Homemade Wheat Bread

            Making bread is a relatively new skill that I have learned with a recipe from my sister-in-law. I’ve always wanted to make bread but the process seemed too challenging to even attempt it. The reason I started making bread is because we have several pounds, I’m talking hundreds of pounds, of wheat in our food storage and if something happened and I had to actually use the wheat I would not know where to begin or what to do with it. Yes, I have made my share of “bricks” that we ate anyway, but making bread gets easier with practice.

            The recipe I use calls for wheat flour, water, yeast, honey, salt, and vegetable oil. I buy red hard wheat in bulk from the L.D.S. storehouse and I tried to find out where the wheat was grown to no avail, then I looked at familiar Utah store’s websites and tried to discover where they purchased their wheat from but it was a hopeless task. I searched suppliers, growers, farmers, government sites and in a desperate attempt I searched academic articles. I think companies must use imported (not from America) wheat because the search was so difficult. I found numerous articles on wheat product and prices as I searched. I could buy wheat from almost every site I visited.

Wheat is a grain that is grown in the United States, most of that is grown in the mid-west from North Dakota to Texas, about fifty percent of the U.S.’s wheat crop is exported to other countries. Hard red winter wheat, which is what I buy, is planted in the fall and harvested in the summer. 

I have an electric Magic Mills wheat grinder. I pour whole grain wheat into the grinder four cups at a time and process about twelve cups of wheat. 

I put six cups of whole wheat flour, water, honey, salt, and vegetable oil into the mixer and mix it on low until it is a paste, I sprinkle yeast on top of the paste and add five more cups of the whole wheat flour. I then mix the dough on high for six minutes and roll it onto the counter. I don’t have to knead the dough, I just fold it into itself a few times and shape it into loaves. I let it rise about an hour and then bake it in the oven for thirty minutes. There is nothing better than the smell of fresh homemade bread.

 

 Works Cited

National Association of Wheat Growers. WheatWorld.org. Access 01/31/2015. Web.

U.S. Wheat Associates. The World’s Most Reliable Choice. USWheat.org. Access 01/31/2015

            Web.