Whole Wheat Kefir Breadmaker bread

Unsoaked in the back, Soaked up front.  The soaked one was a bit too wet, so it fell just a little, but it's still delicious.

I'll confess, I am not a very good baker.  I'll blame it on the altitude my whole life long.  At least as long as I'm living above sea level!  But honestly, the reason is that I'm spacey.  Super duper spacey.  I tried to keep sourdough, which I LOVE, and I had some successes, especially with Dyno-mom's super easy method, but mostly I just forgot about it, and I killed my started twice.  So, my husband brought home my mother-in-law's decades old breadmaker that was maybe used twice back in the 90's.  At first, I was skeptical, but then I started using it, and I fell in love.  I made fresh, whole wheat bread for my family at least once, usually twice a week for months and months.

Until it died.

I was so sad at the bread maker's death, I had a bread maker funeral.

Not really.

I just stuck it in the garage.

and Joey was so sad for me that he gave me free reign to order a new breadmaker of my choosing.

So one night, at 3am when Beatrice refused to sleep and Charlotte had taken over my side of the bed anyway, I got up and ordered a new one.  I like to order things at 3am.  I don't worry about research at that time of day and just go with my gut.  It's much more fun, if not necessarily the smartest method of using Amazon.  But it worked out great this time!

I got me a Cadillac, Mama!

So, now that my bread maker is not as old as I am, and it can fit a whole 2 pound loaf, I've been doing a lot more with it.  And I've been loving it!  Joey found a bread maker cookbook at the thrift store, and this recipe is a derivation of their Buttermilk Bread recipe.  But it's evolved so much, it's nowhere near it.  It's so yummy, and SOUR, not quite like sourdough, but close.

No, my flour is not soaked in this recipe, because it's for the bread maker.  But you CAN soak it, and that would add an added delicious, as well as an added health benefit.  For the Soaked version recipe, see below.

On to the recipe.

If your bread maker tells you to add the yeast first, reverse it so the liquids go in first and don't touch the yeast.  I don't know a lot about bread makers, but I've never run into one that tells you to put the flour and yeast in first, but all the recipes I read add this disclaimer.

Whole Wheat Sour Kefir Bread

1lb loaf:

• 1 Cup dairy kefir
• 1/4 Cup water
• 1 tablespoon sucanat other natural sugar
• 1 tablespoon oil- I like Safflower oil, but sunflower would be good.  Olive ok.  Butter works, but makes it dense
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 2  Cup whole wheat bread flour
• 1 1/4 Cup unbleached white flour 

                      OR

• 3 1/4 Cups Whole Wheat Bread flour 
• 1 tablespoon Gluten
• 1 teaspoon rapid-rise active dry yeast

2lb loaf:

• 1 1/2 cups kefir
• 1/2 Cup water
• 2 tablespoons sucanat
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 Cups whole wheat bread flour
• 1 1/2 Cups unbleached white bread flour

               OR

• Scant 6 Cups whole wheat bread flour 
• 2 teaspoons rapid rise active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons Gluten

Add ingredients to your bread maker's pan in order listed here.  Make a little Volcano hole in the flour to set your yeast in on top to make sure it doesn't get in contact with your wet ingredients until the right time.  Otherwise, follow your bread maker's directions, and make sure you run it on the whole wheat cycle.  The longer the cycle, the better, because whole wheat flour needs a lot more time to soak up the wet ingredients.

For a soaked bread, which is surprisingly similar to Sourdough in taste and texture, and adds many health benefits, most notably less Phytates.  Want to know more about why to soak whole grains?  Read the Kitchen Stewardship's explanation.

Soaked Whole Wheat Sour Kefir Bread: 1lb loaf:

The night before:
Combine 2 cups of flour with 1 cup of Dairy Kefir and 1/4 cup warm water.  Mix it up good until it's nice and gooey.  It'll look gross and sloppy- but that's good. Cover close with a cloth and let sit overnight or longer if you'd like, at room temperature.

The next day:
Plop that Slop into the bread maker's pan and add just a bit of water if it's really dried up.  Not much.  A spray bottle is good at this point.  I prefer to wait until all the ingredients are mixed and spray a little at a time until all the flour is absorbed. 
Add:

• 1 tablespoon sucanat
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 1 Cup Whole Wheat bread flour
• 1 TB Gluten
• 1 teaspoon rapid-rise active dry yeast

Set the maker to Whole Wheat and let it go.  Check on it while it's mixing and if it's too dry, use your spray bottle of warm water here to spritz less than 1/4 cup until it's all combined.

Enjoy!