What kind of bread are you trying to make? Do you want a big fluffy loaf to slice off into slices or do you want a more rustic type that you just mold and cook on a stone?

If you want the easiest of all then google - Artisian bread in 5 minutes a day - and read about that one. It has very few ingredients and would be an easy first bread, but I think they suggest that you not sub more than one cup of the white flour with whole wheat. Somewhere out here on this forum I have instructions for my loaf bread and I like it with half white and half whole wheat. Wheat isn't harder, you just have to tweek it a bit.

I have never owned a bread machine, and I barely knead, so I don't think that is your problem. I am saying to start with the one above so you can see how easy it is to make bread and then we can work on the other things. Carol

Jennie,

Whole wheat is not necessarily harder, it just takes some different treatment. It's all about gluten. To get good a rise from your loaf, you need to develop the gluten. This is traditionally done by kneading or mixing or other methods. I like to use the stretch and fold method in which you stretch the dough out, fold it over itself, and then let it rest for a period. You have to do this several times to get the proper gluten development, but you don't need any fancy mixers for it. (Actually, kitchen-aid mixers are notoriously bad at kneading)

Whole wheat flour has more gluten than white, so one would think that it would be easier to get a good rise from whole wheat, but whole wheat also has a lot of bran, which gets in the way of gluten development. So, most whole wheat are not usually 100% whole wheat, but a mixture of white and wheat flours. If you do want a 100% whole wheat loaf, you can't expect the lightness and rise that you would get from a white loaf.

There's a great website that i'll link at the bottom with lots of great recipes called The Fresh Loaf. It's an online community of folks that are crazy about bread making of all types. That's where I learned most of what I know. I would also recommend the book Bread by Jeffrey Hamelman and Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. Two great books to begin with...

If you have any other questions, let me know. I love talking bread!

-Matt

Here is a link that might be useful: The Fresh Loaf

What I meant by tweeking the recipe is that the bran in whole wheat absorbs more liquid as it rises, so when you sub whole wheat for white flour you need to decrease the amount of flour. In addition, I believe that whole wheat bread benefits from a little extra sweetener, so I might add a tablespoon of molasses. Sometimes I use honey, but then the texture is more cake-like than bread-like.

There are about a thousand ways to make a good loaf of bread and you will soon learn what works best for you. Once you grasp the technique, you will want to try them all. LOL

The '5 minute a day' I mentioned above is great for a beginner. I am certainly not a beginner, and I love it. I had been making something very close to this recipe for years, but this one has even fewer ingredients, and no kneading except to shape the loaf. It is always nice to have dough in the refrigerator ready to go.

Carol, I was trying to go for a fluffy bread to slice. I'll look for the artisan bread, and maybe try it his week!

Matt, thanks for the link... Looks like I can learn a lot from that site! Thanks for explaining the gluten thing to me too, it's slowly coming together for me. When you say that you stretch it out over itself then let it rise for a period, are you doing this while your kneeding? Am I going to fold, rest, fold, rest, fold, rest? Or do I just kneed it as much as I can by using the folding method then let it rest to rise??? I'm sure that sounds like a stupid question, but I've never been a baking person either so this stuff is like a foreign language.

Thanks
Jennie

My favorite bread recipe is a sourdough recipe from a Betty Crocker New Picture cookbook I bought in 7th grade. I can't count how many times I've made this bread and have never had it not turn out. It's a tad time-consuming in that you have to make the starter first, but the time involved is waiting time not work time. I love sourdough bread, but what I like best about this recipe is it states, twice, in all caps DO NOT KNEAD. LOL I hate kneading bread!

If you'd like the recipe I can get it out this evening when I get home and type it up for you. In fact, I could get ambitious and scan the pages from the book for you so you'd also get the pictures that go with it.

One thing about this recipe though, you only use one or two tablespoons of the starter so one batch of starter makes around 12 loaves. Each iteration of the recipe makes two loaves.

Debra

I use the dough hooks on my electric mixer for this recipe. I use all 5 cups of flour. I use a food scale to measure all my flour and yeast. It is faster than sifting and putting in a cup. It also ensures that 5 cups of flour is the same every time.

5 cups bread flour is 22.5 ounces
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour is 18.7 ounces.

Here is a link that might be useful: Simple Whole Wheat Bread recipe

Jennie,

It's not stupid at all. Here's the way I usually make a rustic style white artisan loaf. You could use it for any style really though.

1.) Mix together flour and water until it forms a shaggy mass. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes. This is called the autolyse method. Basically, you're just giving the flour time to hydrate. It gives you a head start on developing the gluten.

