After being gluten-free for four months now and feeling much better, I am trying to slowly start adding gluten back into my diet. And what better way to start than with baking some 100% whole wheat bread??
My mother taught me the fine art of bread baking when I was 10 years old, and I say art because it IS an art form! If you've never baked bread before or have only tried a handful of times, it takes a lot of practice to get the "feel" for baking a perfect loaf of bread. And I am a fan of homemade bread! Not only is it yummier and super cheap, but without added preservatives and high fructose corn syrup, it is also much healthier than store-bought bread. It is especially healthy if you use 100% whole wheat. Remember, I am a big advocate of wheat as a health food. Luckily it is also really tasty. (Just imagine how hard it was for me to go without for months!)
So, I thought I'd share my recipe in case anyone out there is looking for a yummy whole wheat bread recipe......
4 c. warm water
2 Tbsp yeast
2/3 c. sugar (or you can use 2/3 c. honey--very yummy!)
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp salt
8-10 c. whole wheat flour (this will all depend on altitude and humidity, so use as much as you need to make a firm but soft dough)
1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and let sit 5-10 minutes or until yeast foams.
2. Mix in salt and slowly add wheat flour. Mix for 5 minutes, adding enough flour until dough is no longer falling and sticking to sides of bowl. (FYI: Although I use a super-old, super-awesome Kitchen Aid, you don't have to have a mixer to make bread! In college I didn't have a mixer so I used a little hand mixer to add half of the wheat flour, and then I added the rest of the flour in and hand-kneaded the dough. The bread still came out awesome.)
3. Grease sides of large bowl with dough inside, cover, and let rise for one hour.
4. Knead dough for a few minutes on a floured surface and divide and form into loaves (Makes about 3 medium-sized loaves.)
5. Place loaves in greased bread pans, cover, and let rise for 40 minutes.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until tops and sides of loaves are golden brown.
Holly! Don't know if you remember me - Katie & Nolan Braun (Bruce and Mary Kay Braun, Waconia Ward). Anyway, I was googling some stuff on eczema and food allergies for my daughter Kherington and your blog came up and I clicked on it!
ReplyDeleteLet me just tell you this: my daughter, who is 2, has eczema and food allergies. She is allergic to: dairy (including casien and whey), soy, goat milk, beef, corn, eggs and highly allergic to peanuts. Our allergist says that dairy, soy, peanuts and corn are pretty common food allergies. We have known about and been dealing with this for a year now. Soy, corn and dairy are not high enough allergies to cause anaphylaxis (for Kherington), but they can cause other problems - stomach/bowel irritation and eczema. We would not have known this if not for taking her in and having a blood test.
The other thing I've noticed to really help with the skin is using completely unscented and hypoallergenic, free of all dyes, etc. soap and lotion. We use California Baby soap and Vanicream lotion. (more spendy, but well worth it). Lastly, the less bathing (getting wet) the better, and puting the creams on immediately after bathing. Kherington is on a prescription hydrocortisone cream.
Our allergist also said the more organic the diet, the better.