Foolproof Whole Wheat Bread With Your Vitamix Blender

Description

The vitamix is great for making whole-wheat flour. Forget about buying the "dry blade" container — the "wet blade" container works just fine, as long as you keep the quantity of wheat berries down to about a cup. This recipe comes from a friend in texas, who used to be a professional baker. It is marvelous, and oh-so simple. Nothing beats the smell or taste of hot, whole-wheat bread!

Ingredients

• Water
• Honey-molasses
• Active Dry Yeast
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Wheat Gluten
• Salt

Instructions

1. Mix thoroughly water and honey-molasses, raise temperature to 108-112 degrees
2. Temperature is very important for proper yeast action
3. Stir in yeast and set aside for 10-15 minutes for yeast to work
4. When ready, there should be at least a 1 topping of foam on the mixture
5. While yeast is working, put a cup of whole wheat grain in the vitamix blender and grind for one minute
6. Make sure the blender container is completely dry when this is begun
7. Put the wheat flour in a large mixing bowl
8. Repeat this process three more times
9. This is why i grind one cup at a time
10. I have found that 4+ cups of whole wheat berries yields about five cups of whole-wheat flour
11. Add gluten and salt to the whole-wheat flour and stir briefly to blend the dry ingredients
12. Add yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula
13. When ingredients are lightly mixed, dump everything out onto the kitchen counter, in a spot that has been cleaned and lightly oiled
14. If you have a mixer with dough hooks, so much the better
15. Knead the dough for five minutes, adding small amounts of water to keep the dough just barely on the sticky / gooey side
16. Put the dough back in the mixing bowl
17. Its hard to explain exactly what the consistency should be, but i try to keep the mixture sticky and quite moist
18. To add water, i make a depression in the dough and put in the water, then fold the dough over on itself
19. Kneading is fun! at least i think so
20. I flatten the dough with the heals of my hands, fold it end-for-end, repeat
21. Put about two inches of hot water in the sink and float the mixing bowl with dough in the sink
22. Cover the dough with a light cloth
23. The warm water will keep the dough warm and moist while it raises
24. Let dough raise about 30 minutes, or until it doubles in size
25. Dump the dough back onto the counter top and knead again for two or three minutes
26. This will reduce the size of the dough as the air pockets are pressed out
27. Divide dough into two equal lumps, and form into the shape of loaves to fit bread pans
28. Oil and lightly flour the pans if they do not have a non-stick surface
29. Place each lump into a warmed bread pan, put these on the counter, and cover with a dry cloth
30. Allow the dough to rise a second time, which usually takes about a half-hour
31. The bread is ready when it has raised to about a half-inch above the height of the bread pan
32. Cook at 360f for about 35 to 40 minutes
33. When done, remove the bread from the bread pans and let cool for about 10 to fifteen minutes before cutting and eating
34. Nothing is better smelling and tasting than fresh, hot, whole-wheat bread!
35. One final
36. The lower air pressure makes yeast work a little more quickly, and generally more liquid and a higher cooking temperature is required
37. However, this recipe was originally used in texas, so its probable no modifications are necessary