February 5, 2009 - 6:09am
Whole grain recipe with standard measurements
Hi all,
I am fairly new to baking bread and have just ordered a kitchen scale to weigh ingredients, but it won't be here until next week (with free shipping). I want to make a whole wheat and whole grain sandwich loaf this weekend and need a good recipe. Also, I don't want to use starter, as I haven't gotten that far yet in my quest to bake my own bread. Will a whole wheat dough hold the different grains?
I was thinking of ordering a started from KAF. It's real cold here in TN and it would take me quite a long time to get a starter going right now. Any thoughts on getting starter from KAF????
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I would probably recommend waiting until you have a little more bread under your belt prior to making a starter. It doesn't really take that long to get a starter going yourself (unless it's really really cold in your house!!), so I would recommend cultivating your own starter after a couple weeks of baking. Also, if you buy a starter, all the yeast that live in the starter will become yeast native to your own town after a couple weeks anyway, so no need spending the money.
Here's a recipe for whole wheat sandwich bread with buttermilk and honey from the handbook. It uses grams and standard volumetric measures.
As for the starter, I've heard very good things about KAF's starter. It's a bit pricey, though. You can get free starter from Carl's Friends, but it may take more than a month to get to you.
Someone emailed me from this board asking for some of my starter, and since I'm going to be drying a bunch anyway for her, I'll have some left over. If you send me a private message, I'll be happy to give you my address and you can send me a SASE -- I'll be happy to return it with some dried starter, ready for revitalization.