Bread!

As requested by my Education Week class today – here is the super crazily written, but super yummy
Better than great harvest bread!

Okay, hold on, don’t get too scared yet – it really is not the CIA encrypted super secret code that my sister insisted it was when I first sent it to her. It basically requires two parts:
1. get the mix together (sugar, powdered milk, yeast, salt… yes, really, that’s ALL), and put it in the freezer.
2. Figure out the ratio that you want to make (okay, maybe this one is a little crazy to figure out, but once you get your ratios down, then you are SET!)… I like to use the 11 inch pan – and that first ratio works great for that one – it also works perfect with this size in a bread machine.
2 1/2. (I can’t get to three, I promised only 2 steps!) Follow the directions to put it together, and whalla – you have super yummy whole wheat bread in under 2 hours!!

Here is a quick rundown of the steps…
(and a quick tip… for extra ‘enhancement’ of the wheat without having to pay the big bucks for gluten enhancers, simply get some dry soy beans and throw a handful in when grinding wheat. If you don’t grind your wheat, no problem, you can trade out a few cups of the wheat flour for white flour if you want it a little bit lighter in texture and densness(is that even a word??)…)

put the amount of the starter that fits with your size of pan into the bread machine (or bosche mixer if you are making a bigger size) (oh, the bosche mixer for some reason only works well with the larger sizes… don’t try to do a one-loaf capacity in it, it will turn out super heavy…)

— Add *hot* water to the starter. Let sponge for 10-15 minutes (or more if you happen to forget about it for a while-ahem…).
— Add flour, mix for about 6-10 minutes (**note for bread machines – some have a built in ‘rest’ cycle that hits between 5 minutes and 10 minutes… if this is what happens in yours, you can set the timer for 20 minutes – or whenever it stops mixing after the rest).

— let raise for 15 minutes… it should look like:

**pour oil onto the counter (really important – putting flour on the counter will make the dough too tough when shaping), and plop dough into it and shape out with hands into a rectangle/square type of shape: