Bread Machine Bread Mix

Photo: flickr user cogdogblog

Ingredients

pound Dry Ingredients For a 2 Loaf:

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour fresh ground

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/4 cups bread flour

cup gluten flour

1/2 teaspoon salt kosher preferred

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Dry ingredients above

2 pounds tsp dry yeast Dry ingredients for 1 ½ Loaf:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour fresh ground is best

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup bread flour

1/4 cup gluten flour

1/2 teaspoon salt kosher preferred

2 tablespoons sugar At the time of baking- 1 ½ pound:

1 1/4 cups warm water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

pound dry ingredients for 1 ½ loaf

1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

Preparation

This approach allows prepackaging of dry ingredients for bread machine baking. Storage may be in canning jars or in other containers such as zip lock bags. I print address labels with the "at time of baking" ingredients and place them on the container.

The 1 1/2 pound loaf dry ingredients fit in a 1 quart canning jar or in a 1 quart zip lock freezer bag. I have white plastic screw caps for the canning jars for sealing the jar (from grocery store). A canning funnel helps for filling the jars (green plastic from grocers but also have aluminum version from years past). I have found that filling a mason jar and then using the canning funnel at the mouth of a 1 quart zip lock bag allows transfer to the bag with minimum of mess and hassle. I make 6-10 bread mixes at a time.

For 2 pound loaf, larger jars or larger bags are needed.

This bread has a good high texture with a lot of "spring" from the gluten. Depending on the moisture of the flour, an additional tablespoon or two of water may be needed during the initial kneading in the bread machine.

Variations:Replace the whole wheat with spelt flour or triticale flour in the dry ingredients Replace the whole wheat with rye flour in the dry ingredients and and add either orange peel or caraway seeds with a tablespoon of molasses when loading the bread machine.

Add a package or two of instead oatmeal to the measuring cup before filling it with whole wheat flour.