Artisan Bread

Today I took a class on artisan bread making. It was organized by our Relief Society and it was a fabulous class! If you think you know how to make bread, think again. We learned to make whole wheat buttermilk bread and not only is it delicious but it is light and fluffy. I'll never want to go back to the cardboard bread they sell at the stores! Yes, you are going to have to put some muscle into it but the result is totally worth it. How long will it take? As long as it takes you to perfect your kneading. You can use your Bosch or KitchenAid machines but in the beginning it's good to learn to do this by hand in case there is no electricity, you're camping etc. Get the feel of the dough sistas! If you'd like to check out how the delicious artisan bread is made WITHOUT any dough enhancers, click here to go to Karen's website. She has a lot of recipes there and the technique of bread making is explained with pictures. I love pictures, that's how I learn. Those of you in the Houston area can also order wheat, yeast, grinders etc. through Karen.
If you get nothing else out of this blog post, remember this: not all wheat is created equal! Before you buy, please educate yourself on what kind of wheat to buy. When purchasing, you must know what the protein and moisture content of the wheat is. According to Karen, you need 14% protein and 9% moisture content to make bread, anything below that won't produce a quality loaf. Who knew??!! I've been buying wheat blindly not knowing any of this. There is so much information on her website about all this, so go read it and make nutritious choices for your family and food storage.