Susie Homemaker

I've really gotten on a bread making kick. We've been getting a bunch of food storage and that inevitably includes huge cans of hard wheat. How in the world do you eat that stuff? We've put it off for so long because Justin didn't want us to store tons of that and not eat it.

So I got myself a wheat grinder and a couple of good books about using your food storage and baking whole wheat bread that doesn't taste like a brick. GOLD MINE! I've tried making bread before in the bread maker...bricks! All of it! Then I tried making rolls with a recipe that I've watched my mother-in-law make a few times (and had her teach me a few times). They turn out like cornbread biscuits. Every time. I've tried it 3 times. Now I love me some cornbread, but those rolls are supposed to be the fluffy white kind like you buy at the store.

Turns out I've been doing a few things wrong all along. I wasn't using warm water or milk to make the yeast rise. It was almost straight from the fridge or luke warm tap. I was also not kneading it long enough. There's a little trick I learned in the bread book about how to tell when you've kneaded long enough.  WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!?! And why have I never heard any of this any time someone writes a bread recipe or does a little bread making class at church? This is what you are supposed to explain in a class or recipe!

I tried out my new found knowledge on said mother-in-law roll recipe and whalla! Just like momma makes (Justin ;)). Oh, one funny thing that happened. I forgot to set the egg out to get to room temperature. I knew I mustn't microwave a whole egg. Why, I don't know. I just pulled that out of the cobwebs in the back of my head. Turns out my all-purpose cookbook says the same thing. Any one want to try it out and tell me why?

I still had a cold egg that needed warming so I tried to warm it in my hands. But, my hands are never warm enough (just ask Justin) so it wasn't doing any good. Then I thought, "What is the warmest part of me right now where I could warm up this egg?"


Down my shirt. And down it went. It was doing good, until I went to retrieve it. That egg shell wasn't as strong as I thought. That was a lovely mess. I don't advise doing that. Find some other way to warm your eggs. I eventually just ran it under hot water.

I'd conquered the yeast and kneading of white fluffy flour, now it was time for the heavy whole grain flour. I was a little nervous. I hate wasting time and ingredients just to be disappointed. Justin's not even nice about my mess-ups. He shakes his head and says, "no good. I'm not eating that."

There's a few tricks to whole grain flour because it's so much denser and heavier. You add a little extra yeast, some extra gluten and some kind of dough enhancer like powdered milk, or potato flakes or vinegar to make it softer and rise higher. So, I got a good recipe from my new food storage book that had all of that in it. Then I kneaded it until it was fully kneaded. Let me tell you, that stuff was heavy. I was a little worried that it would turn out to be a brick. I rolled it out and added brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins to make it like cinnamon raisin bread all swirled up inside. Oh man. It tasted just like a cinnamon roll. And it was super soft bread. I couldn't believe my luck. Plus it was rising like a mad dog. That's never happened to me before. SUCCESS! I'm thoroughly satisfied. I can now join the ranks of homemade bread makers. Any one want to come over for some cinnamon roll bread? Cause I got two loaves and I'll make myself sick eating all of it. Please. Save me from myself.