Vitamix Whole Wheat Berry Bread

About three years ago, my grandmother gave me her Vitamix when she downsized into a smaller apartment. It is one of the best gifts I have ever received. I love it and I use it all the time. In the cookbook that came with it was a recipe for whole wheat bread that started with whole wheat berries. I have been intrigued with this idea ever since. I finally tried it today, with only one minor adjustment, and it was really good. My adjustment was to leave out the optional lemon juice, as I did not want a sour tasting dough and I used natural brown sugar in place of honey.

This is very good toasted the next day. The little pockets and the texture kind of reminded me of an english muffin - in a good way. I felt really good about this bread as it started with whole wheat berry. I am now intrigued by the wheat berry and planning to try some other preparations of it.

Vitamin Whole Wheat Berry Bread 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups warm water
1 package yeast
1 tbsp vegan brown sugar
1 3/4 cups whole wheat berries
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Mix the warm water, yeast and brown sugar together in a measuring cup and let sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast. It should foam and bubble up.

While the yeast is doing it's thing put the whole wheat berries and the tsp of salt into a Vitamix dry blade container, or a spice/coffee grinder and grind for one minute only so it doesn't heat the flour.

Let the flour cool and add the olive oil to the yeast and water mixture. The flour should have  a well from grinding and you want to pour the wet ingredients into that hole. To mix, turn your Vitamix on high for one second.

Let the dough rest a minute while you grease a loaf pan. Then, to knead the dough, use a spatula to scrape any dough from the sides. Then turn the Vitamix on and off quickly 5 times. Scrape the sides and repeat this cycle. Do this a few times (about 5) until the dough is a nice soft elastic consistency. Then turn it out into the loaf pan and let rise while your oven preheats to 350 degrees. Finally. bake the bread for 15-20 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.

Makes 12 slices. Nutritional info from caloriecount.about.com

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 46 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 81 Calories from Fat 12

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 1.4g 2%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 195mg 8%

Total Carbohydrates 14.9g 5%

Dietary Fiber 0.6g 2%

Sugars 0.8g

Protein 2.1g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% • Iron 5%

Nutrition Grade B+

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet