While I’m no expert in bread making, I enjoy making it for my kids. I have Rose’s book and have had good success with it (I usually do the basic white sandwich loaf, banana feather loaf, sweet potato loaf, or cinnamon raisin swirl loaf). But I’d like to see if anyone has a recommendation for making the bread healthier. The biggest constraint we have, unfortunately, is money. I would so love a wheat mill, but can’t get one, so any whole wheat flour I have to buy already ground. I can reasonably easily do half whole wheat, half bread (or ap) flour, and I’m sure that will help. But I’d love any tips on anything else I can do or add (that isn’t terribly expensive) to make the bread healthier. Some of my kids are very picky eaters, but they all like bread, so I’d like to do what I can to get anything healthy I can in them. Recommendations?
But I’d love any tips on anything else I can do or add (that isn’t terribly expensive) to make the bread healthier.
Bread is a very healthful product by its very nature. Sure, adding more whole wheat can make it even better, but beyond that, you have a serious case of rapidly diminishing returns. Your time would be better spent, IMO, in improving the healthfulness of other aspects of your family’s diet.
I use 50% ww and 50%bread flour (add up the two weights in recipe and divide by 2) with no modifications to the recipe. Her Cracked Wheat loaf is also excellent and I find I use about 2/3 of the suggested amount of dough per pan as they are just too large otherwise.
When my grandmother used to bake bread, her secret ingredient was hay from our horse stable. She swore that hay with a hint (she stressed a HINT) of horse droppings mixed with the dough, made the texture of the bread more hearty, and was healthier. Has anyone else here tried this? I should also add - to be truthful - that my Grandmother was treated for depression and alcoholism 1946, eventually leading to her suicide in 1950. Also, I have been looking for a good recipe for homemade granola if anyone out there has one that they like. Thanks!
I use 50% ww and 50%bread flour (add up the two weights in recipe and divide by 2) with no modifications to the recipe. Her Cracked Wheat loaf is also excellent and I find I use about 2/3 of the suggested amount of dough per pan as they are just too large otherwise.
There’s unheated, unfiltered raw honey—it’s opaque and rather solid at room temp. I use it in frostings a lot when I want to make an uncooked buttercream, but I don’t want to use powdered sugar. It sweetens it without thinning it, like a liquid honey will.
And there’s whipped honey, which is sort of in between. It’s “gloppy.” It’s been whipped (surprise!) which causes the crystallization that thickens it and makes it more opaque.
FB: I have the same brand of liquid honey, and I can tell more than a barely-perceptible difference between them. I definitely can’t imagine it coming through as an ingredient. I’m not even sure if I’m really tasting a difference or just looking for one!!!!! So I’d say, pick your honey—raw, whipped or liquid—based upon the texture you are looking for. Of course, different brands will have different flavors. Also, I have a jar of some of YS’s differnt “flavors”—a buckwheat honey, and a couple from other specific plants—but I haven’t tried them yet.
Hubby uses the raw version in his tea all winter—it melts nicely in the tea. Supposedly, to retain the alleged benefits of the raw honey, you wait until the tea is not boiling hot anymore before adding it. It melts at a fairly low temperature—solid at room, but it melts around something like 82 or so (a rough guess), certainly at body temp.
Thank you sweetie I am actually looking for a buckwheat honey too. I plan to make the honey cake from “Inside The Jewish Bakery” and it calls for buckwheat honey. In my research, I read Dr. Oz recommends this type of honey as more healthy than then other types.
For other types, I am looking for a honey to make a glaze and to go in plain yogurt.
Here’s the buckwheat honey I have: http://www.vitacost.com/ys-eco-bee-farms-buckwheat-pure-raw-honey. I haven’t tasted it yet, but I’ve used this company’s honey for about 5 years now, and I love it. You can melt it to a liquid over very low heat to use in your bread. You can probably put it in the measuring cup and then put the measuring cup in hot water, and melt it right in that, as well.
I’d use the raw for glaze, simply becuase when it cools, it will be firmer. If you use liquid with milk or cream (or whatever the other glaze component is), it might be too runny.
For yogurt, I’d definitely go with liquid, becuase you can just squirt it in there!!!! I don’t think I’d want to have to fuss with melting honey every morning. Although you could put your yogurt bowl in warm water, put the raw honey in and, when it melts, add your yogurt. But when I add honey to my plain yogurt, I always use liquid. You know what, though? No matter what I add to my yogurt, I always like it best when I don’t do anything to it. I eat Fage Total 0%, and that stuff is just so amazingly fantastic, whenever I add anything to it, it seems to just eff it up!!
I don’t use honey all that much in baking but I do squirt it on yogurt every day so I should probably go with the regular liquid as it is multi-functional.
I heard buckwheat honey has a really strong taste. I’m not ready to make the honey cake yet. If you guys try yours, please let me know what you think of the taste.
I am actually looking for a buckwheat honey too. I plan to make the honey cake from “Inside The Jewish Bakery” and it calls for buckwheat honey. In my research, I read Dr. Oz recommends this type of honey as more healthy than then other types.
