New Year= New Goals!

Happy 2013! I hope everyone had a great holiday season filled with family, friends and of course FOOD! What is the holiday season without all that delicious food? Now that the new year has arrived so have new goals and resolutions. My main goals for this year is to eat even less processed foods and to cut out even more sugar and white flour. Another thing I really want to get into is juicing. Of course I would need to purchase a juicer first but that is only a minor detail! Once I start my journey I will share my juicing thoughts and recipes along the way.

I know that many people have resolutions that involve food and exercise. So my first recipe that I'm going to share for the new year is homemade bread. I have been making bread for about a year now and I really enjoy it. The benefits of homemade bread without any preservatives and high fructose corn syrup outweighs the time and precision needed to achieve a perfect loaf. Take a Sunday afternoon and set aside some time. You can make several loaves which you can freeze and defrost as needed in the following weeks. Give it a try! I know it can be intimidating working with yeast but once you've got it down you will be able whip a few loaves in no time!

A few notes about ingredients:

The following recipe uses white whole wheat flour. This flour has all the benefits of 100% whole wheat flour with a more mild and light flavor. Once you master this recipe we can move on to baking 100% whole wheat bread. *You cannot substitute whole wheat flour for white flour. Whole wheat bread is a different recipe!*
I also use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast. When using instant yeast you only need to allow the dough to rise once instead of twice. This will save you an hour of rising time! If you are going to use active dry yeast you would need to follow a different recipe.
Two ingredients that you can leave out are the whole ground flax seed meal and vital wheat gluten. You can purchase these both at your regular grocery store. Market Basket carries them both. Look for them with the other Bob's Red Mill products. The flax seed meal adds fiber and omega 3. The vital wheat gluten is helpful for baking breads made with course, whole grain flours and cereal. It basically helps with the rise and elasticity of the dough. It is also 75% to 80% protein! Bonus!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of white whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur Flour)
• 3 tablespoons of whole ground flax seed meal
• 2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
• 2 teaspoons of instant yeast
• 1/2 cup milk (skin, 1%, 2% or whole)
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup water
• 4 tablespoons of melted butter

Directions:

1. Add all dry ingredients to your stand mixer and give it a quick mix.
2. Melt the butter and warm all liquid ingredients to about 110 degrees. Usually this is about a minute and a half in my microwave.
3. Add liquid to dry mixture. 
4. Turn the mixer on to the number 2 setting. 
5. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
6. The dough will start to form into a ball. Be patient! 
7. Once the dough ball has formed it should start to "clean" the sides of the bowl. If the dough is sticking you may need to add more flour. Only a a little at a time. If the dough is to dry add a little warm water.
8. Once the ball is formed and is the right texture set a timer for 7 minutes. 
9. Allow the dough to mix for the full 7 minutes!
10. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled surface and shape it into an 8 inch log.
11. Place the log into a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. Cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap.
12. Allow the bread to rise for about an hour until it's crowned about 1" above the edge of the pan.
13. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a rack before slicing. You can also rub a little butter on the crust when it's still hot. This will make the crust a little softer.
14. Store in a plastic bag at room temperature.

The bread should be consumed within a week. This bread is great for sandwiches and toast. I hope that you will be willing to give homemade bread a shot! You won't regret it! As always let me know how you do! Happy baking:)