Recipe Tuesday!

I learned something new about wheat last week that I thought was important to share. There are 2 really important reasons why we should get used to cooking with wheat now.

1- Wheat can be tricky to cook with. Whole wheat bread is not like ordianry dough and takes some practice. In my case it would help if I didn't half everything in the recipe except for the sugar:) It was sweet and moist but heavy. I was annoyed becasue it took me 30 minutes to grind the wheat and then I end up messing up the recipe:) Anyways, if we had to rely on cooking all of our food ourselves by using our food storage, we need to know how. I will try again using the right measurements...

2- Apparently wheat is something your digestive system needs to get used too. I also learned this after my wheat bread experience last week. My kids and husband liked it despite my ingredient mishap:) Rob ate several pieces to my one piece but I had some stomach pain the rest of the night. I was told a few days later by an expert that it would not be a good situation if we went from eating no wheat in our diets to relying on it daily. I seem to be one of those who needs to break in gradually. I have added half wheat to my white flour but never tried whole wheat until lst week.

So here are a couple options to try this week. If you have a grinder for your wheat you can try that or straight wheat flour from the store. If you don't have a grinder (I bought my first last week at Macey's for $60) you can still use the wheat whole in the chili recipe. I will try it later next week as well.

Makes 2 8/4 inch loaves.
Whole Wheat Bread

3 c. whole wheat flour



1/3 c. vital wheat gluten (helps retain moisture, extends shelf life)



1 1/4 T. instant yeast



2 1/2 c. steaming hot water (120-130 F)



1 T. salt



1/3 c. oil



1/3 c. honey or 1/2 c. sugar



1 1/4 T. bottled lemon juice (acts as a dough enhancer)or 3T dough enhancer



2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

Mix together the first three ingredients in your mixer with a dough hook. Add water all at once and mix for 1 minute; cover and let rest for 10 minutes (this is called sponging). Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and beat for 1 minute. Add last flour, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. Beat for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.Pre-heat oven for 1 minute to lukewarm and turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes until dough reaches top of pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on racks.



Wheat Chili-

I assume you could just do your regular chili recipe and just add the wheat portion to it, or to other casseroles, tacos, soups, etc.

4-6 cups steamed wheat

1 lb ground beef

1 qt. whole tomatoes

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 clove garlic, diced

1 qt tomato juice

1 large onion

2 cups tomato sauce


Brown meat, onion, garlic, and drain. Drain excess water from wheat and combine all ingredients in crock pot. simmer for at least 2 1/2 hours.


Steamed wheat-add 2 cups wheat in 6 cups water. bring to a boil for 5 miuntes then turn off heat and let sit overnight. Drain and rinse or





2 cups wheat and 4 cups water in crock pot 2-3 hours on low until wheat is tender.