Thursday, March 06, 2014

Steve's high-protein, high-fiber, low-carb bread


Steve Bloch is an interesting guy on the Internet and I ran across this recipe after I came across his comparing the deficit reduction powers of the different parties.


Ingredients

  • 4 cups water
  • 1-4 Tbsp. honey, molasses, maple syrup, etc.  (Artificial sweetener won't work, but this is a tiny amount of sugar in 4 loaves of bread, and the yeast will eat most of it before you do anyway.)
  • 1-2 packets dried yeast.  (I plan to try this with an ongoing yeast culture, but haven't done that experiment yet.)
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetable oil (canola, grapeseed, corn, sunflower, or "light" olive)
  • 2 cups soy powder (I use Fearn)
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur)
  • 2 Tbsp. salt or KCl.  (Do not reduce this; if you use less than 1 Tbsp. salt per cup of soy flour, it'll taste like sawdust.)
  • 1/2 cup flaxseed or flaxseed meal
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ
  • optional: 1/2 cup buckwheat flour, or oat flour, or your favorite high-fiber flour
  • 1/2 cup wheat bran
  • optional: 1/4 to 1/2 cup whole wheat berries, whole oat berries or steel-cut oats. combined with an equal amount of water and microwaved on low power for a few minutes.
  • 4-6 cups wheat gluten (I use Bob's Red Mill)

Directions

  • Heat half of the water to a little above body temperature.
  • Pour into large mixing bowl.
  • Mix in honey and yeast with a wire whisk.
  • Let sit for a few minutes while you crack eggs into a separate bowl.
  • Once the yeast mixture has generated a thick "foam" on top of the liquid, add eggs, oil, and remaining water and mix with whisk.
  • Mix in soy powder, salt, and whole wheat flour with whisk.
  • Mix in flaxseed, wheat germ, wheat bran, and optional other flours with whisk.
  • Switch utensils from whisk to wooden spoon; mix some more.
  • Add optional whole grains.
  • Add wheat gluten, a cup at a time, until you can't use the spoon any more.
  • Switch utensils from wooden spoon to hands.
  • Turn dough out onto board or counter floured with wheat gluten; knead 100 strokes, adding wheat gluten as necessary to keep it from sticking.
  • Put dough back into bowl, put in a warm, moist place (or a warm place and use a plant mister), cover with a cloth, and let rise for two hours or so.
  • Punch down the dough, turn out onto aforementioned board or counter, and knead another 50 strokes.
  • Divide dough in fourths.
  • Knead each fourth about 25 strokes, shape into loaves, and put into buttered or oiled loaf pans.
  • (I often slash the tops with a sharp knife "to give it leave to rise".)
  • Put loaf pans in aforementioned warm, moist place, cover with a cloth, and let rise for two hours or so.
  • Heat oven to 350-400 Fahrenheit.
  • (I often put a pan of hot water into the oven to keep the humidity up while the bread is baking.)
  • optional: brush surface of loaves with water (for a thin, crisp crust), milk (for a softer, dark crust), egg yolk (for a golden crust), or egg white (for a crisp, dark crust).
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes or until it looks and sounds done.
  • Let cool on wire racks before ripping it open.

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