The Best Bread

I make the best bread. (Feel free to disagree, just save us both the time by not telling me if you do.) This is the perfect bread for sandwiches, nutrition, taste, and eating with soup, and for facendo la scarpetta. :) Such a pleasure to eat plain, with butter, soup, gnats from the hot weather, anything.

wheat loaf

1.5 water

1 tbsp oil

3 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp salt

2 c whole wheat flour

1.5 c total your combination of wheat bran, wheat germ, rolled oats, ground flaxseed, cornmeal
(I used 1 c oats, 1/2 c bran, germ, flaxseed)

1/2 c vital wheat gluten

Notes:
- Proof the yeast in 1/2 very warm water with a pinch of white sugar. Be careful when mixing the wet ingredients that you only add 1 c water (not 1.5) because the half cup used to proof the yeast counts.
- Add flour when kneading if dough is too wet, but be careful not to add too much. I found that if I kneaded very quickly and really kept the dough moving it wouldn't stick.

• After mixing, knead 20 minutes, slather with olive oil, and leave at 80-90 degrees F to rise (if it doesn't quite double in size it's ok); shape, slather with oil again, let rise, and bake a bit below 340 until done.

white(r) loaf

(I mean this to be super white artisan-type Italian bread, but added too much wheat germ and wheat bran and it ended up almost whole wheat)

1 c water + 3 tbsp

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp white sugar

1.5 tsp salt

2.25 tsp yeast

3 c total flour, oats, wheat germ, wheat bran, wheat gluten, flaxseed, etc.  
(I used I think 1.75 c all-purpose flour, 1/2 c wheat germ, 1/2 c wheat bran, 1/4 c wheat gluten.)

For more information on the bread-baking process, visit

http://wallacecookingcircle.blogspot.com/2010/05/bread-baking-extravaganza.html