Whole Wheat Bread 2

Another whole wheat bread recipe. This one uses canned milk, something that I came across when I was going through our food storage. We have (had) three cans of it, and the expiration date was October 2010. I don't have a problem with using things past their expiration dates in cases like this. I don't think it's going to poison me. The expiration date doesn't mean that on that day it's going to shrivel up and expire. It just means that the quality of flavor and nutrition is not guaranteed past that time. So I found this recipe, and, of course, included my own modifications: Namely, I added 1/4 cup more water and put 2 tablespoons of powdered eggs in with the flour in order to replace the 2 beaten eggs. I also used a heaping tablespoonful of yeast instead of 2 tablespoonfuls of yeast. Oh, and I didn't exactly measure out three tablespoons of honey. How do you measure three tablespoons of honey? Sticky stuff. No, I just used a knife to scrape three scoops of honey into my 1/3 measuring cup that I had used for the oil so that it was about half full and figured that it was close enough to three tablespoons of honey. Also, the flour doesn't specify whether to use all whole wheat or part white (other than the presumption of the title), so I'm using part bread flour. Because I know from past experience that most whole wheat breads taste best when you use part white flour.

With that introduction, here we go:

100% Whole Wheat Bread from Louise P. Eddy in the book Cookin' with Home Storage

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/3 cup oil

3 tablespoons honey

2 eggs beaten

1 can evaporated milk

2 tablespoons yeast

1 tablespoon salt

7 cups flour

Mix in order and raise in greased bowl, 35-45 minutes. Punch down, divide into 3 loaves. Raise for 20 minutes. Bake 350 degrees 45 minutes. This dough can be used for dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls.

My version:

In a mixer bowl combine:

1 3/4 cups very warm water

1 can evaporated milk

1/3 cup oil

3 tablespoons honey

1 heaping tablespoon yeast

Let that sit while you grind the wheat into flour, then add and mix well, scraping sides of bowl as needed:

4 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons powdered eggs, sifted

Let it sit for 15 minutes. Then add:

2 cups bread flour

scant tablespoon salt

Mix together, scraping sides of bowl.

Add:

up to 1 cup more flour as needed to make a soft dough.

Knead in the Kitchen-Aid mixer for 10 minutes. Lower the bowl and let it sit for 40 minutes, then raise the bowl and turn on the mixer for a minute to punch it down. Divide into three greased loaf pans, cover with a cloth, and let raise for 20 to 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Turn out of pans onto cooling rack.

Stay tuned while I try this. Later I'll let you know how I like it.

Basic Hot Cakes

Here's the recipe:

1 cup wheat flour (may use part white flour)

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 scant cup milk

2 tablespoons oil

1 large egg, beaten lightly

Sift dry ingredients. Combine milk and oil and egg and add to dry ingredients. Then stir until moist but not too much. Cook on hot griddle over medium heat.

Here's the variation I made this morning:

1 cup wheat flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon powdered egg, pressed through a sieve to "sift" it

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour milk (hey, it was going bad, so this was a good way to finish it up)

2 tablespoons oil

Stir dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl combine milk and oil then add to dry ingredients. Let it sit a couple of minutes while you preheat the griddle, then cook 2 minutes on one side and one minute on the other over medium heat.

And here's the variation I would have made if I didn't have sour milk needing to be used:

1 cup wheat flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon powdered egg, pressed through a sieve to "sift" it

1 heaping spoonful powdered milk (about 2-3 tablespoons)

1 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

Stir dry ingredients together. Combine water and oil and add to dry ingredients. Cook as above.

Comment: I think the sour milk might make it a little lighter and flufflier, kind of like buttermilk or sour cream would do. But, whether it does or not, it's the best way I know of to use up sour milk and feel like I'm not making it go to waste.

Whole Wheat Bread

Last night I wanted to make bread, but was feeling lazy about it, so I just did a simple recipe. It looks and tastes like I made bread from the food storage; in other words, it's not the best bread I've ever made. But it's okay.

5 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon yeast

2 cups water

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon salt

Place the yeast and the flour in the mixer bowl. Add the water, honey, oil and salt, and mix with a dough hook until it all comes together, stopping and scraping the sides of the bowl so it will come all together. Mix in another 1/2 cup or so of white bread flour, then let the mixer knead it for 10 minutes. Shape two loaves and put into greased loaf pans and let it raise for 30 minutes or so. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

I figure that with my experimenting with food storage recipes, I might as well experiment with different bread recipes. I got out the recipe book, but I still did my own thing. In this case, the book called for a Vitamin C tablet, and I used the lemon juice instead. Somewhere I read that a little citric acid in the bread dough acts as a dough enhancer. I'm not sure exactly what it does, but I've put a bit of lemon juice in my bread dough ever since. And these food storage recipe books that I checked out of the library call for the citric acid, so I guess I'm on the right track.

Dessert

My picture, here in the shadows, is not very bright. But I wanted to share this recipe for an apple cake that we had for dinner tonight. It was very good. It comes from Dana Thornock's Lean and Free 2,000 Plus book.

Apple Cake

Mix together:

1/2 to 2/3 cup honey or brown sugar (I used honey)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup margarine (I used butter)

1 egg

Add:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

dash nutmeg

1 teaspoon soda

2 cups chopped apple (about 2 medium apples)

topping to be added before baking:

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional (I used almonds because they were already chopped from last night's dinner. Otherwise I would have used walnuts)

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees in 6" x 8" pan. (I don't own a 6x8 pan. I used a pie tin. I think I overbaked it, because I had the oven at 375. But it was still good. Warm with a glass of milk. Mm-mm!)

Ellen