History of Bread
Bread or the humble “pao ruti” as we call it has a very long and illustrious history. It is a staple food that we have been making from as far back as the Middle Ages. In all cultures bread has a special significance in the sense that it is representative of a basic necessity of life. It is symbolic of having food on the table. Our very own chapati or roti is the easiest wholewheat bread without any leavening agent.
Beginning of the friendship
The typical loaf of bread has always fascinated me.But the thought of creating something with a living organism was intimidating for me! Initiating the first steps of friendship with yeast is difficult but once they warm up to you, believe me you will become BFF’s! Luckily my friendship with the moody yeast developed and I baked my first loaf of milk bread.
For a short while we grew a bit apart due to the varied pressures of being an adult, earning your own living and trying to stay sane. Suddenly one day I got a call from my elder sister who started grilling me about this successful milk loaf recipe I had posted last year. Now at this point I must warn you, my sister is not exactly the bread baking type of woman being a very busy doctor.
So you can imagine my surprise when I learnt that she is now very interested in bread making. I helped her out with my tips and tricks gained from my yeasty experiences. Lo and behold she has now made at least 6 loaves in a span of 10 days. So I told her that the bread bug has bitten you now didi.
The Bread journey
Now all these bready discussions veered the bread bug towards to me and again I was bitten by it! As a result this started for me a whole new series of bread baking recipes as I’m taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa
I was expecting that all this time apart from my old friend yeast would affect the quality of our friendship. But to my surprise our friendship seems to have grown stronger now. So now I decided to start my foray into trying to develop healthier bread with lesser amount of refined products.
Healthier options?
This time inspired by my sister to start baking bread again I developed this whole wheat bread recipe. It has 3:1 ratio of wholewheat/: all purpose flour and 50% hydration. Though I have used instant yeast which does not need to be proofed before adding into flour, I have found that proofing it like active dry yeast works better somehow.
Ingredients:
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup maida/ apf
2 tsp flaxmeal
2 tsp Instant Yeast/Active Dry yeast
50ml lukewarmwater+100 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp jaggery granules
Salt 1 tsp
1 tsp brown sugar
Butter /sunflower oil 50 ml
Buttermilk 25 ml
Mixed seeds for topping (optional)
1 cup= 100 gms
Method:
- Firstly,Take 50 ml water in a small bowl. For proofing the yeast you need warm water and the perfect temperature is such that it is just hot enough for you to dip in a finger.
Too cold= your yeast wont proof.
Too hot= your yeast will die.
- Next add in the yeast in the warm water together with 1 tsp brown sugar, mix and leave it for a few minutes and the mixture will become light and frothy when its ready to be used. If it does not, throw it and try again.
- While the yeast is proofing measure out all the ingredients and keep them ready.
- In a big bowl mix the flours, flaxmeal powder, salt, jaggery .
- Once the yeast is proofed mix it into the flour and mix with clean hands. Add in the remaining water bit by bit and knead the dough.
- Add the buttermilk and continue to knead.
The dough
- The dough will be extremely sticky but that is the way yeast dough works. Keep working on it and if the stickiness gets out of hand add in small quantities of oil/ butter and continue kneading.
- The dough has to be kneaded for a minimum of 15 minutes for the right amount of gluten to develop. In this time make sure to incorporate the butter or oil into your dough which will help to make your dough more manageable.
- At the end of 15 minutes you will have smooth whole wheat bread dough. Roll it into a dough ball and put it into a greased bowl, cover it with cling film and let it rise for a minimum of 1 hour in a warm place.
- By the end of 1 hour the dough will rise up to double itself.
- Remove the cling film, mildly punch out the air from the dough and reshape it into a loaf shape. If you want to sprinkle mixed seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax etc on the top surface and press gently.
- Put it into a pre-greased bread tin, tucking in the edges, cover it and let it rise again for 30 to 45 minutes.(For this bread I did not use a tin and made a free form one)
- After the second rise, pre-heat your oven to 180 degree celcius. Brush the top surface of the bread gently with melted butter. Bake in the oven for a total of 35 to 40 minutes.
- After 15 to 20 minutes, stop the oven and brush the top surface with a milk and butter mixture and continue baking.
- You will understand your whole wheat bread is done when you get a hollow sound on tapping the bottom of the bread.
- If your whole wheat bread is a bit hard on taking out from the oven please follow the steps explained here for a super soft loaf
P.S. The butter brushing step is important to get a golden brown crust on your bread. It is made due to a chemical reaction called Maillard’s reaction in which the amino acids and reducing sugars react to produce the distinctive browned crust and flavour. So don’t miss out on it!
