How To...Make Whole Wheat Bread by hand

Since we're collecting wheat this month as part of our long-term storage, we've decided to dedicate a couple of days to the making of whole wheat bread. Today we are making whole wheat bread by hand--no machine necessary!



The ingredients: Yeast, water, salt, honey or sugar, whole wheat flour, oil



Start off by dissolving the yeast into warm water






Then add some sugar or honey



and salt (or is this the sugar?)




and a few cups of the whole wheat flour. Freshly ground is best because it's warm and...fresh---but you can use store bought or flour that's been storing in your freezer.





Mix it together with a spoon until it's all combined, then cover with a warm damp towel




Let rise for an hour in a warm place




Add some hot water to this dough



and oil



and more sugar (not salt) or honey





And finally a couple more cups of whole wheat flour




Mix it as much as you can with your wooden spoon




And then turn it out onto your floured counter top to knead. Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Set the timer because what feels like ten minutes, will probably only be two.






Put the kneaded dough back into the bowl (keep it dirty for crying out loud!) and cover. Let it rise for another hour.





While you're waiting, grease two loaf pans with shortening




Punch the dough down, when it's done rising, and shape into two loaves.



You can check out how I shape my bread loaves here.



Put into a greased loaf pan, and let rise again for another hour. You need all these risings (3 total) to develop the gluten in the wheat. With a mixer, the gluten is developed by the...well, mixing. But you couldn't possibly mix enough by hand to develop the gluten totally, which is why when you make bread by hand, it will almost always need to raise multiple times.


Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes


Until golden brown




Brush the tops with shortening if you like a soft crust or if you like shortening (all who agree say "Aye!")





Whole Wheat Bread--made by hand
recipe by Jeri Shelton

1 Tbsp yeast
2 cups warm water
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey (or 2 Tbsp sugar)
4 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup hot water
3 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp honey (or 2 Tbsp sugar)
2 cups whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in 2 cups warm water. Add salt, honey and four cups of flour to yeast mixture. Mix together until smooth (will be a very thick batter). Cover with a warm moist towel. Let rise until light and bubbly--about one hour.

To this mixture add the hot water, oil and remaining honey and flour. Mix thoroughly--gradually add more flour (1 to 2 more cups) until dough becomes manageable to knead on counter. Dough should be soft and tacky (not sticky and not stiff or dry). When it reaches this point, knead for 10 minutes.

Put dough back into bowl and cover. Let rise another hour until double in size. Punch down and form into loaves. Put into greased loaf pans and let rise until doubled. Back at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans and brush tops with shortening for soft crust. Eat. Groan with pleasure.

One year ago on SGI: How to make Strawberry Jam (freezer jam style)