they will be.
8) Decorate with your favorite frosting!

Yield:
About 4 dozen depending on the thickness and shape of your cookies.

Whole Rye Experiment #1

This was my first trial bread using fresh-ground rye flour with a new grain mill I got for Christmas! All I really did was substitute 1/3 of the flour with rye flour. It was okay, but something went wrong as it fell. I have suspicions to several reasons why it did this (kneading time, lack of gluten, soaking the rye first, etc.), but the bread tasted great and I used the leftovers in a later bread recipe!

Whole Rye Experiment #1

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp yeast
1 cup whole rye flour
2 1/2 cups unbleached or bread flour
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1) Dissolve sweetener into water and add yeast to proof.
2) Sift and combine flours and salt in mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle.
3) Add liquid mixture to dry in the well. 
4) Mix together thoroughly. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time. If too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
5) Knead by machine for 3-8 minutes.
6) Place dough in lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit until doubled in size; about 1/2 an hour.
7)  On floured surface, punch down dough and separate into two loaves for bread or into 6-8 smaller rolls if preferred.
8) Let rise in oiled pans until doubled in size.
9) For Bread loaves:
    Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 min.
    For Rolls:
    Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 10-15 min.
10) Let cool on wire racks.

To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

For Better Slicing:
Let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Remember that this bread has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day. This bread freezes well and should taste fresh after a month.

Whole Rye Experiment #2

This was an experiment to see what would happen with a straight one-to-one substitution of whole rye flour over unbleached wheat flour for the Grandmother Bread recipe. I did add a few other ingredients though. It did pretty well, but there were some issues once baking. It fell flat. Apparently it was just too wet and I over-proofed it too. Maybe it needed more flour. The flavor when it came out though...yum! The way the onion played in this loaf was superb!

It was however one of the first times using my new proofing baskets!

Whole Rye Experiment #2

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp yeast
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup milk powder
3 cups whole rye flour
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1) Dissolve molasses into water and add yeast to proof.
2) Add flour, salt, and milk powder to mixing bowl and combine. Make a well in the middle.
3) Add liquid mixture, onion, and beaten egg to the dry mixture. 
4) Mix together thoroughly. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time. If too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time. This will tend to be a lot stickier than other doughs.
5) Knead by machine for 5-8 minutes.
6) Place dough in lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit until doubled in size; about 1/2 an hour.
7)  On floured surface, punch down dough and separate into two loaves for bread or into 6-8 smaller rolls if preferred.
8) Let rise in oiled pans until doubled in size.
9) For Bread loaves:
    Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 min.
    For Rolls:
    Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 10-15 min.
10) Let cool on wire racks.

To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

For Better Slicing:
Let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Remember that this bread has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day. This bread freezes well and should taste fresh after a month.

Seedless Jewish Rye

Okay, so I took this recipe from several other recipes, changed it a bit and came up with this. Mostly, it is attributed to Bernard Clayton Jr.'s New Complete Book of Breads "Seeded Rye" recipe. I am not a fan of caraway seeds. the original recipes I took this from used tons of caraway seeds and caraway seed powder. I left it all out.

This is one of the first recipes I have made that not only included bits of a previous loaf in it, but also included no additional water or sweetener whatsoever. The result was amazing. I am probably going to tweak it just a bit in the future to get a more perfected recipe.

Seedless Jewish Rye

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups pieces of previous rye bread
3 cups rye onion sour (click here for recipe)
2 tsp yeast 
2 tsp salt
3+ cups unbleached or bread flour

Directions:
1) Soak old loaf pieces in water and squeeze out water. Place them in the bowl.
2) Add sour, yeast, and salt to bread pieces. Mix until well-incorporated.
3) Add flour to mixture one cup at a time until mixed. Do not over-flour.
4) Mix together thoroughly. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time. If too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
5) Knead by machine for at least 8 minutes.
6) Place dough in lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit 1/2 hour only.
7)  On floured surface, punch down dough and separate into two loaves for bread or into 6-8 smaller rolls if preferred. Shape how you pretty much want it.
8) Let rise in oiled pans 1/2 to 3/4 hour only.
9) Cut design and add egg wash if desired.
10) For Bread loaves:
    Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 min.
    For Rolls:
    Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 10-15 min.
11) Let cool on wire racks.

