wheat questions....

[smfeet2001]

I am now getting started in making bread. Right now I am going to have buy flour from co-op because I do not have a mill. I am planning on buying one in December with my Christmas money.

I understand the need for Yeast and Vital Gluten. However I do not understand the need for Dough enhancer?

Here are my questions:

1) What is the difference between soft and hard?

2) What is the difference between Spring and Winter Wheat?


3) What is the best berries/flour for regular bread for sandwiches and buns or hoagie buns?

4) What is the best flour/berries for pie crust, muffins, cookies and baked goods?

5) Is dough enchancer really necessary? If the recipe calls for it and I do not want to use what do I use in place of that or do I just leave it out altogether?

6) Are there any good regular wheat bread recipes? I like to try several. Also what about a bun recipe?

7) I forgot about this one: What is the difference between red and white berries?

8) Please tell me if I need to know anything else I didn't cover here. I want to have success in this so I can buy a mill in December.

9) Sugar subsititute: Do you use regular sugar in the bread baking? What about Sucanet? HOw do you use Sucanet?

Thanks guys!!
Holly

[Paula]

Holly, I have some of the same questions! I hope someone helps you (and me) out with this.

[Mom2boys]

I'm sorry that I missed this thread. Somehow it never popped up for me.

1) Soft white is pastry flour and does not have enough gluten to make it rise for bread. You can add small amounts of it to your hard white to make softer bread. Hard white has gluten and is great for bread

2)There's not much difference at all. I think winter is red which is a nuttier flavor and spring is white which is milder. Both have great nutritional benefits.

3)I like hard white with a little soft white mixed in.

4)I think it is. I don't use gluten or lecithin. Only dough enhancer. It really develops your dough and makes it nice and fluffy. There's nothing worse than crumbly bread.

4)soft white

6)I have several bread recipes and will post some here tonight if someone will remind me. The one posted here on the board is my favorite. I use that one for rolls, pizza dough, bread, monkey bread, etc.

7)Red is strong and nutty and white is a milder whole wheat.

8) do not add gluten to your bread. It can cause behavior problems in children and it can also cause stomach problems. You really don't need it. That's why I use dough enhancer.

9)Most of my bread recipes call for honey. I use only honey in my breads.


Any more questions, just send them along!

[Paula]

Thank you, Tina! Very helpful.

I was wondering about something else. If my recipe calls for sugar, could I just replace it with equal parts honey?

Thanks!

[Mom2boys]

Honey is a hard one to bake with . There is a way though. It's kind of entailed, so I will look it up and post it later. I just use the sucanats in place of white sugar.

[Paula]

Okie-dokey.

[shauna]

Holly,

I cannot get Dough Enhancher without going through a coop or a mail order catalog, and I need something a little more convenient.. so I've used a rounded 1/8 teaspoon of vitamin C powder that I can get at my health food store. That's what I use for a 2-loaf recipe.

I also, do not have a mill yet. My dh was all set to buy one for my birthday and then he lost his job... (we're currently in a season of unemployment), so that had to obviously go on indefinite hold. I get my flour from my health food store, and they mill it right there. I know it's not "fresh milled", but it's the best I can do at this time. It gives me the opportunity to learn how to bake bread, and to work a regular baking schedule into my lifestyle... before I invest the big bucks into a grain mill. I also do not have a Bosch, so I do it by hand, or occasionally use my Kitchen Aid (I'm not as happy with the performance of my Kitchen Aid though.).

I use hard red wheat exclusively for all my yeast breads, and soft white wheat for all my "quick breads" (muffins, pancakes, etc.) My recipes also use honey, and I use local raw honey that is produced here in my area.

Generally, every week I make sandwich bread (regular loaves) and Italian loaves. Every other week I also make hamburger buns and muffins. I prefer to make my pancakes with a blend of Oat Flour, Soft White Wheat flour, and Unbleached White Flour - as that has turned out the best for me.

I do not add any gluten to any of my breads.

Shauna

[Paula]

Recipes, Shauna, I need recipes! Namely, sandwich bread and buns. For bread, do you just use a regular 9x5x3 bread pan?

That's interesting about the Vitamin C. I'm so new at all this. I've made my handy-dandy bread recipe for a few years now, but it's just a pretty basic recipe that I mainly use for garlic bread sticks when we eat Italian.

Thanks!

[marcia]

paula said:

Thank you, Tina! Very helpful.

I was wondering about something else. If my recipe calls for sugar, could I just replace it with equal parts honey?

Thanks!

Here is what I found when searching on google:

Honey is sweeter than sugar because it contains fructose. Honey has a distinctive flavor. When using honey in place of sugar, use 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon honey in place of 1 cup sugar and reduce the other liquid ingredients by 2 tablespoons. Even when liquid is reduced, a product that contains honey will be moist because the fructose absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. Too much honey may cause the product to become too brown.

and on another site:
Honey is three times as sweet as sugar, so the conversion factor is 3:1.
Reduce liquid in recipe by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used in baked goods.
Add about 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used in baked goods.
Reduce oven temperature by 25 degrees to prevent burning.
A 12-ounce honey bear is equal to 1 cup of honey.

HTH!
Marcia

[marcia]

paula said:

Recipes, Shauna, I need recipes! Namely, sandwich bread and buns. For bread, do you just use a regular 9x5x3 bread pan?

That's interesting about the Vitamin C. I'm so new at all this. I've made my handy-dandy bread recipe for a few years now, but it's just a pretty basic recipe that I mainly use for garlic bread sticks when we eat Italian.

Thanks!

Here's the recipe Tina uses and it's awesome.. so fluffy and soft... and so yummy! Good for bread, pizza dough, buns.. you name it!

Bread
1) to 3 T yeast add 4 cups warm water and 4 cups hard white flour and 4 T dough enhancer. Mix well and allow sit about twenty minutes. It will get bubbly and rise. (This is called a sponge)

2) To the sponge mixture, add 1/2 cup oil, 2/3 cup honey , 1T salt. Mix well and then add 4 more cups hard white and 3 cups soft white that have been combined together. Add a cup at a time. Knead about 8 minutes. Cover and let rise until double. Punch down and put it greased bread pans or make into rolls. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Makes 3 loaves in the size pan Tina uses.

As for the size of pans.. Tina uses the Kaiser La Forme Large Loaf Pan 12x4.5 Non-stick (2 lb. Loaf) ... and I have for years used 5 small loaf pans, 8x4.5 and a pan the size you mentioned. My experience is that the narrower pans cause the dough to rise up higher.

[shauna]

Paula - I use the recipes from the Urban Homeaker. I have tried several, and find that I come back to these all the time. I use Marilyn's Famous Whole Wheat Bread, and the French Bread recipe that she has on her website. I have used Karey Swan's recipe for Hamburger Buns, but I hesitate to give that out because my buns haven't come out "great" yet. I don't know if it's the baker or the recipe.

I will try Tina's recipe for buns and see how that goes.

If you go to www.urbanhomeaker.com you can find TONS of recipes there that are free to print out. If you have trouble finding it, I'll look for and post the direct link.

Shauna