Red Fife Whole Wheat Bread

For the last 3 years I have avoided eating wheat whenever possible, ever since I discovered that the red spots that plagued my complexion were not acne as I had always thought, but more like little red, scabby holes in my face which would appear a day to three days after I ate wheat products. Delightfully elegant and itchy to boot. Then, in the summer of 2007, we spent several months in Europe, eating large amounts of wheat daily, and I had no problems whatsoever. So - and this is particularly galling to someone dedicated to eating local food - my problem was with Canadian wheat specifically.

I thought I had tested organic flour earlier, but perhaps not scientifically enough. I'm giving it another try. When I was at The 100-Mile Market in Meaford, I bought some Red Fife wheat flour to test out. Here's my first attempt at baking with it.

I heard from several sources that Red Fife flour can be hard to work with. Organic flours in general don't have the dough conditioners that make regular commercial flour rise so well and consistently (but hopefully they also don't have the cause of my rash) so it is helpful to add something to help them out. Vitamin C powder is one thing you can use. You can find it at Bulk Barn, and also the gluten flour. I didn't actually use gluten flour; I used a little European white bread flour because I don't trust non-organic gluten flour. As long as you don't have my problem, you should use the gluten flour. It will have more of a kick.

First I mixed a fairly moist dough, then kneaded in quite a lot of flour. I find this easier than trying to mix in most of the flour at the start.

Here is the kneaded dough. It should be smooth, a little glossy, and elastic. When you give it a poke, it should spring back fairly quickly. This was enough dough to make two loaves of bread.

After it rose once, I punched it down, and formed it into a loaf.

I covered it and left it to rise overnight in our fairly cool kitchen. (The thermometer said 15°C in the morning.)

It did not rise any more in the oven, which surprised me a little. The final result was a dense but not heavy loaf with a hearty, nutty flavour. I've still got the dough for the other loaf of bread sealed up in the fridge. I will probably bake it on Saturday morning.

2 loaves of bread
1 or 2 days - 30 minutes prep time

2 cups water
1/4 cup sunflower seed oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon yeast

1/4 cup gluten flour
2/3 cup ground flax meal
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vitamin C powder
4 cups organic whole wheat flour

1 to 2 cups organic whole wheat flour

Heat the water until it is quite warm to the touch. Add the sunflower oil and honey, and stir until the honey is dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast over it and let it sit for 10 minutes or so until it is dissolved and foamy.

Meanwhile, mix all the remaining ingredients except the last 1 to 2 cups of flour.

Pour the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and stir until they are well amalgamated.

Spread 1 cup of flour on a clean board or counter. Turn out the dough and knead it, incorparating all of the flour. When it is absorbed, put some more flour out and continue kneading until the dough is smooth, elastic and not too sticky. Keep adding flour until this is achieved.

Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and brush them with sunflower seed oil all over. One or both may be put in a covered container with space to expand, and kept in the fridge for several days. Otherwise, put them in bowls, cover them, and let rise until doubled in volume.

Press the dough to release much of the accumulated gases and return it to its original size. Shape it into a loaf, and put it in an oiled loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled or tripled in volume. As I said, I left mine out overnight in my cool kitchen and it worked very well.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until done. (You will get a nice hollow sound when you tap on it, or you can test it with a toothpick.) Turn it out of the pan and let it cool.