The Price of Bread
From the CBC
Soaring wheat prices have Canadian bakeries struggling, farmers rejoicing and customers digging deeper at the till to pay for their bread and pasta purchases.
There are a lot of reasons for the shortage; an extended drought in Australia compounded by poor regulation of wheat growers in North America are major causes of the shortage. You can expect the price of bread and anything else containing wheat to rise considerably over the next year. To help out your budget here is a great recipe I worked up for a very healthy whole wheat bread that toasts really well. If you have a KitchenAid (or equivalent) countertop mixer with a dough hook it will make your life a lot easier.
Doug’s
Makes Two 1lb Loaves
3 cups water - body temperature
2 Tbsp sugar (honey or molasses are great substitutes)
3 Tsp dry active yeast
2 Tablespoons Flax oil (or soft butter, shortening, lard)
Combine above let stand 10 minutes
7 1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 C Ground Flax Meal
2 Tablespoons Dry Skim Milk Powder
3 Tsp Sea Salt
3/4 to 1 Cup raw sunflower seeds
Mix above well
Once the yeast mixture has a good head on it start adding the dry ingredients thoroughly mixing each addition before adding more (part of the whole exercise in making bread is building gluten strands - the more you mix the better you get). If you are using a mixer you can go the whole way if you are doing it by hand then at some point you will have to dump the dough out onto a floured surface and start kneading it adding the remaining flour mixture as you go.
Once all the flour mix is included in the dough (or until it no longer sticks to the side of your bowl - the moisture content of the flour you started with will determine how much you actually have to use) knead for 5 to 10 minutes with the machine or a minimum 100 times by hand you should end up with a ball of dough that does not stick to your table/counter top and has a smooth but not dry surface (if you can’t squish two pieces together so they completely merge it is too dry).
Once you have mixed the dough thoroughly place in an oiled bowl, turn over so both sides are oiled and then cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place to rise. When dough has doubled in volume punch down then let rise again. After the second rise dump dough onto a lightly floured counter top and cut into two equal pieces.
At this point you need to decide on the shape of your final loaf. If you want a standard bread loaf then knead each piece 6 times - this is building some spring into the loaf - and after the sixth knead turn it over and pinch the seams together and put in a loaf pan and set aside to rise again - repeat with other half. If you want to make dinner rolls - see here and if you want to make large round loaves use the same technique.
When your dough has rested place in a 350F oven and bake until done. If doing it as loaves this will be approximately 45 minutes. Bread is done when bottom is browned and when tapped on producers a hollow sound.
Enjoy - this bread is very tasty. The Flax gives it a bit of nutty taste and lots of goodies for your heart.
[tags]price of wheat, cost of living, baking bread, recipes, baking[/tags]
