Whole Wheat Bread From Freshly Milled Flour
Baking bread with fresh milled flour is delicious and easy. With an amazing nutty flavor, you'll love this whole wheat bread.
Servings: 1 loaf
Equipment
- Nutrimill Classic Electric Grain Mill
- 9 x 5 inch loaf pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup water very warm
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 to 3¾ cups freshly milled whole hard wheat flour see notes below
- 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
Instructions
- Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the water, olive oil, honey, egg, salt, 3 cups whole wheat flour and instant yeast. Mix until combined.1 cup water, ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup honey, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 to 3¾ cups freshly milled whole hard wheat flour, 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
- Continue adding in the flour ¼ cup at a time until the dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl. You may not need all the flour. The dough needs time to absorb the flour. Do not be tempted to add all the flour at once. That could make the dough too dry. The dough should be tacky but not wet sticky.
- Knead the dough in the stand mixer for about 6 minutes. At this point, you should be able to do a window pane test. Take a small amount of dough, and slowly stretch it until there is a transparent patch. This means the gluten has formed enough to begin rising. If the dough tears, knead it about two more minutes and test again.
- Oil a large bowl. Remove the dough from the stand mixer and form into a ball. Place the dough ball into the oiled bowl. Roll the dough ball in the bowl until coated with the oil. Place a tea towel on top of the bowl. Allow to rise until almost doubled in size. This takes approximately 35 - 45 minutes.
- To determine if the dough has risen enough, gently press your finger into it. The indention should remain. If it pops back out quickly, the dough needs to rise a bit longer.
- Once it has risen, gently deflate the dough and place onto a cutting board. Using your hands, flatten the dough into a rectangle. Flip the dough over so the smooth side is down. Beginning at one long side, roll the dough up and push in the sides so it fits into the loaf pan. Pinch together the seam to close. Place into the greased loaf pan, seam side down.
- Cover the loaf pan with a tea towel and let rise for about 35 - 45 minutes. When ready, the bread dough will have risen about one inch above the middle of the loaf pan.Start to preheat the oven to 350℉ about 5 - 10 minutes before the dough has finished rising. This will depend on how long it takes for your oven to preheat.
- Place the loaf pan into the preheated oven for 35 - 40 minutes. The bread is done when the internal temperature has reached 190℉. Using a digital thermometer inserted into the middle of the loaf will give you the most accurate reading.
- When done, remove from the oven. Allow the bread to sit in the pan for a few minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack.
- For the best results, let the bread cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Whole wheat flour - Use a hard wheat berry such as hard red wheat or hard white wheat. Mill about 2½ - 3 cups of wheat berries to get enough flour for this bread recipe. Always check your wheat berries for foreign debris such as small rocks.
Humidity make a difference - Depending on the amount of moisture in the air will decide if you need to add more or less flour. If you have added all the flour stated in the recipe and the dough is still sticky, go ahead and knead it. Use a plastic dough scraper to scrape down the bowl. The gluten should develop and begin to clean the sides of the bowl. You may have to use a plastic dough scraper to get all the dough out of the bowl after doing the window pane test.
If you have leftover flour, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Freeze for longer storage.