Making Whole Wheat Bread: Lynn's Notes

hy doesn't Lynn's bread look as nice as the results say it should? you may be asking yourself. A few reasons, plus some notes on things I do differently than Jean that you might be able to see in the photos.

First off, being an impatient know-it-all, I didn't read Jean's recipe thoroughly enough and didn't have any gluten flour on hand when I started in, with, of course, no time to go to the store and a photographer husband with other things to do than sit around and watch me pound my head on the table. Being a semi-experienced baker, I just substituted more kneading, by hand and dough hook, and that seems to have worked fairly well. I do recommend getting the gluten flour, though; it does make life easier with 100% whole wheat.

Secondly, I didn't have a non-metal bowl big enough to make bread in. This explains that strange metallic glint in the photographs. I would tell you it's a prototype space-age ceramic I'm testing for NASA, but I don't think you'd buy it.

Thirdly, there are no pictures of the shaping of the loaves and they came out a bit on the lumpy side in the "ta-da" picture of the finished product because I am still quite the amateur at shaping loaves for pans. My family is very fond of "craft-style" breads--the round or baguette-shaped peasant loaves that you have to plunk down $3.50 a loaf for at the foo-foo bakery. One of the reasons I took up baking again was to save approximately $3 a loaf for foo-foo bread. In fact, I almost made one in the pan and one directly on the baking stone until I realized in my stupor I'd already greased both pans and, well, what the heck.

Even with all that going against them, though, I have to say that Jean's recipe is DELICIOUS! My loaves were a little lumpy, but they rose nicely and the texture and flavor are great. And isn't it nice to know that even if I run a homemaking site I'm not the Woman Who Does Everything More Beautifully Than You?

Happy baking!
--Lynn

Postscript, 7/20/07: That picture is of me and Josie. Josie is now almost TEN. gulp!