The Staff of Life

*Editor's note: Yeast breads are made from hard wheat berries, not soft wheat berries. I made my loaf from hard red wheat berries. I threw that packaging away. This soft white packaging is all I had available. I took the photo of the All Purpose Flour food-ish ingredient label when I recently biked to my local grocery store for this very purpose.

I am not a doctor. Maybe that is my saving grace. I am not a doctor. I don’t even pretend to be a doctor.

I have nothing to do with Big Pharma. I believe that diet and nutrition are connected to the gut and health. Big Pharma appears to promote drugs and more drugs for gut health. But as I said, I have no connections with Big Pharmaceutical. We are strangers.

I connect my health, my energy, my immune system and quality of life to what I eat and how often I move. Nothing drastic. At least I don’t think it is drastic but, then again, I am not a doctor. I have nothing to do with Big Pharma.

When I make food decisions I ask 3 basic questions. Is it a plant or was it manufactured in a plant? Would great grandma recognize my food as food? Is it made from pantry ingredients or is it made of a long list of enriched and modified chemicals in an attempt to make the adulterated food-like stuff edible?

I think I am healthier for making those choices despite the fact that a physician once said, with a straight face, “What you eat has nothing to do with your health.” My face was not straight upon hearing those words.

I have survived scary food fads and even participated in the fat free craze of the 1990s. Instead of subjecting myself to current food fads and dietary restrictions, I thank God that He created good nutrition for our enjoyment. It is not expensive nutrition. It is not exotic nutrition. It is not scientific, lab nutrition. It is simply backyard, locally sourced fare that makes for very cheap, nutritious meals. My God created good eats.

My current 40+ year favorite is an ancient yum. It is the staff of life. Jesus said that He is the Bread of Life. I am happy to consume that which Jesus said is good.

So let’s grab some single ingredient wheat. You know, the kind whose ingredient list consists of: wheat. I am not talking about all-purpose, messed up flour that boasts no less than  8 ingredients. Eight? Why? All I need to make fabulous flour for bread is wheat. That’s it. Wheat. Toss wheat into mill to make flour. Use right away to capture all the life sustaining nutrients God packed into the humble kernel of wheat. A loaf of bread needs only water, salt, yeast, and flour. Yes, I can make bread without commercial yeast…. That is another story for another day.

So let’s get baking. I am hungry and, despite the wise doctor of yesteryear, I thrive on nutrition. Nothing satisfies quite like a thick slice of straight from the oven fresh milled wheat bread drowning in butter made from straight out of the cow raw milk.

Basic. Simple. Satisfying.

Simply Whole Wheat Loaf

The Sponge

1 ½ cups warm water (105° -120° F)

2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast

2 cups whole wheat flour

Add warm water and yeast to a large mixing bowl and let rest for about 5 minutes or until it turns creamy. Stir in the whole wheat flour with a wooden spoon or until a shaggy sponge forms. This will take 1-2 minutes. The sponge will be of a pancake batter consistency.

Cover the bowl with a heavy towel and let rest 6-8 hours during which time it will rise and maybe even fall.

I prefer to put the sponge in the refrigerator and let it rest 16-24 hours. I have even ignored it for 48 hours and ended up with spectacular bread. If you opt for the ‘let rest in the refrigerator’ method then pull the dough out and let it warm up to room temperature before moving on to step 2. This will require about 1 hour.

The Dough

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 ½ cups warm water (105° -120° F)

The Sponge (above)

4- 4 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon salt

Pour 1¾ cup warm water over the sponge and sprinkle yeast over the water. Let rest 5 minutes. With a dough whisk or spatula mix in 3 cups flour. The dough will still be quite wet.

Let this rest 20 minutes while you find something else to do.

Now comes the fun part. You get to watch this dough come together as add flour and fold and stretch the dough every 30 minutes for 2 hours. To do this you need to add another 1 cup flour and mix in with a flexible bowl scraper or a rubber spatula. I prefer my bowl scraper. I got mine though King Arthur but any brand will do… probably.

Let the dough rest, covered with a towel, for 30 minutes. Use the bowl scraper to lift the dough from the side of the bowl and fold over into the shaggy mess. Turn the bowl one quarter turn and lift and fold the dough again. Repeat this step several times. Cover the bow with a towel and let rest 30 minutes. Repeat the lift, fold, rest process for a total of 4 times.

This might seem very time consuming but you don’t have to watch it the whole time. Just set your alarm and go do whatever needs doing.

Finally it is time to give the dough a few quick kneads on a flour dusted countertop before shaping it into loaves. To do this sprinkle your countertop with flour. If you need a measurement then sprinkle out ¼ cup flour with another ½ cup at hand in case you need it. Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes and then shape into loaves. This recipe will make two loaves to fit 9x5 loaf pans.

Grease each loaf pan well. Set aside. Divide your dough into 2 equal sizes. Push, stretch, and roll your dough into a rectangle whose width is about the length of your chosen pan. Roll up the dough, tuck the ends, and give another few back and forth rolls just to tuck in all the seams. Drop dough into loaf pan and repeat with the next mound of dough. Cover the pans with a towel and let rest at room temperature. Check the rise along the way. I usually begin my oven preheat at the one hour mark and begin baking after a 1½ hour rise. This may vary depending upon temperature and humidity.

Preheat the oven to 425°. Place loaves in oven and reduce temperature to 400°. Bake for 30 minutes. Cover the loaves with foil and bake another 10 minutes. The baked loaves internal temperature will be 200° when done. Most bakers say to let the loaves rest until completely cooled. My kids always tucked in as soon as the loaves were pulled. They might have grown up in the past 40 years but I have not. I drown my hot bread in butter and make my tummy happy.