The Best Whole Wheat Bread You’ll Ever Taste!

A number of years ago I got interested in making my own breads – and even ‘invented’ my own recipe … although I suspect, that as a guy, I shouldn’t be ‘bragging’ about inventing a recipe… that’s usually reserved for the ladies to do, right? My favorite bread to make is this one, a Sour Cream Onion Bread… it’s a great gift item as well. Specialty loaves like this cost far more in the store than it’ll cost for you to make it.

I was recently looking for my old recipe, as I hadn’t made my Sour Cream Onion bread in quite some time, but I knew I’d submitted it to a recipe site – so I just Googled for it, and was downright amazed at how many places had my recipe!  This one here is a modification of the original, and you’ll note that I specify my favorite brand name ingredients as well:

I first put the plastic container of Sour Cream in the microwave for 30 seconds on high – yeast prefer warmer temperatures, and this will speed things up to use warm ingredients.  It shouldn’t be hot, merely warm to the touch.  I take the Sour Cream, and warm water, and put it in the bread machine.

Next, add all ingredients on top of the water/sour cream – placing the yeast on the very top.  You don’t want the yeast to get prematurely wet.  Then just set your bread machine to it’s Wheat setting – and go… For some people, this is all you need to do, and the bread machine will do the cooking for you.

Since I prefer a loaf that looks just like a store bought loaf of bread, my own personal preference is to let the bread machine do the kneading, but then take the bread out of the machine, and place it in a 9″ x 5″ non-stick bread pan.  I turn on the oven for just 30 seconds or so – to get it warm – and put the bread in the oven to rise.  The warmth of the oven helps to speed up the rise of the bread, as the yeast likes warm temperatures.  When the bread has risen sufficiently (about 1.5-2 hours) – I take the bread out of the oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 Degrees C), and put the bread back in to cook for 30 minutes.  When finished cooking, and you take the bread out, do try to resist slicing and eating for an hour or so – the bread needs to cool down.

You can eliminate or replace the Flax Seeds & Filbert Meal with other ingredients (Wheat Germ is another favorite additive of mine) – but if you eliminate them, be careful to lower the water used in the recipe. It’s hard to explain just what the dough should look like – but once you’ve gained some experience with bread making, it becomes clear.

The Wheat Gluten can be left out – but your bread will be a ‘heavier’ dense loaf … if you can’t find Wheat Gluten in your local market, there’s a number of mail-order places that carry it.

Surprising most people who hear the ingredients, you don’t taste the sour cream at all in this bread. It provides a longer shelf life, and gives the bread a better texture than it would otherwise have.

This bread will last about 4-5 days… since it has no artificial chemicals – you have to learn to expect that molds will like your bread as much as you do.  Store-bought breads last much longer, what does that tell you?  If you want to have a healthier lifestyle – and pay less money – making your own bread is definitely the way to go!

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