Northwoods Woman

As a person who makes their own bread, I’ve got a few recipes that have always worked wonderfully for me throughout the years.

That is, until now.  Or should I say up until a few months ago.

Actually, I really shouldn’t blame it on the recipes… maybe I should blame it on the yeast.  On second thought, that really isn’t fair because I can’t really pin it on any one thing that is causing me such frustration with producing less-than glorious loaves of bread.  Mainly wheat bread, which is the staple in our house.

There are many factors that can cause such catastrophic problems such as heavy loaves from under-rising.  Whole wheat flour is a bugger to work with, and I’ve learned over the years when the best wheat flour is in season (yes, there is a season:  winter wheat vs. summer wheat).  I always have the best results when I buy my flour in bulk and it is organic.  But since we don’t have a store around here anymore that has those qualifications, I’m forced to use bagged stuff off the shelf.

Ummmm…. I think I just found the culprit.  Actually, that may only be half of the equation because a good loaf of bread also relies on humidity.  Since it is dryer than a bone in our house this time of year humidity is lower than the temperature outside.

Didn’t know that you were gonna have a science lesson today did ya!

But seriously, baking bread has science written all over it.  There are so many factors that you have to weigh in order to produce the ideal result.  And since none of those factors are in my favor right now, I’m throwing in the towel and going back to my tried and true recipe of making white bread for a while.  Oh, there are still those pesky little “equations” that you have to factor in.  After all “white” flour is just fine wheat flour, typically bleached, from which most of the bran and germ have been removed.

I know you’re just dying for the recipe, so here goes:

• 1 1/3 cups warm water
• 1 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp white sugar
• 1 Tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups white flour
• 2 Tbsp dry milk powder
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)

If you use a bread machine to make your bread, place the ingredients in the pan recommended by the manufacturer.  If you make all your bread by hand, I applaud you.  If you use your stand mixer to do the dirty work, I’m gonna tell you how I process the dough.

With warm water in the mixing bowl, add butter, sugar and milk powder.  Next, add your flour, salt and yeast.  With dough hook attachment, stir all the ingredients on low/stir for a minute or so to get things mixed up a little.  Amp it up to the low/2 setting and set your timer for 5 minutes.  Walk away and let the machine do the work.  After the 5 minutes is up, remove dough from the mixing bowl and kneed it a couple turns to form in a ball.  If your dough appears a little “wet”, put a little flour on your counter and kneed it into the dough for a couple turns until it is not longer sticky.  Please, please try not to add too much flour or you’ll get a heavy loaf.