2.) Add in salt, yeast, and pre-ferment. I use instant yeast so I can just dump it in, but if you use active dry yeast, let it soak in a portion of the water from above before mixing it in.

3.) Dump the contents on the counter and begin kneading for 5-7 minutes. Don't worry if it doesn't seem fully developed.

4.) Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

5.) Remove dough from bowl and flatten into a rectangle. Grab both ends and stretch it apart, being careful not to tear it. Fold one end 1/3 of the way over and the other end 1/3 of the way over like folding a letter. Put back in the bowl and cover.

6.) Repeat this rest and stretch and fold until you've reached 2 hours.

7.) Shape dough into desired shape and proof for 1 1/2 hours. You know it's fully proofed when you make a small indentation into the dough and it bounces back.

8.) Pop it into the oven and bake until the center reaches 200 degrees.

That's about it. Like one of the previous posts said, once you get the technique down, you can do any bread this way. Let me know if you have any problems.

-Matt

I used to make wonderful whole wheat bread using the Adelle Davis recipe in Let's Cook it Right. Don't know if this is online, as I'm not sure where my book is. I made bread every week when my kids were young. The youngest is now 30. Fresh flour makes the best bread.

Sandy

Thanks for the help everyone!

Matt, so that's how you do it, huh? I think I can do that. That site you linked help me figure out what I was doing wrong. I now know that pastry flour is not the same thing as bread flour, and shaping doesn't mean cutting your dough with a knife to the size of your loaf pan! Life is a big learning curve though, right?

Definitely! Be careful, the bread baking world can quickly suck you in. Soon you'll be drawing up plans for your own wood fired brick oven in the backyard and daydreaming about one day opening up your own artisan bakery.

The difference in flours is mostly a matter of different protein levels. Less protein means less gluten and a more delicate final product. More protein means more gluten and a sturdier final product. On the low end you have cake flour and pastry flour, in the middle you have all purpose flour, and on the high end you have bread flour and high gluten flour. For breads, bread flour is generally best, but you can also use all purpose. King Arthur brand flours are pretty reliable and that's what I usually use.

-Matt

"Be careful, the bread baking world can quickly suck you in. Soon you'll be drawing up plans for your own wood fired brick oven in the backyard and daydreaming about one day opening up your own artisan bakery. "

Amen!!

I discovered The Fresh Loaf a few years back. It completely sucked me in and has yet to let me go. For the record, I do happen to have my plans drawn up for my wood-fired brick oven. As soon as the last part of the house is done, we'll start building it. :-D

Diane

Here's the simplest bread, and perhaps the best bread, I've ever tried. That is, if one likes a chewy bread with a hard crisp crust. One can find no knead bread on Youtube, etc. But I've "perfected it" to the utmost simplicity. Here's how I do it. I've been making a loaf, about every other day, since November. This is a major part of what I carry to work for break time and lunch. I can whip this bread up in moments, though, it then sits for about 18 hours before I do anything else with it.

More often than not, I substitute a tablespoon of sourdough starter and 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda, for the yeast. It always comes out great.

1) To a nonmetal bowl add 1 1/2 cups of water: temperature is unimportant.

2) To this, add 1/4 teaspoon of dry active yeast and 1 teaspoon of salt.

3) Now, with a rubber spatula, mix in approximately 3 cups of flour. I often use 1/2 cup of corn meal or even one cup of rye, in place of some of the white flour..

4) Mix until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. It will be too sticky to knead, even if you wanted to. But it should be "dough," not "batter."

5) Put a lid on this and let sit for 12 to 24 hours. I was originally told 18 hours. But 12 to 24 seems to be exact enough.

After this waiting period:

1) Flour your counter and scrape this dough onto the counter.

2) Flour your hands and fold this blob of dough by thirds.

3) Lightly flour the bowl, from which the dough was taken.

4) Quickly (or it will really stick to your hands) plop it back into the bowl.

5) Cover and let sit for 1 1/2 hours.

At end of 1 1/2 hour wait:

1) Place a covered glass casserole dish in the oven, set at 500 F., for 15 minutes.

2) Carefully remove the dish and plop your dough into it. Replace the cover and put the whole thing in the oven.

3) Wait 40-45 minutes

4) Remove the lid from the casserole dish, decrease the temperature in the oven, to 400 F.

5) Wait 15 minutes more and remove from the oven. You can let it cool in the dish, though I usually get it out before it's cold.

This bread is HEAVENLY when sliced hot and eaten with butter. But it does make good toast and sandwiches.
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Give it a try and enjoy!

George