 |
| The beauty of this recipe is that it requires just one rising so as far as yeast breads go it’s fairly speedy. |
There is nothing like the smell of homemade bread baking.
Although I grew up in a home full of fresh baking, homemade bread was always a treat, especially brown bread. And like many Maritime families, we often ate it along with our baked beans on Saturday nights during winter.
It wasn’t until I was at university that I learned to bake bread on my own. Baking with yeast had always been intimidating but when my friend Lisa sent me this cracked wheat brown bread recipe I decided it was time to learn so called mom for some tips.
This bread is best eaten within two days.
Lisa’s Cracked wheat brown bread
After that bread baking became a weekly ritual. It was easy to find time for this simple recipe and the process of mixing and kneading was a great stress relief. It was a meditation of sorts, a way to quiet the mind.
The beauty of this recipe is that it requires just one rising so as far as yeast breads go it’s fairly speedy. Look for cracked wheat in the natural foods section at the grocery store or at Bulk Barn.
Lisa’s Cracked wheat brown bread
Makes 2 good-sized loaves
-
2 cups warm water
-
1 ½ tsp. sugar
-
1 Tbsp. dry yeast
-
½ cup molasses
-
4 Tbsp. (1/4 cup) butter, softened
-
1 cup cracked wheat
-
1 cup natural bran
-
4-6 cups flour
-
Grease two large bread pans or line them with parchment paper.
-
In a large bowl stir the sugar into the water and sprinkle over the yeast. Leave it for 5-10 minutes, until it starts to bubble.
-
Stir in the butter and the molasses and combine well.
-
Stir in the cracked wheat then the natural bran.
-
Add the flour a cup at a time until you have added 4 cups.
-
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead in additional flour, a little at a time, until dough is barely sticky. (I usually use 5 cups in total.)
-
Divide dough in half, shape each half into a stubby log and place in prepared pans.
-
Let rise until double (1-11/2 hours).
-
Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.
-
Cool in pans 10 minutes then remove from pans and place on cooling racks.
Slice before freezing.
Green tip:
-
I use stone ground whole white flour for this recipe (contains 85% of the grain).
-
This bread makes excellent bead crumbs. If you have leftovers after two days whirr it in the food processor and freeze for use in recipes that call for bread crumbs.
