Rollin’ in the Dough! | Real Women Store Grub

If a picture is worth a thousand words, perhaps a taste is worth a million? But hard to provide via blog…so we’re doing the next-best thing! Karalene baked the recipe we posted Monday without the “extras” and shares her opinion of the end product with photos below.

From Karalene…

I used Mellyn’s recipe for 2 loaves, but left out the potato flakes, dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten — making it a basic bread recipe. I also do not own a wheat grinder yet (Christmas?!), so I used regular factory-ground flour, which I understand isn’t as nutritional. I wanted heartier bread, but was afraid if I used wheat flour that hadn’t been home ground, the bread would suffer and be too dense. I mixed 2/3 wheat flour to 1/3 white flour. So to start, here is the version of her recipe I followed:

4 cups wheat (red and white mix) = about 6 ½ – 7 cups flour
1/3 cup oil
½ cup honey
2 1/3 cups REALLY warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast
2 ½ teaspoons salt

I used a KitchenAid with dough hook to mix everything, and I followed your instructions — letting the loaves rise once. I’m all about making this process faster so I have more time for other things I need to get done. I like that you go straight from the mixer to the loaf pan and still have a good end product.

After letting the loaves rise for 40 minutes they weren’t all the way to the top. I figured they would rise a little more as they cooked (and they did), but not as big as I am used to getting, and definitely not as nicely rounded as the loaves in the picture you included with your Montana Wheat Bread.

The bread had a nice fluffy texture, and was very soft. The next day I tried a slice, and it was still very soft! My husband and a friend had some and enjoyed the flavor and softness, too. I was also surprised to find you could slice it pretty thin and not have it fall apart. Not all homemade breads will allow you to do that.

So there you have it. The picture below shows the texture of the bread, as well as the size. Thanks for sharing your recipe. My mother is a proficient bread maker, and I loved having fresh bread while growing up! I am excited to show her this recipe and see what she thinks. It’s different from the one she used, but very good and hearty. Bon Appétit!