To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

For Better Slicing:
Let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Remember that this bread has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day. This bread freezes well and should taste fresh after a month.

Rice Bread Experiment #1

This recipe took a lot of research just to discover. I could not find a recipe anywhere for rice bread that had gluten in it. I was not looking for gluten-free or wheat bread with rice in it. I was looking for bread made entirely from rice! Well, after much research, I came across a site somewhere that described a scientific experiment on creating rice bread. They had some weird-named chemical they used to thicken and bind it. I did some conversions from their scientific recipe and did further research to finally come up with the following recipe. Mind you, it failed, but it was delicious!

 As good as it was, we used what was left as a binder for fish cakes (as a replacement for crackers) made from some apple-wood smoked tilapia we cooked earlier. Neither the fish nor the rice bread were outstanding alone, but smooshed together with a little oil and some spices. . .wow! I could not stop eating them!

A note on the "binder": this is what keeps the bread together and gives it substance. I was tempted to use vital wheat gluten or even an egg. In the end I decided to use chia. I may try the others later and see. This bread came out very salty tasting as well. I would drop the salt content down by half or more next time.

Rice Bread Experiment #1

Ingredients: 
3/4 cups warm water 
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp yeast
1 cup finely ground rice flour
2 tsp binder (for this recipe I used 2 tbsp chia seeds)
1 tsp salt (or less)

Directions:
1) Dissolve sugar into water and add yeast to proof.
2) Add chia seeds to water and allow to sit for 20 minutes.
3) Sift flour to mixing bowl with salt and mix. Make a well in the middle.
4) Add liquid mixture to dry in the well.
5) Mix together thoroughly. It will be like porridge.
6) Place dough in lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit until doubled in size (or whatever it will); about 1/2 an hour.
7) Let rise in oiled loaf pan until doubled in size (or as much as it will)
8) Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 min.
9) Let cool on wire racks.

Yield:
One Loaf

To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

For Better Slicing:
Let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Remember that this bread has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day. This bread freezes well and should taste fresh after a month.

Grandmother Bread

Here is the original Grandmother's Bread recipe. My wife's favorite. I decided it was finally time to actually type it in because I use it as the base for so many others. Of course, this is the one recipe I did not invent, however, the one listed below is mine for all intents and purposes as it is is different from the original. Click here for the link to the original recipe.

Grandmother Bread

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp honey, molasses, or sugar
2 tsp yeast
3 1/2 cups unbleached or bread flour
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1) Dissolve sweetener into water and add yeast to proof.
2) Sift flour to mixing bowl with salt and mix. Make a well in the middle.
3) Add liquid mixture to dry in the well. 
4) Mix together thoroughly. If too dry, add water a tablespoon at a time. If too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
5) Knead by machine for 3-8 minutes.
6) Place dough in lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit until doubled in size; about 1/2 an hour.
7)  On floured surface, punch down dough and separate into two loaves for bread or into 6-8 smaller rolls if preferred.
8) Let rise in oiled pans until doubled in size.
9) For Bread loaves:
    Bake in preheated oven at 350 F for 25-30 min.
    For Rolls:
    Bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 10-15 min.
10) Let cool on wire racks.

To Keep Moist:
While still slightly warm, place in bread bag and tie it off.

For Better Slicing:
Let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Remember that this bread has no preservatives and requires refrigeration if you intend to keep it longer than a day. This bread freezes well and should taste fresh after a month.

Rye Onion Sour

So here is a winning sour I used for some amazing rye bread. I altered the recipe quite a bit and had more than enough. The original asked for no sweetener and also added caraway. I am not a fan of caraway so I left it out. I did however, want a nice molasses taste and added that in! I took the leftover and am making some sourdough waffles with it!

Rye Onion Sour

Ingredients: 
1 onion, chopped
2 cups rye flour
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp yeast
cheesecloth


Directions:
1) Chop onion coarsely and wrap in cheesecloth.
2) Add rye flour to bowl.
3) In separate dish dissolve molasses in the water.
4) Add the yeast to the water to proof.
5) Pour water mixture onto flour and mix thoroughly.
6) Place wrapped onion in the center of the mix.
7) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for 12-24 hours on the counter.
8) After your desired wait time is over, pull onion out and scrape it off. Either discard it or put it in the bread you're making!

Yield:
4 cups