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Dee’s “Health Bread”

This may be the very best wheat bread recipe I’ve ever made!   The whole wheat bread I’ve made for years is good but I was thinking more along a multi-grain bread . . something more exciting than just whole wheat, and I came across Dee’s Health Bread.  It had so many reviews and comments that I just had to try it.  It’s been several months since we had wheat bread because of . . the second  move, but we’re not thinking about that.

Yesterday I dug out the wheat grinder, a jar of wheat and it felt good to be doing another thing that makes life seem normal.

I made half the recipe and made 3 one pound balls of dough.  I baked two of them and put one in the freezer just to see how it will turn out.  If it works ok, then I’ll make the whole recipe next time and put 5 balls in the freezer so we can have warm, fresh bread every few days.  I should add . . I will not make the full recipe til I find my Bosch mixer!

This bread is soft and squishy, not crumbly at all.  It really has a great texture and crumb and the crust is really good — not brittle at all.

Modifications I made to the recipe (remember I used half of the recipe):

  • I used milled flax seed and since I was using only half the recipe, I used 1/8th cup but next time I will probably go ahead with the full 1/4 cup.
  • Same with the sunflower seeds.  I will use more next time.
  • For half the recipe, I should have used 2 tsp. salt but the dough tasted like it needed more so I added another teaspoon salt (a total of 3 tsp.) and it tasted right and we are not heavy salt users.
  • I added 3 T. of lecithin (from soy).
  • For the white flour, I didn’t measure but just added til the dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl.  Instead of the suggested 2 cups, I think I used more like 1-1/2 cups of white flour but I was using home ground whole wheat flour which seems to absorb a good bit more liquid than does storebought whole wheat flour.

This is an excellent bread and from the reviews posted, even non-breadmakers are having great success with this recipe. Not only did it feel good to be using the wheat grinder again but it felt good to be eating whole wheat bread and, this morning it was great toasted with homemade cherry jam!

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Doreen Auger says

    That recipe does sound good! I have just gotten back to baking with my sourdough starter. Love that flavor and have been using the basic recipe from King Arthur flour (“Clay’s Multi-Grain Sourdough Sandwich Bread”). From the description of your recipe, the resulting loaves are very similar. Unlike some of the whole wheat recipes, mine is not crumbly, either, but very moist and keeps quite well. My starter is only 3 weeks old so is still a youngster!!!!

  5. Linda Steller says

    The link worked for me. That sounds wonderful. It probably wouldn’t raise right if I used almond flour, but it might not be too bad. I ended up buying ten pounds of almond flour on-line last week. It has zero gylcemic load, as opposed to wheat flour’s 81. I made an apple crisp (using agave nectar as sweetener) a few days ago and it was excellent. I didn’t crash after eating some of it, either, so I may wander my way back into an occasional baked good. A sandwich now and then would be wonderful. I may give this a try and see how it turns out.

  8. Karen says

    Judy, thanks for the link! I love to bake bread. I do a lot of hamburger buns using the KAF recipe. DH won’t eat store bought buns at all now! Was wondering, if you also have your wheat bread recipe posted?
    Thanks!

  9. Anita says

    The link worked fine. If it doesn’t work for you go to All Recipes and type in Dee’s Health Bread and it should show up. My question is what kind of a grinder do you use? I’m not a bread maker but would like to start.

  12. Susah says

    Back in the 70’s when I was baking a lot, and freezing bread dough, I found that I needed almost twice as much yeast, because some of the yeasty beasties died when the dough was frozen. Hope that helps.

  14. Janet says

    I’ve been making this bread for years and I’ve never put any white flour in it! I’m not sure why I missed that piece….I just use all whole wheat. Also I really like seed bread so I also add 1/4 cup each of sesame seeds and poppy seeds. I’ve got a loaf of this bread in the kitchen right now.

  15. Kathy R in BC says

    Hi Judy,
    I made this bread on your suggestion. It is good! Have you tried the frozen ball yet?? How did it turn out?? It’s only my husband and I here and we don’t go through much bread, so I was thinking freezing part of the dough would be good. We live in a small town and there in NO good bread here at all. This is my only hope! I ended up buying the Bosch mixer — going to try it out today! 🙂

    • JudyL says

      I did and it turned out ok . . not great. I’m going to try something different next time and will blog about it.

      • Kathy R in BC says

        I have to tell you, I LOVE my new Bosch mixer! Love that it does all the work! I have made 3 batches now of Dee’s Health Bread. I add a bit more sunflower seeds because I love the nutty taste. I now slice all the loaves with my electric knife before freezing. That way my husband can just grab a slice and toast. 🙂

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