Because my bread making post will be lengthy and picture heavy, I decided to first give you a list of ingredients and supplies I use. These are for my basic whole wheat bread recipe, which I'll be sharing in the next day or two.
I buy my wheat berries from Azure Standard. I know you can find them various places online, and if you don't want to grind your wheat, azure standard also sells flour. You can also find unbleached organic flour in some stores or whole foods markets. I mix my wheat berries, half hard red wheat and half hard white wheat. I get a fairly good hearty wheat flour, but still is soft and rises well.
The mill I use is the Nutrimill Classic Grain Mill. There are several on the market, from hand cranked mills to fancy electric ones. I kind of found a middle of the road mill and haven't regretted the decision. It grinds wheat berries, corn, beans, and various other grains.
I absolutely LOVE my Bosch Universal mixer, which I bought 8 years ago. Mine has the blender attachment, and you can buy many other attachments to go with it. We use it for everything......... bread, cookies, cakes, smoothies, etc. It mixes evenly, and I like that it has an open top with the mixing tools inside the bowl, rather than having to deal with the motor and tools being over the top of the bowl. It just makes it easier to work with.
SAF Yeast is the best yeast I have ever used. My breads rise beautifully every time. The packages come vacuum sealed, so after I open them, I store them in my refrigerator.
I prefer coconut oil or olive oil for bread. Usually I use coconut oil for my baking, but if it's winter, when my coconut oil is a solid, I use olive oil unless I have the time to melt the other.
I am blessed to have a local raw honey supplier about 10 miles from my house! I don't use any other type of sugar in my bread, but you may prefer an organic unbleached sugar.
I line my bread pans with Parchment Paper. It helps my bread cook more evenly and makes cleaning up simple! The bread doesn't stick to the paper, and when you pull the paper out of the pan, it's clean! Doesn't get any easier than that.
I have used several types of bread pans, but my favorite is just a simple stainless steel pan.
If you're just getting started in bread making or using whole organic flour, don't feel like you have to start big. Start small, like I did. I went to the store and bought an organic wheat flour, and used what I had to try my hand at bread making. Over time, I expanded to where I am now. Don't get overwhelmed, and take your time and practice!
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