You're My Obsession

Okay, well, "obsession" might be a little strong in terms of word choice, here.  But, I have been just a little obsessed in the last few months with realizing a goal of mine to make all of our bread whole and homemade.  Bread from the store has more nasty chemicals than I think it should, and it is actually cheaper to make bread at home.  And who doesn't love an amazing, fresh, warm loaf of homemade bread?  I have some awesome recipes for white breads and rolls that my family loves.

However, I have had a hard time figuring out how to work the same magic with whole grain breads.  Whole grains are much coarser, and those tiny, sharp little edges of the grain tend to interfere with the job of the yeast in lining itself up in order to create that lovely, soft, fluffy homemade bread that we love so much.  Whenever I have tried to make it, I end up with a relatively flat, dense loaf.  Which is frustrating, of course, because we have been a whole grain family for a few years now and tend to eat white breads only as a rare treat.

But I am pleased to report that I am finally having some success!  BEHOLD!  The Healthy Bread-inator!!!!

Ha ha!  Just kidding.  I actually bought a book.  And I've been experimenting and adjusting their method using several different recipes for the past two months.  I think I can finally report a WIN in this area of personal achievement!

Here is the evidence:

Here is the book that I have been using to learn this new skill:  It is called  Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by  Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., & Zoe Francois.  They have a great method, but I have found I still need to make a few adjustments in ingredients and amounts and time frames and temperatures to get exactly what I want.  It's been fun to work at figuring it out, and my kids still seem to like the flavor of the breads even when they don't turn out perfectly.

Here are a few of the creations I have made recently.  The upper left picture is a honey whole wheat sandwich loaf.  Yum!  The upper right is a whole grain rosemary flaxseed baguette, that absolutely smelled DIVINE in my kitchen and tasted just as good.  On the bottom are whole grain garlic knots with parsley, olive oil, and parmesan cheese that we enjoyed as dinner rolls one Sunday.  I've also tried a broccoli and cheddar clover roll recipe that was pretty tasty.  Oh, the joy of homemade bread!

So, come on over and I'll make something lovely for you.  Yummy!