The best way to store bread if you don’t have a bread tin is to wrap it tightly in cling film and keep in the refrigerator for upto 5 days
Ginia, that break looks absolutely delicious! I could make a meal out of this whole loaf! Love it more since you’ve used all healthy ingredients!
Thank you so much Mayuri. Hope you will try the recipe and tell me how it turned out.
Thanks a ton for surprising me with yummy baked goodies always. 🙂 The bread mentioned here tasted awesome.
Thank you. <3<3<3
ok, yes- bread is the body of life while wine is the blood- and in the last supper it is represented as such right? As I read the friendship portion- my mind kept going to my BAGEL LOVING (and that puts it mildly) dog named Scout. As we head out on runs there is a bagel shop we pass who ends up throwing out BAGS of bagels and Scout makes me go to the dumpster and (as long as they are reachable go through the bag to find some plain bagels for him…..he will pull me towards the back of the bagel place! (Unless I have some mini bagels in my pack around my waist. So yes, my friendship has grown through bread in this way with my BFFF- my dog! (Best furry friend furever)…..
Wow!such a fun little story. I too love dogs a lot and hearing your story is making me more determined to get a puppy of my own very soon.
That looks amazing! I have been bitten by the bread bug before — actually it was while I was still in practice as a physician myself! I will have to check out this recipe!
Thank you. Do try out the recipe and tell me whether it worked for you.
Your loaf looks delicious and beautiful. I might give it a try, though sounds complicated to me now. I’ve been baking my own bread for a few years and been doing sourdough the last couple.
Lily
Thanks a lot. Can you help me out by giving the courage to start baking sourdough breads?
Love those seeds on the top of this loaf! And I’ve never a bread I didn’t love. 😉 It’s fun that you and your sister can now share a fun task.
Thank you. I too love bread a lot!
That looks wonderful! Yum!
To be honest, that looks like more work than I am prepared to do for a loaf of bread! But I am so impressed with you for doing it.
It does takes some work but as I enjoy it seems like a breeze for me.
This loaf looks amazing. I love the walkthrough and I bet it tastes as good as it looks.
Oh my does that look amazingly delicious! I’ve made bread a few times and there is nothing better than eating a hot piece of bread lathered with butter.
Thank you. Fresh bread out of oven really tastes heavenly!
I have seen documentaries talking about the art of creating a perfect bread. So I know making a good bread is a big task. Though I’m in no way a baker, these breads looks great.
Thanks a lot for your kind words.
I have been planning to bake my own bread for ages now! Yours looks so yummy!!
This is beautiful bread, loved it. I’m bitten by the bread bug but always am afraid to bake it at home. Your recipe calls to try. Thanks for sharing stepwise recipe.
They say food must be appealing to the eyes. For it needs to appease all senses right? So, that’s a double tick here. I will be trying this for sure to please the other senses too. I was just checking a few of your other posts too. Healthy and great variety.
Since I have been making sourdough breads for the last six months, your post got me excited. I have loved your step by step easy explanation that will enable anyone to bake a bread easily with yeast.
The bread looks absolutely yummy and I loved how you weaved around relationships in the introduction.
The bread looks super yummy and I can just have it all by myself. Thanks for sharing the recipe and for introducing such a nice concept to me.
Truly loved yoru tip on yeast 🙂
Oh, the bread looks so inviting! I love the smell of freshly baked bread, it’s my elixir. Have tried the easier garlic bread but couldn’t muster enough courage to bake this entire bread. Maybe, someday!
That loaf looks really good. Bread baking is an art and you seem to have mastered it. Now I know where to go if I am looking for bread recipes.
That looks such a yummilicious bread & I can just have it all by myself. I loved how you described the whole process bit by bit. It seems easy but it must be a lot of work. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Thanks for sharing the details, hopefully will try experimenting some day…
Ok this bread looks so pretty.I am enjoying following your recipes for my bread making journey
This is pretty insane ya. The fact that you made your own bread is just so good. I must say the finished product looks mad!
I like bread with seeds in it
This is a nice recipe and so much in detail. I do bake alot but not breads. Will try this one!
Now this is such a tempting recipe. Loved going through the recipe. I am definitely trying this out!
A very bready post! I love bread and was fascinated with your post. The recipe is great – worth trying it out
Thank you 😊. Do try the recipe. You can DM me if you have any doubts…